Two days ago we were going to work in Camara de Lobos and we say the most miserable sight possible – a little dog in so much pain and suffering and nobody giving a damn. It acutely reminds me of why I left my country and why I never want to live there again.  I don’t get the selective vision in people, how they can walk around a creature in so much pain and ignore it. I’ve never been able to get it. People say to me, my closest people, that I should harden up a bit. I wish I could but it breaks my heart just as much as it used to when I was little. I understand why my mum and dad kept me away from the strays – they didn’t want me to witness their suffering and be helpless.

I spent two thirds of my life being helpless about stray animals. And then I met Steve. He has the strongest drive and energetic attitude I have seen. I admire him so much. He helped me realise in practice so many of my dreams. One particular aspect is helping strays. He cares deeply about animals and will turn the world to help them. However, he is also able to keep a level head and not get emotional as fast as me. So, we were walking together, just about to collect some money from some students and there was the dog – it had the most enormous black tumor you can imagine. He was laying there in plain sight and none of the passers by was at all bothered. The ‘student’ we were meeting was so narrow-minded and unintelligent that she thought the tumor was a puppy. How can a puppy hang out the side of a dog’s stomach? And even so, if there is a problematic birth, don’t you care?! Steve was boiling inside, I could see he was going to say or do something rash and I was completely devastated. And again the feeling of hopelessness crept in – the feeling that again I live in a country that doesn’t give a damn about anything but human supremacy.

We managed to compose ourselves and try to think of a solution – we don’t have a car and no taxi would put a dirty filthy street mutt with a blood sack on its side in his car. I say his car because of course the concept of a female driver is completely foreign on these shores. Both sexes here are of the opinion that women are best suited for the kitchen and the nursery… Oh it makes my blood boil. I have never thought that the Portuguese are so backward. I thought that there aren’t more backward people in Europe than the Bulgarians but there you go, evidence to the contrary that we may not be the worst in the EU. I’m not sure this is  a reason for pride for either country.

In any case, the dog was not going to save itself so it was up to us to do something. We tried phoning people and realised the municipal animal shelter has closed down operations… probably due to lack of interest. Stumped… Did not want to spend another £100 that we didn’t have on vet’s bills. So, one of our students said she would help. She had a car and despite not liking animals she said she would help. I liked that attitude – it may not be your fight but if there is suffering right under your nose, you don’t just play three wise monkeys and ignore it. Good for Silvia, I am really grateful for her support. What followed was a day-long ordeal of phone calls and trying to push these lazy bastards into doing their jobs properly! NO luck. By 5pm the following day nobody had done anything.

Finally I managed to speak with the Vice President of the municipality and she showed some signs of life – i.e. she didn’t just shrug it off. I asked her to plead with the municipal shelter from the next town to take the dog in and put it to sleep. They kept asking – can it walk? Well, if it can walk, we can’t take it, we are full. That dog only needed one thing – one injection to end its pains and they wouldn’t even consider it. I kept telling them it won’t need rehoming or an expensive surgery but no, they weren’t having any of it. Finally, thanks to the kind lady from the municipality, the voluneer firefighters picked it up this morning and took it to the shelter.

I hope he dies quickly and painlessly.

I hope for my own sanity we don’t have many more of these cases.

I love you, Steve, thank you for all your support when I’m covered in snot and tears and I’m not at all attractive.

Peace.

Often when we don’t know what to say or how to say it we talk to the dog. Mine is an expert even though I am sure that I have much more open than average communication within my family. It’s hard sometimes to know the effect of things before they actually drop out of your mouth and tumble into the living room. I do that often, saying the wrong thing. I end up hurting people. I end up thinking about it later and saying to myself how stupid I’ve been. In my opinion, the best policy is to apologise. And here comes the question in question. Do we open up old wounds to say sorry or do we just leave it be? How can we know which is better? Better still, how do we know which is worse, seeing that we usually tend to chose the lesser of two weevils.

