For anyone who did not see the recently published "rescue profile" on the Nicosia Dog Rescue, the shelter consists of several run down old goat sheds, surrounded by chain link fence and is situated in Athalassa on the outskrirts of Nicosia Cyprus. It is staffed by English volunteers and funded entirely by charity. Although not a pleasant place, it is a loving home and last chance for 35+ beautiful dogs of all shapes and sizes.Tommy's story starts on a hot Cyprus morning in September 1995 when one of the shelter volunteers arrived to start the long hard job of cleaning and feeding the doggie residents.
She immediately noticed an emaciated, pathetic looking creature tied to the fence by a short length of rope. Whoever had dumped him had ensured his suffering by not only tying him so high up that the rope bit into his throat and he could not sit, turn around or lie down, but had tied him out of reach of shelter (average temperature 85 degrees) and the bucket of water specifically placed there for abandoned dogs. His eyes were void of life and he appeard to have given up completely. The worker immediately untied him and carried his lifeless skinny body into the shelter and placed him in a quiet shaded area with plenty of water. He drank the entire water bucket within seconds and was left alone to sleep and collect his senses. It would have been nice at this point to have been able to take him for veterinary treatment such as the RSPCA provides, unfortunately Cyprus has no such facilities and any treatment has to be paid for. The Shelter being a charity could not afford this and so the only option open to the shelter staff was self help treatment gained from previous experiences and administered with love and care.
Later that morning, whilst sorting out the scrap restaurant food which was to feed all of the dogs, the volunteer tried to select some "meaty" morsels to tempt the new arrival's appetite. Needless to say, he ate whatever he was given as he was absolutely starving and had obviously not eaten for some time. It was at this stage that it was decided to call him "Tommy". It was going to be a long hard road to recovery, but as with all of the dogs, they were worth it.
It was noticed on initial inspection that he had a registration number tattood in his ear, normally the sign of a Pedigree, well cared for animal. The number was reported to the Government Vet, who managed to trace the owner, who, when contacted, said "He had been a stud dog who could no longer perform - they no longer wanted him - we could have him"! Despite the terrible condition of Tommy no action was ever taken against the owner, unfortunately just another fact of living in Cyprus. We just considered ourselves lucky in having him to look after, at least he was now amongst people who would love and care for him.
Slowly, day by day, with an enormous amount of tender loving care and patience Tommy began to recover. The day he actually managed to get up onto his feet without help to welcome the helper was marked in the shelter diary in red ink. It was a remarkable recovery by a remarkable dog.
After one month in the shelter Tommy was introduced to the rest of the "gang" and although still a bit shaky and unsure, he was accepted like an old friend. It even appeared that the rest of the dogs knew they had to be gentle with him and one or two even looked as if they were actually encouraging him to come out of his shell and that it was in fact OK to be a dog. Tommy's progress came in leaps and bounds (literally). He started to fill out and his coat and eyes began to shine, although he still retained (and still does) some of his submissive traits (ie; cowering if anyone raised their voice or not being to sure if it was OK to come when being called to).
The months went by and Tommy became one of "the family". Visitors to the shelter came and went and although they all admired him it wasn't until one afternoon when a young American couple visited that things started to happen. The couple, Bruce and Jill, on holiday in Cyprus from the American Embassy in Israel, visited the shelter to walk the dogs and to see if they could be of help in any way. For some strange reason Tommy made his way through the crowd of dogs and gently placed his head on Jill's arm looking into her eyes all the time. Of course, it was love at first sight. They took him on long walks and visited him as often as they could whilst on holiday, but eventually had to return to Israel.
The weeks flew by when suddenly out of the blue a telephone call was received from Bruce and Jill in Israel enquiring after Tommy. Since being back in Israel they couldn't get him out of their minds and so had made the decision to give him a good, secure, loving home with them. Some six weeks since they had made the decision to take him and after a lot of paperwork, red tape, and visits to the vet, Tommy was at last ready for the flight from Larnaca, Cyprus to Tel Aviv, Israel. In fact the photo shows Tommy having a nice long bath on the afternoon before his flight.
Bruce and Jill keep in touch and say that they could not now imagine life without Tommy. He really does have his paws firmly under the table and settled in to a home environment right away, a far cry from living in a miserable life starving in someone's back yard in Cyprus. We think he really does deserve his loving home - it is difficult to imagine his first weeks at the Nicosia Dog Shelter - I am sure Tommy would rather forget them.
