Zambia - the original Greek Mountain Dog

Zambia was a "Greek Mountain Dog" (in that she was Greek by birth, lived in the mountains of Crete and of course was a dog! - this is her story in her words:

I was born in Crete at a potential riding centre where I spent the first two (or three) of my years tied to a tree. At last Gillie arrived on the scene to run the riding centre and I soon charmed her into letting me free. As often as she let me free to play the owner of the place would order me to be tied up again. Soon after Gillie arrived, I produced a litter of puppies.. at the time I was so thin that nobody even knew I was pregnant. Gillie was astounded to see the puppies one morning and thrilled of course. However, when they were two weeks old, the owner came along and took all but one of my pups…we don’t know where. When my son, Toby was eight weeks old I looked a bit rough as mothers do…. The owner came along again and took me and another dog called Harry far up into the mountains and dumped us. Well I was a bit confused so I set off to find home again. En route I found another riding centre where one man was kind to me and fed me, so I stayed there for a while…..Well miracle above miracle I was out with the horses one day and when I came back there was Gillie again..at the far end of the field.. I don’t think she recognised me as I had a lovely dark thick coat again by now and I had put on quite a bit of weight… but I soon showed her who I was and we were inseparable from that moment.

We lived together for four years in Crete doing all sorts of things, lots of dramas and lots of excitement. We used to take day trips up into the hills to a Kafeneon where I would usually arrive first.. always took the short cuts, and the café owner would welcome me and give me a drink and a biscuit..everyone knew me. I brought lots of puppies into the world, I even brought up an abandoned kitten with one litter and he grew to be a massive black cat who thought he was a dog. During this time some horrible man tied tins to my tail one day when Gillie was out without me and again dumped me up in the mountains. For five days I tried to get home, but the tins got all caught up in trees and shrubs and it was some time before I could get the string off…by that time my tail had gone black and gangrenous and was dropping off.. I finally found my way back (Gillie had been out on horseback day and night to find me, but to no avail) now with only a bone sticking out of my tail. This soon dropped off and now I have a little stump!! Well lots of dogs have docked tails.!!!

In 1984, we came home from Greece to the UK…what an experience going on an aeroplane!! I was not nearly as bothered as Gillie about this.. but I was pretty upset to be taken straight to prison for six months.. I was so bored I decided to sleep until Mum came every weekend to see me when I went berserk.. At last I came out of quarantine to this strange country …..it was November, freezing cold and I met a completely new family all of whom were kind to me!!

I had one litter of pups after my arrival in the UK, and then later another. (At this point Animal Aunts was set up (1987). It was one of these puppies that Mum decided to keep.. a beautiful little girl called "Zombi" … So Zombi and I went around dog walking, feeding cats, house-sitting etc with mum living with her parents. After a few years we moved into OUR house, when Mum obtained a beautiful half Siamese kitten… Zig Zag which was lovely and soon after that Zombi had pups. It was perfect because I LOVE puppies and so sometimes I would babysit if Zombi was getting tired and they would all snuggle in with me while Zombi watched over…. Zesti stayed with us and the other two went to super homes. After a year one of the pups owners had an accident, so Dax was returned to us and so we are four..

Now I am 20 years old (I think!) and my granddaughter had 5 beautiful great grandpups in January 1997, so the line continues. As an elderly lady I can do ANYTHING I wish. I am always hungry and I love to potter round the patio and garden for hours - Walks I find a little strenuous now as I have a touch of arthritis. … gone are the days when I would take Zombi off hunting for three or four hours while my mum waited patiently at the car!!

In the meantime Mum got married to Trog who I met whilst in Greece.. he loved me on sight of course but always says that when he met me I had just had pups so I was skinny, bald, pink, had a stump for a tail with a bone sticking out of the end and my boobs down to my knees… Trog is now Daddy to us and we have him completely in our control.....

Now (since 2 January 1997) I am a Great Grandmother - my Grandaughter gave birth to 5 beautiful (obviously) puppies .

That in her own words was Zambia's story, we all miss her terribly but she lives on in her family...