Sometimes I feel like something somewhere made me a socially inadequate person. I can’t shake off that feeling – the feeling of being awkward. I’ve never really known how I should act – I just do. I get genuinely astonished when something bad results from my actions. I suppose that’s what people call – ‘she has her heart in the right place’. As a socially awkward person I get exuberant and excited about small things and sometimes I don’t know when to stop. I don’t think I could even if I knew how to. Is this this naivety that people talk about? Sometimes still I get sensitive about attitudes – reality is never a problem for me, it’s other’s attitude towards it. So when this happens, the dog always knows. She knows how I feel, without doing psychology classes in school. Here she comes now, just to sit with me. Empathy is a bitch.

Now, let’s talk about expectations. That’s what I really dislike in this life. Other people’s expectations. I think some of my awkwardness comes from not wanting to meet people’s expectations. Even the dog expects things from me. When I’m sad, she comes and becomes upset too. Well, to hell with me, but I don’t want her to be upset. So I have to man up and lower my anxiety so as not to bother the dog. I don’t think that’s healthy at all. It can’t be, it’s suppressed feelings and words. It’s not right. Bollocks to this growing up business. Let it all out, that’s what I think. I can’t though, as others around me get upset because of it. So I don’t.

Steve often says I’m a person of extremes. Really? I don’t know. Maybe I am. Maybe my understanding of what extremes are is different from other people’s because I don’t really feel very extreme. In fact, I think I let so much go that it’s criminal. I feel quite balanced. I don’t think being balanced means you have a static mellow mood. I think that it means you don’t have moods only in one spectre. I’ve always resented it when people get scared of extreme happiness, of long-lasting unexplainable optimism and positivity. Of course, balance in mind, quite deep sadness is also on the menu somewhere along the way. The reasons for this, I think stem from the past (oh, how psychological of me). It’s true, though, once your body feels that rush of adrenalin when you know something really serious is happening its tolerance level forever remembers that rush and is always ready for another one.

Do I feel guilty about it? No, not at all. I feel accomplished. Only not as much as I believe, thus the need for writing a blog. Its the cat-dog state of mind that I have. It’s a bit like two personalities, but mine are not split, rather the two representations of the same thought process. This does cause problems for me because I only have one way of thinking. I do, however have almost  more than one independent attitudes towards it. Can you relate? I welcome any advice. It doesn’t mean I’ll agree with it.

One thing that really gets me upset almost every time it happens is warnings. People who love me want to give me warnings. When they do, I often get annoyed at them. It’s a cat-dog thing. The reality is clear to all parties. The advice is welcomed. The advice is also the worst thing that could be said in that particular moment. I always used to have an issue with my parents telling me I have to take advice. I thought, well, I have to experience it for myself. But this is not true, of course. of course they are right to warn me. So why the hell does it make me so angry? How angry I get hasn’t diminished for the last 15 years. Just like the exuberance. So, this is part of the social awkwardness. It seems that I’m not really growing and maturing as expected. I could be all arrogant and say well, fuck it, I like will break my head X amount of times. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not because I think I know it all, it’s not to spite people or even to prove them wrong. It’s just about expectations. Other’s expectations. I know I don’t live on a desert island isolated from humanity … oh wait, I do! I live in Madeira. Joking aside, I love my family and love their care. I don’t need directions so often as they think. It stops me from being exuberant and, like stated above, I don’t really feel bad about this at all.

Time to go have some food. I am so grateful that my family eats together, always has, always will. It makes a lot of the awkwardness go away. The cat-dog thing we will talk about some other time. Peace x

Well, this blog is just as much a path to self-discovery as it is for information about traveling with a big dog. Thus, the name 🙂 And you thought it wasn’t logical.

We got Shayla when she was 1 year old and this completely changed my life. I had never had a dog before and it was straight in the deep end for me. It was great in the UK where most things are dog friendly. However, if you, like me have a very wriggly hedgehog in your trousers than traveling is on the agenda very often. I love going abroad, by plane, by land or by anything that moves, really. So, the first time we went for a proper journey with Shay was very interesting, very tiring and full of life-long memories.

