Puppy on a chain

by Katerina Lorenzatos Makris ~

If there’s anything worse than seeing a dog on a chain, it’s seeing a puppy on a chain. And if there’s anything worse than that, it’s watching cars whiz by a puppy in the road.

Therefore, I now have a puppy in my house.

Cute girl / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

I first met this girl a few weeks ago at a building supply store here on the island of Kefalonia. Not the one where Vaso and her puppies Viktor and Violetta lived—a different one, but one where there was also a puppy in danger.

This pup, no more than two to three months old, was uncommonly affectionate and awfully cute. Allowed to wander loose around the open parking lot, through which cars cut the corner at top speeds, absolutely nothing stood in the way of her wandering further onto the busy highway or being hit by one of the many vehicles large and small that constantly pull onto or off of the property.

Worry too much?

I wasn’t the only one biting my nails over the situation. Other customers mentioned similar concerns. Someone suggested to the owners that they confine the puppy. Their solution was to link her to a heavy chain. At closing time they’d let her off the chain, shut the gates, and leave her alone in the fenced lot.

Heart in my throat when I saw this / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

This afternoon while I was out looking for Vaso, an elderly, pregnant dog missing from the other store since last week, I stopped to pay a quick visit to the puppy at the second store, who I figured would have even less company than usual with it being closed all day, and who must be feeling lonely.

After petting her for a few minutes through the gate, I started to leave, then glanced back to find that she had climbed onto a tall pile of marble and concrete merchandise. My heart leaped into my throat. It would be nothing for her to jump up a little higher from there, scale the top of the fence, then drop down into the road.

“Nah,” I told myself. “You worry too much. She’ll be fine.”

Puppy in the road / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

I drove on.  A few minutes later when I drove by again, there she was. In the road. Cars whizzing by.

It’s Sunday. The store was closed. Nobody to notify.  Animal shelter beyond full with almost four times as many dogs as it was designed to hold. What was I supposed to do?

Danger everywhere

Now the puppy is sound asleep in my bedroom, but I don’t know how well I’ll sleep. This is all really stressful.  Dogs here, puppies there, danger, illness, misery everywhere.

In the car / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

Suddenly I’ve developed a cough, down deep in my chest—a cold or flu coming on, I guess. Not surprising because of the erratic schedule, lack of sleep, and worry I’ve had for what seems like ages, at least as far back as a few weeks ago when the saga of the terrified puppies Viktor, Violetta and their mom Vaso began. Or maybe even as far back as September, when friend Melissa Beamish and I first saw a bloody dog in the road on a moonlit night—the severely ill street dog who is now my foster boy Agapi, thank heavens doing much better. And the worry carried through to January, when Agapi and I came across Jorja, another street dog, who ran after the car and pretty much insisted on being fostered.

An emotional workout

It’s symbolic that this virus or whatever it is has begun there in the chest—same neighborhood as the heart, which has been getting quite a good workout, emotionally speaking, for quite a while.

Excited – perhaps her first time inside a house / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

It’s 4:00 a.m. now. I’m not sure what time the store opens, but I’ll try to get up and call them at 8:00 a.m. to let them know the puppy is here and safe.

After that I don’t know what will happen, except it’s probably guaranteed to not help the cough much, to keep me worrying, and to continue giving the old ticker the emotional workout that those of us who care about animals often tend to get.

Want to help more dogs break their chains? Buy  ‘UNCHAIN MY HEART’,  A FUN NEW ROMANTIC FICTION STORY about freeing a chained dog!  Just $2 and ALL PROFITS go to animal rescue group

READ MORE about Ipomoni’s rescue…

Puppy on a chain escapes

Puppy on a chain will never be chained again

Heart marking on puppy’s face symbolizes her loving nature, waiting to give it all to you

‘Don’t leave without me!’ Puppy Ipo will follow foster sister Jorja to a new life

Rescued dogs Ipo and Jorja head to bright new lives in Holland tonight

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READ MORE about Viktor and Violetta:

Puppy on a chain will never be chained again

Traumatized puppy Violetta now safe thanks to Greek islanders’ teamwork

Terrified feral puppy, please let me catch and save you

Small but spunky animal rescue group on Greek island launches push to spay/neuter 100 dogs

UPDATE: Spicy Stories Save Lives proudly provided part sponsorship for the re-homing of Viktor and Violetta in the United Kingdom! Watch this space for update articles about them!

Questions about animal care? Ask Spicy! Email us at spicystories AT yahoo DOT com.

Seen our book?  Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need, by Shelley Frost and Katerina Lorenzatos Makris, available through Amazon.com.

Katerina Lorenzatos Makris is a career journalist, author, and editor. Her fiction includes 17 novels for Simon and Schuster, E.P. Dutton, Avon, and other major publishers (under the name Kathryn Makris), as well as a teleplay for CBS-TV, and a short story for The Bark magazine. She has written hundreds of articles for regional wire services and for outlets such as National Geographic Traveler, The San Francisco Chronicle, Travelers’ Tales, NBC’s Petside.com, Animal Issues Reporter.org, and Examiner.com (Animal Policy Examiner).