Clint

Hi Kelly Congratulations on the new arrival

Oscar It is good to hear he is doing well, he is just sooooo

Sleep tight Cassie Cassie couldn't have wished for a better home, thank you Donna for giving Cassie love when she needed it most

So very sorry for your loss, Cindy Snatch was a very special soul who changed so many people's mind (including mine) about staffies Lots of to you, Steve and Ruby and the biggest Be happy at the bridge little super Snatch

No Italy is not the same all over. The north and the south are totally different, at times it feels it is like 2 different countries. I am from the north originally (Varese) between Milan and Switzerland , our area is considered the lake district area because of the number of lakes we have just ot give you an idea have a look at http://www.thomsonlakes.co.uk/destinations...ake+maggiore+b# Lake Garda is always very popular, friends of mine from London have been going there for the last 10 years and never mentioned anything about strays etc. Sea holiday you could look at places around Venice like Lido di Jesolo, not sure what it is like now last time I went there I was 10 years old and I cannot stand Venice. Another option is the Italian riviera basically the Liguria are ,bordering the south of France you won't be very fram from Cannes etc. Places like San Remo etc are very popular my ex boss's father loved it there. My favourite would be the Tuscany coast, I just love this area and Florence is one of my all time favourite places. From Rome down the situation as far as animals is concerned is not good, lots of strays and total different mentality re animals. Given what you are looking for re your holiday avoid Eastern Europe: Bulgaria I know it well as we lived there for 18 months, strays everywhere. Dogs have really no value unless they are pure breeds. Romania for what I have seen and heard is same as Bulgaria. One of my English best friend is married to an Hungarian and she tells me things are not much better there. Turkey another friend from London has told me some horror stories about animal abuse and situation about strays. her parents have a home in Turkey and spend half of the year there

Cindy it has been a pleasure working with you, you are truly an amazing person and I will miss you loads, look after yourself and I hope you will be back working with us soon Thank you to Claire and Sandra for taking on their new roles and look forward to working with you

Welcome to the team Debs and Melissa

So sorry to hear this Ian, sending lots of positive and healing thoughts to Joyce and a for you.

Fee I am so sorry to hear about Molly, all our thoughts are with you and our family lots of from all of us. Run free at the bridge Molly

They do look great

Sending lots of positive thoughts and a big gentle

Welcome to the team Kelly

Sorry to hear about the lump coming back. Lots of positive thoughts sent to the adorable Snatch and a for you both,

Oh Musky how could you do that to your mum ? I am not sure what to suggest apart from what other have already mentioned but a warm for you Fee.

Welcome to the mad house Ian and Tracey and thank you for all the hard work you have put in for the OC

So sorry to hear this, lots of to Stevie Run free at the bridge little Buddy, sleep tight

Keeping my fingers crossed for him tomorrow sending lots of positive thoughts and lots of

She is and certainly can run now The video is brilliant

I hope someone can give them a home soon

He is soooo

So sorry to hear this sad news and thank you for giving Tuppence so much love in his final years. Sleep tight Tuppence

How great to hear Brummie has settled in so well

Lots of healing thoughts for the little lad and a gentle

yes the situation there is awful so many beautiful dogs roaming with hardly anyone to care what happens to them. BSAPP the one I posted the link to in my previous post was founded by one of the top vet in Bulgaria. An English woman called Diana got involved and helped to spread the word about the work they do. Diana is now taking a break to concentrate on her own dogs and to help the one nearer to her, and American woman has now taken over from Diana. BSAPP are currently running an appeal to raise funds to build a new centre as some of the residents dogs were poisend. If you look at the pets for rehoming and read Watson and Sarka stories it is just heartbreaking. There is also a rescue organisation set up by some expats in Varna and a rescue run by a Bulgarian woman in our area but that's all there is that I am aware of. The result of this tragic death is that more and more people are calling for a culling of strays as the only solution, the point is that even if this happens and all the strays are wiped out but the attitudes of the locals don't change the problem is going to come back in no time at all.

