DON'T Give a Dog a Bone.....

So for those of you who have traveled before you might already know this, but for those of you who have not, the following short story might shock you a bit. In many countries, especially poorer ones, stray dogs run rampant. And I mean rampant. They travel in packs, are treated poorly by locals, and are in desperate need of food. For those of us who are avid and loyal dog lovers seeing the number of stray animals can be tough emotionally. There are a few things you want to keep in mind when you find yourself in a country that does not value the lives of animals the way we do. One: you cannot judge or criticize the way local deal with stray animals. To them a stray is nothing more than a flea infested, diseased mongrel that is nothing more than a nuisance. People are brought up to be culturally different and when you are in someone elses backyard, you have to play by their rules. Second: do NOT feed them. Pack animals will fight over scraps and it's a scary and sad sight. And if you feed them they will follow you around until you get back on a plane to go home. It is definitely not the way to spend your awesome vacation at the beach in Greece. Take my friend Karina for example. She is a huge sap when it comes to dogs. While we were in Vrahati, Greece, she decided she would give a small pack of stray dogs some bread to eat. Little did she know that is doing such an act of kindness, she had unintentionally adopted 5 filthy strays. They followed her back to the house we were living in, waited outside until she came out again, and followed her everywhere. We even went out drinking one night and found her passed out on the lawn surrounded by the pack. It was almost like they were protecting her. It was a ridiculous scene to say the least. She even named them all: Bob, Rufus, Will, something to that effect. Needless to say in feeding the pack Karina established a bond, but unfortunately our time in Greece was limited. The dogs became dependent on her for food and once we left they were forced to scavenge again. Feeding stray dogs is like feeding ducks. Once you throw them a bone, they won't leave you alone. I have more stray dog stories, funny stories, but they will have to wait for another day.

Cheers,
Danni

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