I first saw the big black dog a couple of days after a big thunder storm, my husband said that the dog had been hanging around the small urbanization (ten houses) where we lived for a couple of days now. We tried to approach the dog but it appeared terrified, so much so that when I got him to come to me he rolled over on his back and wet him self. It was obvious that he was only a young dog as he was still squatting like a bitch when he urinated. It was really sad to see such a lovely dog so afraid of people.

The dog had on a leather collar to which was attached a small piece of chain. It looked like he had snapped his chain and run off and from his behaviour it seemed that he was an outside dog and one that had been badly treated at some point. In this sad and sorry state this wonderful large black puppy had ended up on our doorstep. We didn't know it then but we had been found by a Belgium Shepherd.in his hour of need and we had found a friend. 

Over the next few days we put dog food and water outside our door and little by little the dog began to trust us and let us get near to him. The dog looked very much like a black German shepherd and he looked painfully thin. Anything that we put out for him he ate right away and after a few days he started to look a lot better. This dog reminded me very much of a dog that I knew as a child whose name was Paddy so we gave this dog the name Paddy which I think suits him well.

Malcolm and Sue take our own dog Zac a Hamiltonstovare out for a walk at least twice a day and it wasn’t long before Paddy was going along with them walking a few paces behind. We got a proper collar and lead for him so that he wasn’t a nuisance or a danger when he went on the walk. We live out in the country so large parts of the walk the dogs can be off their leads, Paddy being a much younger dog than Zac would run backwards and forwards along the paths about ten times to Zac’s one. Paddy was such a young dog that all he wanted to do was play and no matter how long the walks were and how much you played with him you just couldn’t tire him out.

Paddy turned out to be a Belgium Shepherd and we found out very quickly that he was a highly intelligent dog who picked up things very quickly indeed. Paddy soon became a one man dog, he loved Malcolm and Malcolm loved him.

In addition to Zac’s walk Paddy got to go out twice more each day on his own with Malcolm and during this time Malcolm would teach him simple commands such as sit stay etc. Paddy loved this time alone with Malcolm and he loved being trained by him. Paddy was a very enthusiastic learner, he thrived on learning something new each day and the bond between Malcolm an Paddy grew stronger.

For a long time Paddy stayed outside the house sleeping outside our front on the welcome mat. The two dogs got on well most of the time as Paddy was a very social dog getting along with both people and other animals. How ever next door’s dog Rocky was also an outside dog and although there was no problem there Paddy’s presence upset the pecking order.

Rocky was very tolerant of Paddy and he didn’t even seem to mind when Paddy would eat his food as well as his own. Several times a day you would see Paddy trotting off behind Rocky as Rocky patrolled the houses. Paddy would run up to Rocky and hit him hard with his nose and then he would bounce around wanting Rocky to chase him which could be very annoying. Rocky was very patient with Paddy even when Paddy was behaving like an annoying child Rocky still did not get irritated or snappy with Paddy.

One of the drawbacks to living in Spain in a rural area is that the locals often put down poison so you really have to keep a sharp eye on the dogs so they don’t pick something harmful up when they are out on a walk. Another is that in the summer the temperature can get up as high as 40 degrees Celsius which can be very uncomfortable for a big heavy coated dog like Paddy. Being the kind of dog that Paddy is it is not just that he liked to have plenty of exercise and stimulation but that he needed to have it for his wellbeing. In order for him to have the type and amount of exercise he needed to have areas where he could run around freely with out being in danger.

Unfortunately in the long run we could not give the amounts of exercise and stimulation that Paddy required or the individual attention. What happens to Paddy well that’s another hub. I can tell you that it ends very happily for Paddy.