and therein lies another story.....

Portugal........what a difference just a couple of hours away by plane can make, not only in climate, but attitude.

Animals in the UK hold a special place in our hearts and their welfare is often secondary, only to our own.  I met some lovely people in Portugal but their views of animals are so different to mine it was almost impossible to comprehend.

For those lucky enough to live with their own family, life is good on the whole.  I stood at a bus stop in Albufeira and watched, with some amusement as a woman opened her door and literally picked her dog up and dumped him onto the front steps of the house.  He stood there for a moment whilst she watched him ( a game that has no doubt been replayed  times too countless to mention) and then casually sauntered down the steps, onto the pavement and away from the house.  Satisfied, she closed the door.  The dog hopped up onto the grass that belonged to the house, sniffed the grass a few times and lay down, an almost quizzical look on his face as he contemplated his feet.  I could almost hear him counting off the minutes until he stood and very deliberately walked back the way he had come, until he reached the steps, barked once and sat back waiting.  Sure enough his owner opened the door, patted him, picked him up and took him back inside.
I laughed - hard not to, when the dog had done nothing more than play the game!

Sadly many of the street dogs aren't so lucky; the first night I was eating out at one of the pavement restaurants when a young dog on the other side of the road came into view.  She walked silently to one of the planted areas (minus the plants) and very carefully dug herself a nest, once satisfied she slipped quietly into it and just as quietly fell asleep, all in view of a family of tourists who were sitting close by.  She neither glanced at them nor they her. Needless to say she had what was left of my meal, but even after she'd eaten she lay down again, with only the barest glance in my direction.
It was as though she were entirely invisible.  To all intents and purposes she was.