Totally agree this a tragic story and what her family must be going through is unthinkable. The dog in the pic I am pretty sure is the the woman's own dog (not sure if this is a current pic or an older one) that was also bitten by these dogs. She was walking her dog when she was attacked. This news has been going around the expats since it happened and one of the expats living in one of the nearby villages who went to offer any help he could to the this woman's husband mentioned that things are not as reported in the press. Allegedly the friends staying with this woman' husband said that the dogs that killed this woman are not strays but belongs to one of this couple's neighbours. Apparently this couple had previously complaied about these dogs as allegedly the same dogs had attacked local children, however no notice was taken of their complaint. The problem of stray and non stray animals in Bulgaria is awful. The majority of Bulgarians don't give a fig about animals. Dogs/cats are very rarely seen as pets, There are mainly 2 types of dogs owners in BG: 1)The ones who keep their dogs chained up 24/7 all their lives to very short metal chains and the majority also were metal chains collars. If the chain is 1mt long the dog is one of the lucky ones . 2) The ones who chuck the dogs out in the morning and let them back in at night. A rare breed of Bulgarian animal owners is the one that care about their animals and keep them as pets. In most cases dogs with owners are lucky if they get any of the leftovers meal, most, like our Bulgarian neighbours feed their dogs a bit of stale bread in the morning and in the evening. Dogs are very often left out with hardly any proper shelter and sometime no water. Again my Bulgarian neighbours left their dog chained up in 42 degrees heat (in the shade)for best part of a day and half with no water. We tried to give this poor dog some water using our hosepipe through the fence. This summer there was a 6/8 weeks spell of relentless heat we had rain twice from end May to August you have no idea how many donkeys we saw chained up at the side of roads in the blazing sun with no water. Hardly any Bulgarians will consider neutering their animals so there are endless litters born time and time again. Most of them end up dumped on the streets and the ones that survive just end up having more puppies/kittens. Some of the bigger cities like Sofia, Varna have a neuter and release program. However outside the cities nothing is done to control the stray population. Official figures say there are 35000 strays in Sofia alone, however unofficial comments I read allegedly say there are a lot more than that. Also the same source mentioned that on avarage about 10000 dogs a year in Sofia disappear each year (fur trade was mentioned in this respect). Some of the strays lead solitary lives (if caught while fairly young they have a chance to be rehomable but there no homes for them to go to) and generally are shy and stay clear of humans, other live in packs and are very protective of their territory and pack members. The strays living in packs are the most dangerous ones (especially in winter when there is no much food about) and to be honest they are beyond help. I have hardly seen any old strays most are run over others die of various deases, sad to say the dead ones are the lucky ones, their suffering is over. The thing that upset me most about the animal situation in Bulgaria is the attitude of some expats who just see the strays as something to get rid as it is damaging their investment. One of the expats forum I frequent every time that any of us animals lover stand up for the strays or try do something to make their lives better we just get offensive remarks. The number of expats that have posted on there that all stray dogs should be killed (shot and even worse) is beyond belief. However there are some others that are really tryng to help if anyone wants to have a look go to link These are my Bulgarian babies First pic is from the top Barney (one of my 4 English dogs) Bella, Rocky, Tiggy and bottom our oldie girl Nell (again 1 of our 4 English dogs) Bella was a village stray, we took her in when she was 6 months old and the sweetest dog one could wish for. Sadly went to the bridge age 18 months. Rocky and Tiggy. We found their mother with her 4 pups right at the beggining of the village road and took all them in. The pups were only 2 weeks old and Rocky had a very bad eye infection. We rehomed 2 of the other puppies and the original owner claimed the mother back but didn't want to know about the puppies, surprise surprise. His version was that he lost the mother and couldn't find her (yeah right how could he have not spotted her right at the beginning of the village his beyond me ) Texas I found him beginning of June a 10 week old pup living at the side of a major road, there was not a part of his body that was not covered in ticks and fleas is now a beautiful cheecky 9 months old boy Texas shortly after we took him in Lilly found her in the village square with a burst tumour, my Bulgarian vet (a wonderful man) operated on her and in addition to the tumour he found gun pellets in her stomach. Sadly she died 4 days after surgery. She was between 8 and 11 years old and Stoyan (vet) said she must have been someone dogs at one time probably dumped when owner saw she was sick. Nobody should have died the way this poor woman did but I am sure all the blame will be put on the stray dogs and the result will be many many of them killed Sorry for the very long post.