The story of our Polly - A free living Greek dog

This is the story of a super smart, resilient dog named Polly.

First let me explain what I mean by a free-living dog.

Free-living dog: A dog who is responsible for finding their own food, shelter and means of staying safe. They are not owned by any one human.

Our domestic dogs are generally the very opposite of this. Humans will take care of their food, shelter and do their very best to keep them safe. Well that is certainly the case in my home with my own dog, Fudge. 

On the face of it you would think the life of a domestic dog is going to be very much better, less stressful, more relaxing and enjoyable than a free-living dog.

However, having been fortunate enough to get to know and spend time with free-living dogs in Greece and compare them to my own dog and many of the dogs I work with.  This is not what I have observed. 

Through simple observation, I have seen that these Greek free living dogs are so much more relaxed. They eat well, have enough water, they keep fit, healthy and find shelter. They enjoy social bonds with both dogs and humans. They sleep lots, they exercise in the cool of the day through play and hunting for food. They don't leap up at humans, they never wear a lead, they bark usually when warning, rarely through separation or attention seeking.

Our domestic dogs lead very different lives, they enjoy a plentiful supply of food, water and are kept safe through being tethered or kept behind walls. You could even go as far as to say our domestic dogs are imprisoned by us. Think of human prisoners, they are provided with food, water, shelter even opportunities to exercise,  yet they have no freedom. While in prison humans are no longer free living. 

Stay with me here, I know it sounds depressing, but this is a story of love. 

The very special free living dog who has taught me so much is Polly. She came into our live's the summer of 2015. We were visiting family in a beautiful rural mountain village in Greece where we visit family regularly. 

One day my husband, Ben, was walking in the hills surrounding the village with his Dad when a very skinny, nervous looking dog appeared from the trees and tentatively appeared close to them during their snack break. They approached her and offered a share of their snack (plain biscuits, think NICE!) but she was scared and backed off. So Ben left the food on the wall and gave her some time. She approached slowly and ate it, they repeated this a few times and then headed back down the mountain towards their village home. 

This is the story to date of Polly as I remember it.

This skinny nervous dog followed Ben and Alan, his Dad, back to the village.  She followed them right into our garden. We offered her water and some more food and space to shelter and rest. She never wanted to come into our house, she seemed happy on the terrace. From day one she loved children, our girls were around 4 and 6 at the time, confident and educated around dogs. They knew never to approach a dog, always call them over to you. She was named Polly and she stayed with us for a few days. She rested and regained her strength and walked with us to the Platia (village square, where we eat, drink and socialise). She was very nervous to go there at first as there were a lot of other dogs who already used this space to rest, shelter and find food. With a bit of encouragement she got braver and would come and lie by our table. 

During this time we asked nothing of her, we offered her food regularly and lifted what she left. We went about our daily business and we co-existed with no pressure from either dog or human. One area that did worry me was that she had an urge to chase our car, if we left the village and I worried she would get run over. She never did, now that we know her better we know she is way too smart for that. 

We didn't worry we had to socialise her, or train her to walk on a lead or stay at our heel. We just allowed her to be around us and she allowed us to be around her. I guess it was an unwritten mutual agreement. Either could leave at any time. 

Sadly we were the ones that had to leave, such is life! we had to return to Scotland. 

We left lots of food with our in-laws (Alan and Jenny) in case she stuck around and headed for the airport with a heavy heart. We had all grown to love Polly in a few short days. 

Over the next year, we heard that Polly stayed in the village. She visited Alan and Jenny and got to know many other villagers. 

She survived the winter when Alan and Jenny also returned to Scotland. It gets very cold in this part of Greece and sometimes even snows. 

Our Polly is made of strong stuff and is super resilient.

When we returned the following summer to the same house. We were surprised and delighted to find Polly appeared in the garden within a few hours of our arrival and remembered us! We were so delighted and happy to see her. 

By now Polly had gained weight and matured. She was way more confident and clearly had made her mark at the Platea. 

She would spend her days hanging out with us in the garden, often bringing doggy friends with her. We fed them all. She had a 3 legged friend, a big black dog we named Blacky! inspired I know.. and a very cute brown and white dog we called Floppy. 

By now, she realised humans come and go in cars, it's just their thing! She had stopped chasing cars and seemed to be very happy and safe as a free-living village dog. 

Over the years, Alan and Jenny had lots of visitors to the house (via Air B&B) and a few even wanted to bring her home. Can you just imagine how awful that would have been for Polly?! She lives a free life she can do what she wants when she wants. She is never on a lead, never forced to socialise with other dogs she either doesn't like or when she is just not in the mood. She enjoys a fairly steady supply of food and water. She has plenty of places to rest and sleep, often in the sunshine! 

One summer we arrived to the house and as usual Polly was their to meet us, but this particularly year she was clearly in season and was not enjoying the advances of her male friends...! We had to make use of the hose to keep them away and give her time to rest. I am not sure if she knew that there was not enough food to go around if she had puppies or  she just wasn't in the mood! Either way it was clear she was happy to be left alone. 

After that summer we heard she did in fact have puppies and was able to feed them and most survived as far as we know. On our most recent trip we saw one particular dog about the right age who was very Polly looking. We cannot be 100% sure but this dog was likely one her pups. 

We also heard that Polly was being cared for over the winter by a lovely young couple who at the time were living in the village all year around. This village gets very cold in the winter so is not popular with tourists and the permanent population is very small. So this was great news. The couple kindly took Polly to the local vet to have her spayed and then set her free again. Polly was also given a collar which prevented her from being picked up by any passing dog warden. To be honest I am not sure they ever ventured as far up the mountain as this village, but just in case that was a smart move. She also had acquired a new name "honey bunch". 

As I finish this blog, it's 2023 and we have just returned from our annual trip to Greece. I am delighted to report that after a very sad trip last year when we did not see Polly at all (we had not visited for 3 years due Covid) this year we were lucky enough to be in the Plateia on our first day and she was there chilling out and enjoying some food from other tourists. She recognised us immediately and came over, we gave her some food and she relaxed by our table. When we left she came with us and spent the rest of the day and overnight on our door mat. It was such a joy to have her around again and to see her when we got up for our morning cuppa. 

We were lucky enough to see her  a few more times this trip and we keep our fingers crossed she will still be around when we visit next year. 

However, the reality is that she is not our dog, she belongs to no one, she is now approximately 8/9 years old  and I love  to know that she is free, well fed and thriving. 

Who knows what her life would have looked like had she not bumped into Ben and Alan that day and had the courage to take the food and stick with them. 

I guess we will never know!  

If you have any stories of dogs on holiday or free-living dogs I would love to hear them. You can e-mail me at [email protected]