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Saskia and her lucky Chico

Hi, I´m the administrator of this homepage. I came here from Germany in July 2005 to study at the University of Stellenbosch. In my December holidays I did a volunteer practical at the Stellenbosch Animal Hospital, where I first met my friends from the Animal Welfare Society. Sadly the holiday season is also high season for euthanasia. Too many dogs are at the shelter, but there is too little space to keep all of them. One day 5 dogs were brought in to the vet to be put down...one of them was Chico. I decided, that even though I´m still studying and my mum in Germany told me that I must´not get a pet bigger than a budgie, I had to help at least one of those dogs. I had the power in my hand, I had space (at least in my heart) and I had the financial support to give the life back to at least one of the dogs.
If I can only rescue one innocent soul, I have moved a little world!
I chose Chico randomly, he seemed to be the smallest, which was just suitable for my little flat.
Chico and I on Valentines Day 2008


Two weeks later I decided to move out of the complex where I stayed, because dogs were not allowed there. I found a much bigger flat in a different complex where the owners are very lenient when it comes to keeping dogs.
Chico was very sick in the beginning, he had an infected wound on his front leg, he was spayed and then became kennel cough and he didn´t eat well.
Today Chico weights 17kg! He is a happy, healthy dog who is loved by me to pieces.









That´s Chico when I just had him a few days, he was thin
and his eyes looked empty.






Chico and my friend Heubre at the back of my car - we ´re going to play at the beach













Chico is my best friend! He is the one that keeps me warm during the night and happy during the day! When I´m sad, he will comfort me and when I´m stressed we go for long walks. Last year in December he jumped out of the window of a driving car and for a second I thought my heart wants to stop beating! Luckily he just injured his chin, it had to be stiched, and he broke a nail. It was a time when I was emotionally very unstable and I think he wanted to make himself known and take my thoughts and concern into a different direction, well I still believe throwing himself out of the car wasn´t necessary though!