12/06/2026
FYI
UPDATE 20/6
➡️Just to avoid any confusion, this post has absolutely nothing to do with Paphiakos.
What I do find interesting is that to this day, I have never seen a single photo, video or update of the dog I rescued from this so called animal welfare association. Not one picture. Not one update.
Draw your own conclusions.⬅️
One shelter rule I will probably never understand:
“You surrendered the dog, so you’re not allowed to visit anymore because it will confuse them.”
I strongly disagree.
And this isn’t just a random opinion. It’s personal.
This is the dog in the photo.
I found him. I kept him safe while he was on the streets. I fed him. I looked after him. I took him in until there was finally space available for him. I sponsored him because I genuinely cared about what happened to him.
So when I was told that once he entered the shelter I would not be allowed to visit him because it would “confuse” him, I couldn’t understand it.
If anything, I would think seeing one familiar face in a shelter full of strangers would make him feel better, not worse.
What makes it even harder to accept is that after he left, I never received a single photo or video showing how he was doing.
Not one.
My messages went unanswered until I was eventually told that he was already reserved for adoption.
As the person who rescued him, cared for him and sponsored him, I wasn’t asking for ownership.
I wasn’t asking for special treatment.
I simply wanted to know that he was okay.
Maybe some people in rescue forget that the whole point is supposed to be helping animals, not deciding who is and isn’t allowed to care about them.
I’ve heard all the arguments about dogs becoming confused or upset when visitors leave.
But shelter dogs see volunteers every day.
They build relationships with staff and volunteers.
Many dogs arrive because a feeder, rescuer or volunteer cared enough to help them.
By that logic, should every volunteer disappear too?
Of course not.
When our own shelter closed down, four other shelters took in our dogs. Not one of them treated us as though caring about those dogs was a problem.
We received updates.
We received photos.
We received videos.
We visited them multiple times.
Nobody acted as though a familiar face was somehow harmful.
The dogs benefited from having more people who loved them, not fewer.
That is how rescue should work.
Because personally, if I were sitting in a kennel after losing my home, my freedom and everything familiar to me, I wouldn’t be upset to see the person who kept me safe and fed me on the streets.
I’d be overjoyed.
A familiar face once a week won’t break a shelter dog.
Being forgotten might.