Let’s quickly cover the basics: I will try to give you practical advice on how to travel with your big dog in and out of the UK, around Europe and hopefully beyond by public transport. My dog is a German Shepherd, female, adult 5yo, weighs about 34kg and is generally very well behaved. Unless there is a squirrel around… Or a piece of cheese 🙂

The 2014 European trip

Why didn’t we fly like normal people? Well, because we aren’t normal people 🙂 Next question!

I like to travel but it seems nowadays people are in such great hurry to get to the destination. I like the journey too. I especially like to feel the distance, the road, the movement. I’ve flown across Europe a number of times and it just looks like a really small land. However, it is actually quite a large continent. Yes, a whole continent. Nothing brings it home better than traveling over land with luggage. And a dog. On a budget.

Dog traveling documents

Shay had a microchip already so no problems there. Issuing her with a a passport and the medical check up that goes with it cost a total of £100ish in our local Sheffield vet. The check up has to be done within a month of traveling (these deadlines are always subject to change so make sure you double and triple check with this website: UK GOV PETS)

The dog has to have a rabies vaccination. Now this is really important. It takes 21 days for the immunity to kick in so you cannot travel until 21days from the day following the vaccination (effectively 22 days).

Here comes the most difficult part – exit and entry points for the UK for the dog. These are limited so make sure you plan your holiday accordingly. Click here for up to date information. Basically, if you live in the North, head for Hull and if you are South, Harwich, Plymouth or Portsmouth.

Seeing that you are a foot passenger, remember that not all ferries take foot passengers. We had to go for Harwich-Hook of Holland with Stena LInes because P&O didn’t accept foot passengers on the Hull routes at the time. This seems to have changed now. Stena did Rail and Sail options which are great because you get to continue your onward journey through Holland as far as the German border without any further payment.

Here I will tell you a bit more about the ferry crossing and the facilities for dogs. First of all, Stena line staff were very polite and helpful with the booking process. Their pet site covers most questions you may have and they are happy to chat on the phone too. I wish a had a photo from the kennels but I don’t, so here is a verbal description. You are welcomed aboard and shown by the reception staff to the kennels. They give you a code with which you can unlock the door of the kennel room. The room is large enough in my opinion and there were approx 10 kennels. It cost £15 to book Shay in which was a small price to pay compared to flying. There are washing facilities and bedding, it’s clean and tidy. There are two sets of steps that lead past the small kennels room to the dog deck.

I thought that was a touch small but I’m not complaining. Also, we could have really done with some seating there. We brought out some chairs. We stayed out there with Shay for most of the journey because we don’t want to leave her alone. It’s not that she is needy but we are family and we travel together. We confidently left her in the kennels a few times to get some beers and even put a £1 fool’s bet on the Roulette. The longest we left her for was a movie and when we came back, there was another dog in the room and they seemed to be getting along just fine. Later it started wailing a lot and Shay was not impressed. We had to keep her out on the deck for a while because the other dog was really distressed. Its owners soon sorted that out and they had a play on the dog deck together. All was well at the end. When traveling with a dog, you have to disembark last after all the other passengers. On we went, still quite fresh and with a rather confused dog – she had no idea that was not the end of the journey 🙂

We had Interrail tickets which are currently around £200 per person. Definitely worth every penny. They also give you discounts for many ferry routes especially in the Mediterranean so if you are going that way, you can save even more. With these tickets you can freely move around the continent and if you go on the regional services and the slower trains, they cover the price fully. Many services charge supplements though so plan your route well. Also, I would avoid France like the plague because they charge supplements even on the slowest regional trains so you really have to fork out a lot more if you are going through France.

Dog tickets, now here you have to pay it, no way out. In Holland they do a dog day ticket which is about £4. GREAT! We loved their trains, all was ok there. Germany is a bit expensive though. Dog tickets on DB are half priced adult tickets. Always buy a ticket for your dog because they will not let you off. Having said that, on the way back we were so skinned we hid the German Shepherd behind the suitcases and the ticket guy didn’t spot her. It was a very busy train.

Then, we encountered the Swiss and we were really happy with their attitude towards Shay. She had a dog day ticket there too for the perfectly reasonable price of 35 Franks  which is approximately £25.

