We met Lisa not long after we moved into our new apartment. She was a small Spanish dog who hung around the building site opposite our block, so we initially assumed that she belonged to one of the workers. However one day we saw her with Paco and asked him if he owned her but he shook his head and said no, he lived in Orihuela, and as far as he knew she was a street dog.
Lisa wasn´t like most street dogs I have seen, as she looked so well-fed and she even had a collar. We had also heard neighbours calling her “Lisa” or “Lissi”, which seemed an unusual name for a Spanish dog: another reason why we assumed one of the neighbours must own her.
One day she decided to follow us into town when we went shopping, and she waited outside the supermarket until we headed home. This started to become a regular occurrence, and she even followed us one evening when we went to the Adult Education Centre for our Spanish lesson. We assumed she would get bored and wander off, but much to our surprise she ran up to greet us when we emerged one hour later.
I admit that we fed her occasionally, and we put water outside for her when it was hot, however we discovered that many of our Spanish neighbours were doing the same. No wonder she looked so well fed!
It was OK being followed into town by one little dog however, once Lisa was on heat, whenever she followed us there were other dogs following her. This proved rather embarrassing: at one time we counted five dogs behind us! We started going into the door at the back of Mercadona supermarket and then sneaking out the front door, just to lose the pack of dogs!
Several months ago Lisa disappeared and the neighbours kept asking us if we had seen Lisa or knew what had happened to her. We discovered that she had been taken in by 4 Patas who run the albergue, the local animal refuge. We visited Lisa there, and took her out for walks. Eventually they asked us if we would like to adopt Lisa: I said that we lived in a second floor flat, which wouldn´t be ideal, but we wanted to do what was best for her. We were told in no uncertain terms that living with us would be the best thing for Lisa and so John signed the adoption papers on 1st March this year – his birthday.
What impressed me was how many of the neighbours used to look after Lisa, how caring the staff were at 4 Patas and how often we get asked about Lisa if we dare to venture forth without her. Who says it is only the British who are animal lovers?
