The Story of a Homeless Dog That Made Us Homeless

Yes, the title is dramatic, but so is the story. To keep things calm, I'll start by saying that everyone is fine.

June 20th, 2024, Southern Spain - Like almost every day, we went for a little walk in our neighborhood when suddenly a small, young, and happy dog crossed our path. He immediately started playing with Yuma and followed us home. At this point, our only concern was whether he would find his way back home, but since we were in a small countryside area, we were sure he knew the place better than we did. Well, the sun went down, the dog stayed, the sun came up, and the dog was still there right in front of our door. We quickly asked our hosts, who lived right next to us, if they knew who this dog belonged to, but as you can guess, nobody seemed to know anything about him.

Fast forward. We went to the vet to check if he was chipped. Nope

We went to the police station to see if they could help us. Nope

We searched for animal shelters and asked if anyone had space for a dog. Nope

We asked around if anyone knew someone who might want to keep the dog. Nope

June 24th, 2024 – So here we were, 24 hours before we had to leave our apartment, with a dog who wasn’t allowed to come with us to the new place. It was also 24 hours before Nanda, Santemi’s brother, was scheduled to arrive by plane for a visit. At this moment, we knew it was almost impossible to help this dog, but we also knew we couldn’t leave him behind.

Time was ticking, and we had to decide fast. If we wanted to help him, we had to bring him to Switzerland, where we could find a new home for Xavi (Yes, from here on his name is Xavi).

First, we needed a new apartment so we’d all have a place to sleep from the next day on. This was a big investment because we didn’t get any refund for our already booked apartment.

Next – We had already booked four flight tickets a few months ago from Malaga, Spain, to Switzerland for me, Santemi, Yuma, and Nanda in two weeks. You’d think we could just take Xavi with us on the plane. Double nope. The airline doesn’t accept animals, and Xavi also had to stay in the country for three weeks after receiving the required vaccines before he could cross the border. So, we quickly decided that Nanda and I would cancel our flights so we could drive 2,000 km back to Switzerland together with Xavi.

Plans were made, and we were once again able to fully enjoy our time together. Until…

July 10th, 2024 – 20 hours before Santemi and Yuma were supposed to go to the airport, and 35 hours before Nanda, Xavi, and I started our road trip: our car broke down. Luckily, our insurance helped us quickly, so less than two hours later, a taxi brought us back home, and our car was towed away.

We nervously waited the next day to hear back from the garage, and the news was both good and bad. “The car will be fixed by tomorrow; it will cost 1,300 euros.” Ouch, but okay, that’s life. We rented a car to take Santemi and Yuma, along with all the luggage, to the airport, while Nanda, Xavi, and I stayed one more night in a hotel close to the garage—at least that’s what we thought.

“Today, not possible.” That was the message we got from the garage the next day, which made us realize we were in a really bad situation. Since it was also Friday, the message ended with, “We can further diagnose the problem on Monday.” At this point, our brains switched to survival mode. We had no place to sleep, not much money, and no idea when we’d get our car back or how much it would cost. We quickly decided to use what we had: two hammocks and two sleeping bags. We searched for hours that evening for a good spot to sleep but honestly found nothing—there just aren’t many trees in southern Spain. Finally, around 1 AM, we found a spot, but it was right next to a parking lot with traffic all night, so we didn’t really sleep.

With almost no energy left the next morning, we knew we had to find a better spot for the next night, so that became our top priority.

Hours later, we got food, took a refreshing swim in a river, and found our new sleeping place right next to it. We felt good and ready to survive the weekend, and yes, somehow, we did. We made it to Monday and finally got some news from the garage: “The car will be ready by Wednesday, and it will cost 2,700 euros on top.” For the first time in my life, I understood what people mean when they say they hate Mondays. But honestly, the only thing we wanted was to get back to Switzerland, so once again, we extended our stay until Wednesday when we finally got our car back with our last money. Less than 48 hours later, exhausted but relieved, we arrived in Switzerland.

In the meantime, Xavi found a new home, our car is still working, and our next trip is already on the horizon. All the best Noah