William, Mutt and Geoff — and Davies will make four

Lucy and Dawn have been raising funds to bring four rescue dogs to the UK from Greece. A splendid-sounding friend put them in touch with Conrad from the Friends of Animals — Nea Filadelfia group, who has encouraged their fundraising and helped them organise the dogs’ travel.

William, Mutt and Geoff are all on the current Animalcouriers trip; Davies will follow next month once the money has been raised to fund his journey.

Lucy tells us how it all started:

“In 2011 I took a year out to do some travelling and ended up on a Greek Island called Syros for five months, volunteering at a privately run shelter. During that time we found homes for lots of the 20 or so dogs, and I brought two home to England with me, doing the same journey these dogs are doing now.

During my time there William was taken in at the shelter after being thrown into a kennel at the island’s (full-to-bursting) dog pound. The other dogs inside the cage had almost killed him and he was found wedged between two kennels for safety. This was around the time of the royal wedding, hence his name. I tried really hard to find a home for him but was unsuccessful.

I’ve always kept in touch with the owner of the shelter, affectionately known as Mrs B. She’ll be 82 this year and after rescuing dogs for over 30 years, quite rightly now wishes to retire. In December last year she phoned me to ask if I knew of anyone who would want two Pointer puppies who had just been thrown into her garden. As it turned out, my friend Dawn had just lost her Pointer in a tragic accident. She decided that giving these two puppies a home would be the perfect tribute to her much loved dog who had passed. So we started fundraising to get them to the UK. From there, things grew and grew.

Another friend, Sue, who had spent a month in Greece with me is now in a situation where she can have a dog. As William was always her favourite, we decided to bring him back too. Mrs B then asked us if we could find a home for her last remaining dog, a Spaniel called Davies, as she can then retire.

There was no room for Davies on this trip, but he’ll be coming at the end of March and we’re still looking for a home for him. Please contact me on 07709 338570 if you have room in your lives for him. He has also been dumped at the island’s dog pound, where he was tied to a kennel full of dogs on such a short leash the dogs inside could reach him and almost killed him. Fortunately, he was taken to Mrs B’s sanctuary and nursed back to health.

Mrs B put me in touch with Conrad, who has been amazing, organising everything and keeping in touch, and encouraging us to keep going with the fundraising. We wouldn’t have been able to do this with out him. We are still working hard fundraising to get Davies to the UK. We thank Conrad and the team at Animalcouriers for looking after our boys so well — we can’t wait for them to arrive and start their new lives.”

A very young Mutt and Geoff

William in the sun

Handsome Davies who’s still looking for a new home