Lisa

Oh boy, my post about humans being the lowest creatures on Earth has stirred a lot of people. Even my own dad wondered what the heck got into me! :-) Let me tell you a little story, just to show you once more what I mean.

This is Lisa. She's a two-year old cross-breed between a wolf and a dog and a rare but typical dog of these Emilian mountains. Her pedigree says "Apennine Sheperd Dog", a species which isn't internationally recognised yet but which they're trying very hard to make official. In Italian they commonly say "cane lupo" or "wolf-dog" because of her parentage. They were bred especially to guard sheep or goats because their scent is very similar to that of a wolf and therefore no wolf would dare to come closer because they take it that it is the territory of another pack of wolves. But their character is mostly that of a common dog, even more so because they're very calm and incredibly kind. This is her story...

Lisa (or originally named "Birba" like nearly all of her female kind is called, but we quickly changed that) was a dog that stole our hearts right from the first moment we saw her. One of the local sheep-farmers had bought her to guard his flock and since his stable is right down the main road through Carù, we nearly saw her every day. That's because... she was always tied to the stable wall with a heavy chain. During winter, when it's freezingly cold, or summer, when it's very hot and without the slightest bit of shadow to hide in. There she was. One hot summer day when she was still very young, we heard her screaming in agony because the sun was burning mercilessly upon her and she hadn't got a single drop of water. Christine immediately went to the owner's son, a good lad, and under the pretext of wanting to see his new dog, she asked if they could go down to her and give her something to drink. "Later", he replied, "when I've finished my game of football". As I said, he's a good kid. The problem is that this is the way people reason around here and hence this is how he got educated. It's ok to put dogs on a short chain in the baking sun all day without water because they'll manage. Over here, an animal is nothing more than a tool which you can simply dispose of if it doesn't function properly. And this is exactly what happened to Lisa.

As it turned out, Lisa wasn't the excellent sheperd the farmer had hoped for (between you and me, I seriously doubt whether he's really done any effort to train her) and so she had to go. Last Saturday, when Christine passed with the car, he suddenly waved at her and asked her to stop. "Would you like a dog", he asked her, knowing that we're animal lovers. Christine was a bit stunned by this to-the-point question and asked him what this was all about. So he explained that Lisa was no good to him and therefore either she had to go to an asylum or  she had to be put down. Which over here boils down to the same thing anyway. Christine felt gutted and couldn't believe that this was happening to this absolutely beautiful and kind dog. We had already been wondering about a dog for some time, mainly to keep foxes away from our chickens (we lost all of our chickens to foxes, by the way) and chase hunters' dogs out. And knowing that these wolf-dogs are so lovely we'd always said that if we ever got one it should be one of these. But then again, our cats would probably veto so we never did take a dog, also because a dog is much more of a responsibility than a cat. A cat will take care of itself and only come to you on its terms. Having a dog is like having a baby... you have to take care of it and spend a lot of time together. We weren't sure that we would be able to do that, given my autism, Christine's chronic fatigue and the care for our cats which already consumes a lot of our time and energy. But hence we were put before a terrible ordeal. Either we'd accept Lisa as a new member of our family, or she would be put down. 

Guess what we did? We took her. And with great joy, as a matter of fact. For the moment she's still tied to the stable because we want her shelter and everything else ready for her. But twice a day we pay her a visit, feed her decent dog food in stead of the rubbish and leftovers she's used to (she eats so frantically that she'd nearly choke, that's how much she's afraid that she won't get any more food!) and take her for a good walk. She absolutely loves to walk and Christine and I can't wait to take her to the wonderful trails that lead through our mountains. A couple of days ago we also already took her to the vet (who didn't know what to say anymore... after everything he's already been through with us! :-) ) and when she gets home we'll give her a nice bath and a good brushing, because the state she's in for the moment is absolutely appalling. 

We feel reassured because she's so gentle and relaxed. Cats pass by all the time and she doesn't try to run after them at all. Dogs are barking all around her and she doesn't bark back. She actually doesn't bark at all, except when Christine and I go home again. She also doesn't smell at all, and considering her condition that's pretty amazing. Something that put Christine and I off regarding dogs in the past, is that they usually smell pretty badly, apart from Huskies apparently. Is it because, just like the Husky, also she is closely related to the wolf? We don't know, but she hardly smells. It remains to be seen whether she'll be just as calm with our cats, but we're pretty certain she will. After all, the cats keep the house at least until it gets very cold again and in the beginning we'll keep her on a (long) leash in our field, partly protected by the trees and with a decent shelter at hand. The aim is that she'll get to know our field, claim it as her territory and remain in this area even without a leash. Although at night we'll still tie her up, just to be sure. And of course we'll take her out on a good walk every day. It's a good incentive to keep up my own condition as well because it's been lacking a bit these last few months. 

And judging by this last picture, do you think she's happy we took her?...