Jeremiah Von Blue Sky

A few months ago, while on holiday in Spain, my sister (Nade) and I were sat in a cafe overlooking the beach when we spotted a dog, wandering on his own in the blazing heat. He settled down in some shade in the sand and I could see he was really thin, his ribs were showing.

I had a horrible time earlier this year when my boyfriend and I tried to catch a stray dog but he got away, so I was really nervous of frightening him and then being no help at all, or worse still, driving him into the main road, which was less than 2 feet away. Ugh!

I told Nade to keep an eye on him while I went and bought some food and water. On the way I asked a cafe owner if she knew anything about the dog. She told me that people had tried to catch him before but that whenever anyone gets close, he runs. They didn't seem to care and I couldn't understand much of what they were saying apart from that he sits in that same spot every day.

I went over slowly and made sure he knew I was there so he didn't get scared and run. I put the bowl of water a few feet away from him and left him some food. He gobbled it all up.

I was really panicking and didn't know what to do for the best, so I called my boyfriend at home in England and asked him what he thought. He did a little investigating and found that the local policy for strays was to euthanise them if they weren't claimed in 14 days. I just couldn't bring myself to call them and risk it, I knew that it was dangerous, him being out there on his own, and that his family might be looking for him, but I know how many strays are never claimed, so I just couldn't. What would you have done?

I was so upset and just wanted to do the right thing and make sure I didn't cause him any harm. We couldn't get anywhere near him and didn't want to agitate him, and we knew he liked to flee when people came too close, so we all decided that the best thing to do, would be to leave him to sit safely in his spot, come back soon with more food, and earn his trust by feeding and watering him until we could catch him safely. We decided we'd name him Jeremiah Von Blue Sky, he'd come home with us and we'd love him forever.

So we left, but when we came back, he wasn't there. I was devastated, and kicking myself for letting him out of my sight. We searched up and down the beach. I hoped maybe he slept somewhere else and he'd be back the next day.

I went back to the hotel to have a sulk. No fun to be had on this holiday while Jeremiah's out there on his own, not a chance. Nade dragged me out to a restaurant and tried to force me to have a good time. It wasn't really happening because I couldn't stop thinking about him and felt so guilty wondering had I done the right thing - should I have tried to grab him and risk him running into the road? Should I have called the dog warden?? They might run him into the road themselves anyway, let alone the fact they might kill him in two weeks! Had something happened to him now because of me??

I was grumpily eating my dinner, when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye...

''JEREMIAH!!''

I was elated at an opportunity to help him, petrified of doing something wrong.

Then, I noticed he was attached to a lead and wearing a collar...and from around the corner came, literally, the happiest looking man you have ever seen, roller blading behind him! He was positively beaming, and so was Jeremiah. This could only be the face of a man who had just been reunited with his best friend after who knows how long.

We whooped and cheered and hugged and perhaps I cried, I think I did, I probably did. My dreams of Jeremiah Von Blue Sky and I sharing a life of love and walkies together were over but he was safe, and he had his Dad back; they made such a good team :-)