Christmas Crazy Eyes

Recently, my blog seems to be heading down the “all about animals” route. The truth is, I started this blog in order to share my words (as well as some experiences) with others and also to try and find out a bit more about myself. Lately I’m noticing that almost every idea that pops into my head is dog related , and today this post is no different. I’d like to take you back to my days in Spain and tell you the story of how a little dog called Christmas, came into our lives.

Back in 2012 I was walking home from work after finishing the night’s classes (I was a teacher in an English Academy) and chatting to a workmate about her plans for the Christmas holidays. So, about halfway into the short stroll home, my boyfriend called to tell me that there was a dog in the hallway of our building and none of the neighbours were claiming it. He knew I wouldn’t be able to just leave it or let it run out into the street again, and when I saw the little thing cowering in the corner I had to help. I had to do something. I’ve always liked animals, but ever since I had adopted my Bruno and Lola a few years earlier, I had become rather concerned for any stray dog or cat I found wandering the Spanish streets.

The following 24 hours were emotional.My colleague had come to check out the dog situation with me (turned out she had seen it near our work place on a few occasions…all alone) and we went straight to the vets. There we discovered that our little friend was a “she”, had no chip identification, no apparent health issues and was possibly 4 or 5 years old. I then made a few calls (it was a Friday night) and an animal rescuer from a shelter agreed to pick her up on Monday and take care of her while we were away. As my boyfriend and I were flying back to England for the Christmas holidays, before we left on the Saturday afternoon we had to leave her in the care of someone else for 2 nights. Although I’d only known her for 24 hours, watching her being walked away from me was quite upsetting. We had just found her and given her food and a home for the night and the poor thing was in for a few days of confusion. It was hard to do, but given the situation is was the best we could do in the moment.

After a week of festivities at home, we returned to Spain and our (super excited) stray was brought back to us; it became our mission to find her the perfect home. Sadly, I knew we couldn’t keep her. She was bigger than our 2 dogs and we lived in a flat with 3 others, so I didn’t think that would be the best place for her. Whilst in search of a new home for her, we decided to name her Christmas. We agreed this was fitting with the time of year we had found her 🙂 She was really nervous, skittish, quite yappy around men and she was not a fan of bigger dogs. We actually nick named her Christmas Crazy Eyes. because there were moments when her eyes looked as if they were going to pop out! At first though it was hard seeing her like that, as she really was frightened. We tried not to think about what she may have been through before we found her.

I became very find of our little Christmas and I was overjoyed when a friend of mine offered to take her in. We kind of agreed to a dog share. She would go and live with my friend but would come for visits and stay overs now and then. That way it was great because it meant that I would still get to see her and I knew she was going to a good place.  It was a relief knowing that after whatever may have happened in the past, she was going to have lots of love and care now.

After 2 years my friend left Spain as she had made plans to go travelling, so Christmas moved back in with us, but it wouldn’t be for long. I’m very lucky to have some amazing friends both here in England and in Spain; one of those wonderful people is a lovely lady called Debora. She and her fiancé (Matt) would become the new owners of Christmas.  The couple had been working with me for a year at the academy, and when I told them about Christmas, Debora (a big animal lover) was desperate to meet her. I was a little nervous at first because I was worried that poor Christmas had been moved about a fair bit, but after just one evening together, I was certain that everything was going to be just fine. Although in only 2 years, our little friend had lived in 3 different houses, I knew that she was better off than if we had left her on the streets; now she was better than ever. I couldn’t have left her with a nicer, kinder, more loving person.

I no longer live in Spain but I recently went back for a visit and I was fortunate enough to be able to meet up with Debora and Chritsmas. She was so excited when she saw me, jumping all over me and excitedly barking! At one point I think she was actually looking for my dogs, (we had met up many times and walked all the dogs together and let them play) she was sniffing all around me and looking behind me. I was so happy to see her, and watching her with Debora was great too. She has been training the dog and she is definitely a lot more relaxed than when we found her. It’s been an emotional ride for us all, but I’m so glad we found Christmas that evening and I am over the moon seeing how loved she is, and how much love she gives in return.