The Dogs of Greece

“Follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path" Steve Jobs

I am a dog person. I have 2 schnauzers, and when I travel I miss them terribly. I tend to notice dogs when we travel, and I quite often stop to talk to dog owners and ask if I can pet their dog. My husband always says that I need my “puppy fix.”

Dog in the Plaka, Athens

While traveling in Greece in 2007 I happened to notice that there were dogs roaming the streets in all the places we visited. The dogs were actually well fed and most had collars on, and seemed to be well taken care of. But they roamed free. While in the Plaka area of Athens one night I saw a woman playing ball with a dog, and I asked her if that was her dog. She said “Oh no, the dog doesn't belong to anyone, the dog is free, but all of us who work in the shops along this street take care of him. We feed him, and if he got sick, we would take care of him. But no one owns him.” I found that interesting. I asked in other areas and found that to be quite common. The people even registered the dogs so that they had collars and would not be picked up, but they did not own the dogs.

A dog who stopped for lunch with us on Crete

Another encounter with some dogs on the island of Crete was quite funny. We had just arrived on Crete and were at the airport to pick up our rental car. As we came out of the airport to get the car, there was a long line of parked motorcycles. The last motorcycle in the line had 2 dogs who were using the motorcycle as a pull toy. There was a dog on each side of the cycle and they were playing tug of war with it. They had already destroyed the seat – all that was left of it was bits of foam strewn about. The cords and chains were now being pulled out as the dogs tugged at either side of the cycle. We stood there and watched for a few minutes, and I told the dogs they were being “very bad dogs”, at which point they wagged their tails at me. We were laughing, but I am sure the owner of the cycle didn't laugh when he came out later to go home. He might have been an employee of the airport, and would not be happy at the end of his shift to find his transportation ruined.

Lycabettus Hill as seen from the Parthenon

And then our last day in Greece, we were back in Athens and had gone up to Lycabettus Hill for a view of the city. As we were walking down the hill, I heard a very mournful sound echoing. At first I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but finally I looked up. There was an apartment building, and on about the 4^th floor there was a very large Great Dane sitting on the balcony. There wasn't really room for the dog to do anything but sit, if he stood there wouldn't be room for him to even turn around. His head was up and he was crying, as if to say “I am the only dog in all of Athens who is not free. I am confined to this one small space.” I actually felt quite sorry for him. I don't know if he had to sit there everyday while his owners were at work, or maybe he had just been put out there because they had guests and didn't want him in their way. But he was an awfully sad dog.