Once we got to the Saas region, we stayed in a fantastic campsite in Saas Grund which was perfectly dog friendly! Camping am Kapellenweg was clean, reasonably priced, the shop had all we needed and the facilities were more than adequate. We had an upgrade for next to nothing from a tent space to a caravan!

In the Saas valley all your transport is covered by your Saas passport so no extra hidden charges there. Dog was a bit perturbed about cable cars but got the hang of them quickly, clever girl!

She loved the long walks in the sun and snow and so did we. I really fell in love with Switzerland and while I couldn’t live there because it’s just so maddeningly perfect, I will definitely be going back a few times in this lifetime. I would love to take Shay there again because she loved it and so did we.

More to come in a few days when I get some more writing time in 🙂

It’s nice that I can sit with a laptop on my knees watching the palm trees swaying in the Caribbean hurricane outside. Ok, maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit.

Let’s start at the middle because there isn’t a better place to start. If you start at the beginning you really have to have the confidence you can structure and order your thoughts so they make sense. I’m not sure I can do that. If you start at the end, you might as well just eat the ice-cream starting with the stick. Not nice.

So, I’m in my lunch break, thinking how to tell my story and how to make sure it’s worth people’s time to read it. I think everybody loves a good moan so I’ll do that. I don’t like standing still. I don’t like it, never have, and if you are a weirdy beardy psychologist, I suppose you will think it all stems from my childhood. I loved reading probably out of necessity because Sofia was quite a dirty and dangerous place when I was little. So, stuck at home, I learned to travel the world through books. Of course, nothing new here, millions of children grow up this was. I think the difference is that most of them don’t do anything about it when they grow up and just perpetuate the bullshit: ‘I can’t travel now, I haven’t got any cash!’ or ‘But I can’t leave my job now…’ Yes, judgmental old me thinks this is bullshit. Of course you can.

Forward 20 or so years and I realised I live in a beautiful country which is suffering many social problems. I will not defend Bulgaria here, it’s not what I believe in. I think that there aren’t too many good things there. How can narrow-mindedness be good? How can pollution and lack of care for your land be good? How can corruption and poverty be good? No. You don’t have to be a patriot to be a good person. I believe in this wholeheartedly. Also, on a lighter note, nobody can convince me that you have to take the rough with the smooth for some outdated idea of country borders. No, I disagree. You can practically be a citizen of the world if you choose this.

Choice. There is always choice. Sometimes, it’s not great but you always have it. Do we have a choice to love our parents, yes of course. Do we have a choice to love our country, yes. Absolutely. Do we have a choice to love ourselves. I think so, yes. People think they are amazing and yet they forget this the most simple fight or flight instinct which we all innately have. I think there is nothing shameful about flight. Not every fight is worth it. I for one do not want to be ground down by inhospitable social conditions. I don’t see the point. Why wait when you can have happiness now?!

Maybe you think this is craving the instant gratification. No, that’s different. What I’m talking about is the realisation that you don’t have to wait your whole life and displace your happiness along the way in favour of some abstract future reward or somebody else’s happiness. Egoistic? I don’t think so. Far too long have people relied on somebody else to tell them what makes them happy. Altruism, like humility, is for people who lack other qualities. Why? I think that your own happiness is your own responsibility. If you are not in control of yourself then you are not contributing to the species as much as you should. You are relying on somebody else to sort you out and you can just happily stumble through life without taking it in. You are the egoist, not me. No, I stand proud in the knowledge that my mind is so confusing that nobody else can figure it out but me. And Steve. But that’s a different blog entry 🙂

Gotta go to work. Peace and love!

 

In a few words, so this blog begins. I hope that it will be interesting and up to date. I am a simple person, I have simple dreams. They are not, however, small. That’s why I though it’s probably a better idea to unload them onto a page than to keep them crammed up in my head – it can get busy in there. SO, I will start with some stories of daring adventures from the last year. In true Star Wars style, I will probably then follow up with some retrospect on the past 6 years. Let me warn you now, you will probably be subjected to many rants and moans about dogs and all things dog related. No apologies there. Love you all, I hope I can give you something interesting to read and I hope to make some more thinking space for myself through this blog thing.