Lottery Winners

This is what MOH (my other half) calls our four dogs. We’ve adopted them one at a time over the past two years. Each one was found on the street. MOH says that makes them lottery winners because of the massive amount of dogs that don’t have homes here. Naples has an enormous amount of strays on its streets and it is truly hard to see them and not have your heart break. I am an animal person. I like them more than most people I know. My next post is going to be very nasty, so I thought I’d start with my little tribe of successes. The following pictures are courtasy of a very good friend of mine who also occasionally dog-sits for us.

Dolce



Dolce was our first find a little over two years ago (she's my profile pic). She was found wandering the streets by an acquaintance of mine who already had two large dogs and didn’t have room for another. We had the room and happily took her. She is the sweetest, most loving, intelligent dog I’ve met. She listens and obeys so well that I don’t think she began her life as a stray. I think she must have been abandoned.

Skipper



MOH found Skipper in the alley where we used to live in Casal di Principe. He told me he had seen a little dog laying out there that didn’t look so good. We walked out there together and found her laying in a pile of trash. She was so pitiful and when I tried to stand her up she fell back over. I told MOH we had to take her home. He picked her up and carried her back to our house. We fed and bathed her and waited to see how she would do with Dolce. They were great! Skipper got her name because her two hind legs could not move independently of each other. She jumped along with a funny kind of hop, or skip, hence: Skipper. X-rays from the vet showed a shattered hip, most likely from being hit by a car. She has healed remarkably well, and though she may have some trouble when she’s older, can easily out run the rest of them.

Maxwell


If you read my post “Maxwell vs. the Rat” then you know his history. MOH golfs on the weekends and noticed a little black puppy digging through trash at a nearby restaurant both mornings that he went out. He said that on his way home the second day the puppy was still there and he pulled over. He opened his car door and called to him and he ran over and jumped right in. He knew a good thing when he saw it! Maxwell was a destructive pain in the ass at first, but won me over after crawling in my lap and going to sleep. 47 pounds later he still crawls in my lap to sleep and has the sweetest personality.

Caesar



Sweet little Caesar was found at one of our favorite restaurants in Villa Literno (from the Pizza Pizza post). We were sitting outside eating one evening and this little dog tried to come up to me to beg for food. One of the waiters quickly chased him off. He was in the parking lot (waiting for me I have no doubt) when we finished and came up to me when I bent down to call him. I grabbed him up and took him home. He was a challenge to potty train, but finally came around. I almost put him up for adoption with Naples Friends of Animals, but changed my mind at the last minute. I just couldn’t give him up! He is a little charmer who has me completely wrapped around his sweet, tiny paw.

I will never understand people who can just toss animals aside as if they are inconveniences. I am sure that at least two of mine were previously someone’s pets and it sickens me that they were treated like garbage. If you have an animal that you can no longer care for then find it another home. The odds of it making it on its own are zero. More on that in my next post.