Benno – a special encounter

In order to tell the story of Benno, we must go back a little further this time.

The story began at the end of March, when two tourists made a short trip from Germany to Cyprus.

Actually, they should have gone on a trip to on Sunday to Nicosia, but they have never actually saw anything of Nicosia! Nevertheless, the two say that Cyprus is a beautiful island with friendly people.

As they drove one afternoon down from the highway towards the hotel, they saw for the first time a dark fuzzy shadow, but only very briefly. The fuzzy shadow sat between a garden and a fence and didn’t know seem to know what to do, because on the one hand there was the fence, an escarpment and the road, and behind him was the highway.

The couple continued their drive down the road. But they were depressed, ashamed and surprised by the moment. Their thoughts were of the black shadow. What could they  have done?
Again at night  thoughts of this incident went round and round their heads. Had the black shadow has been abandoned?

After two days they ran to the car in the morning, as they had planned to go on an excursion to Nicosia. Actually they wanted to experience the culture of Nicosia. But as so often in life, things don;t always turn out how you expect.

Suddenly he was back, next to their car, in the shade under a tree. There he lay, just like that. The apartment was at least 5 kilometre away from the motorway exit! This could not be a coincidence. The woman knelt down to the dog, whereupon he came to her as if he did that every day.

She thought he was such a sweet boy, so cuddly and yet lost…
Again they kept thinking about the situation and they were wondering what they could do and what they wanted to do.

The woman went back to her apartment to fetch water and dry bread. She asked the people at the guesthouse who they could ask for some active support in Cyprus for the dog. They realised immediately that help for a stray dog ​​is not as easy to find as in their home country in Germany. They felt confused about  how to take care of a stray dog ​​on holiday. She could feel the lack of understanding from the people she asked for help, but she got the most necessary informations.

As already mentioned, it was Sunday and they really did want to go to Nicosia!

The black fuzzy shadow was now called Benno and he drank all the water they put down for him.

The couple were not sure what they should do because he could possibly be owned by people who had lost him.

They got into the car and drove off. But they came made it to the end of the village. They looked at each other and thought: „to hell with Nicosia“. That was from now on their standard phrase and would remain so until the end of their holiday. That was not meant against the city, but for them the dog was more important than a trip to Nicosia.

Benno was very happy to see the couple again. The woman stayed with him and her husband went up to the apartment to do some research on the internet. He was looking for someone who could really help Benno.

Benno looked very sweet, with beautiful eyes and he trusted these people. They would have liked to have wrapped him up and taken him to Germany. But they were in Cyprus and they already had two large dogs at home in Germany.

After an hour the man came back. He had finally found a phone number, but a number from Germany.

He called the Cyprus dogs help in Germany and they gave him the number of Barbara. Barbara was reachable on a Sunday (actually it should have been her first day off for a long time, but Barbara threw her entire days planning overboard) and for the couple and Benno there was finally hope.

The couple had some time before meeting with Barbara and so they took Benno with them in the car. They drove with him, smiling and with the phrase „to hell with Nicosia in their heads,“ through the wonderful area. Benno enjoyed being in the car and was not anxious at all. They took him for a run for few meters, but Benno seemed to be in pain, which is no suprise as he had already been lost or abandoned for at least two days.

They found a lake and went down there with him. He began to splash about in the water and had great fun. Then Barbara came and took Benno to a vet. The vet xrayed Benno and this showed that he suffers from hip dysplasia.

Benno is such a sweet, lovable and friendly dog. He shows such a pure joy of life and we hope that he will quickly find a great home, possibly ground level because of his hip dysplasia.

We guarantee that with Benno pure sunshine will be brought into your house.  Every time you wake up in the morning he will put a smile on your face.

 

Our thanks go to the animal loving couple who had not closed the eyes, but decided to rescue Benno. Our thanks go also to Barbara, who has sacrificed her only free day, to free Benno from his predicament. Many thanks to all involved.