Kiki, Martha, Marguerita and other dear friends, we miss you! The Greek government has placed a halt on the movement of rescued pets out of Greece. So six dogs and cats who were due to travel with us to wonderful new homes in the UK now have to wait — or may never even be allowed to travel.
TRACES certificates are a legal and reliable way of recording the movement of rescued and rehomed dogs and cats from one EU member state to another. But sadly for many dogs and cats, Greece has withdrawn TRACES certificates. We (and many others) are hoping it’s just a temporary measure and that the certificates will soon be available again. After all, they are an EU directive and all member states should fall in line, including Greece.
As always, however, we have pets joining our trip who are travelling to rejoin their owners. Yesterday we collected Pouca, whose odyssey took her from Chios via a number of other islands to meet us in Athens.
Hector — all 55kg of him — is named after the Trojan prince and mighty warrior who features in the Iliad. Hector is all those things and handsome too! He’s travelling with Jason, named after the Greek hero who made an epic voyage on his ship, the Argo, to rescue the Golden Fleece. Owner Elias named him Jason because he was originally a street dog and a wanderer. Their feline companion, Ririkos, was a street cat who adopted Elias and his family many years ago.
Frances brought us Boxoh, a Chihuahua, and Bilia, who has a Griffon look. The two dogs belong to Ioannis who’s moving with his wife to Basingstoke, to be with their daughter Lila. The trip has been planned for months, and now at last the day has come for the dogs to travel, so Ioannis can fly out to join his wife and daughter.
Next on board was cat Dusty, who moved with her owner Lisa to Athens about a year ago. Now the time has come for them both to return to the UK.
Last but not least we have Poodle Zarly, who belongs to Stelios and his family. They’ve been keeping an eye on our blog and our trip timetable, waiting for an opportunity to send for little Zarly.
Elias with Hector (L) and Jason (R). Jason looks to be planning his next trip. Left towards the ocean, or right towards the railway?
A closer look at gentle giant Hector
Ririkos, feline friend to Hector and Jason
Courier M (L) with Bilia, and Frances (R) holding little Boxoh
Bilia is a lovely friendly hound
Little Boxoh was quivering so much her holdall was rattling!
But with lots of cuddles, Boxoh was finally persuaded to emerge, looking very waggy tailed. Oh, it’s not so bad, she seems to be saying — and I have Bilia to look after me.
Lisa brings us her cat Dusty for the journey
Wonder what’s caught Dusty’s attention?
Nick and Eutuheia bring us Mini Poodle Zarly
Pretty Zarly is looking forward to being reunited with her family
wow Hector has giant paws, bet he could help me with my world tunnel :o) I cross my paws that the argonauts will find that golden fleece :o)
He certainly could give you a massive boost with that tunnel, Easy! They sure won’t give up trying 🙂
from big to small you do it all, safe travels
We sure do have the whole gamut this time!
What a GORGEOUS mixed group you have travelling this time! Big to small they are all gorgeous! I love them and have missed your travels!
Luvs
Marty’s Mom
Aren’t they a fun mix! Great to have you on board again 😉
Thanks guys 🙂
This is a good looking group of travelers!
And all very lovely with it!
Is Hector a mixed breed?
We’re not sure but he does look to be – whatever the mix, it’s a great one.
hope the rescued pets get to travel soon 🙂 i think Dusty saw a bird 🙂
Yes, it is such a shame that they have homes to go to and can’t get there 🙁 You may well be right!
so much going on in Greece these days…hopefully they’ll come around soon so these wanted pets won’t miss their opportunity to have a forever family
I took one look at Hector and fell just a little bit in love!
He does that – you want to give him a great big hug!
Hector is a cutie! Akita? I had me one of those. She was a great doggy.
He’s gorgeous – don’t think Akita but he may well have some in the mix.
I like the dog woolly.
Got to keep warm if you’re moving from Greece to the UK.
Wanna rub my face on Hector
Yup, he does have that effect!
What wonderful people you are!
😀
Sad about the rescued pets not being able to travel – we hope that gets “fixed” soon…..meanwhile what a lovely crew you have on this trip!
Pam and Sam
We do hope so too Sammy – hope that it’s a slight break and when the ban is lifted, it’ll all work much better.
Beautiful group. Looks like Zarly is practicing the ol’ stiff upper lip for the return to the UK, say what? 😉
Certainly with attitude! The girl has style 😀
Zarly looks like the perfect compliment to my Nemisis! (Sissy for short) 😀
Sissy – a nemesis? What’s up? They sure would look good together!
It seems that Eric didn’t care for dogs… until he met Sissy, so I thought Nemesis would be a fun way to tease him. It works well with her real name, too! 😀
Eric is lucky to have Sissy bringing him round! What’s Sissy short for?
When our previous poodle (Dude) was getting old and blind, I thought it might be a good idea to get him a little sister (thus- Sissy) as a seeing eye dog. Well, Dude was too used to being the only dog and getting grumpy, so they didn’t get along well. NemeSIS seems to shorten to Sissy as well, so that worked, too. We call her that for fun every now and then. She doesn’t seem to mind.
Ah, that explains it! Doesn’t matter what you call a dog as long as love is in your voice 😉
I so hope that the law changes for those rescue pets who so deserve that second chance that you all give them
Aaaahhhh – yes! We hope it’s a short wait and that when the ban gets lifted, everyone understand the new rules and regulations and none of the confusion remains.
Giants and pixies. Hope Greece opens up again. Not right when some don’t play fair. Safe travels.
So do we – it does seem unfair on the animals but then, when it all opens up again hopefully everyone will understand the rules a little better.
I hope the stuff about the TRACES certificates gets sorted soon.
I thought Hector looked about the same size as me – he weighs just 1kg more than I do.
It will be wonderful when everyone understands and appreciates the TRACES regulations. You two certainly have the same stature!