Υιοθετήστε τον/την FLAPPY

“Over Three Years Waiting… Don’t I Matter to Anyone?” Meet Flappy. Nearly five years old. Medium-sized. Mixed breed. Male. And quietly extraordinary. Flappy arrived in September 2022. He was about one year old. He is nearly five. He’s black — a colour that often gets overlooked — and he has spent over three and a half years quietly waiting in a kennel while new dogs arrive, get photographed, get chosen, and leave. That means almost his entire adult life has been spent in kennels. Over three and a half years of the same routine. Over three and a half years of the same concrete runs. Over three and a half years of watching dogs arrive, get photographed, get chosen… and leave. Over three and a half years of new neighbours moving in beside him — frightened, hopeful, noisy, excited — and then disappearing into homes of their own. And Flappy stays. The same four walks a week. The same return to his space. The same waiting. During this time, he has kept a low profile. Not because he lacks personality. Not because he doesn’t care. But because living long term in a kennel creates a quiet kind of stress that never fully switches off. On walks, you see it clearly. He makes himself invisible. He doesn’t react to cats. He doesn’t acknowledge other dogs. He doesn’t approach people. He doesn’t demand attention. He simply walks — steady, neutral, contained. This isn’t indifference. It’s chronic, low-grade stress. When stress becomes the background noise of life, some dogs become loud. Some become reactive. Flappy became small. He keeps himself to himself. He doesn’t take up space. He doesn’t intrude. He doesn’t ask. And because he doesn’t signal loudly, other dogs don’t respond to him either. No invitations. No playful nudges. No “hello”. He moves through the world like a shadow. It means he lives a strangely lonely life — even when surrounded by other dogs. Flappy also has Leishmania. It is easily managed with a daily medication, and he is completely healthy — experiencing no leish-related problems. But he is not his diagnosis. And he is not his colour. Yes — Flappy is black. And as many of you know, black dogs are traditionally harder to home. Often overlooked, even when they are perfect. Perhaps that’s why, despite all his wonderful qualities, people scroll past him searching for “new dogs” — bright, flashy, new arrivals that catch the eye. He is a dog who has quietly coped with years of kennel life without demanding anything in return. Our shelter was never designed to be a long-term home. It is a refuge. A place to recover physically. To be safe. But it was never meant to be a long-term sentence. Dogs don’t thrive in kennels long term. They endure them. Flappy has endured beautifully. He causes no trouble. He blends into the background. He survives. And that survival is precisely what makes him easy to overlook. But here is what I believe with absolute certainty: The day Flappy realises he has been chosen — truly chosen — he will not need to be invisible anymore. When a dog feels safe for long enough, the nervous system softens. The world stops being something to manage and starts being something to explore. Personality unfolds. Joy creeps back in. Connection becomes possible. That dog is still inside him. The quiet ones are often the deepest ones. So let me ask you gently… can you see him? Not the dog who doesn’t react. Not the dog who keeps his head down. But the dog who has spent such a long time watching others leave. And if he could ask you just one thing, perhaps it would be this, in his own quiet voice: “If I were a different colour… brighter, flashier… would you have chosen me by now?” And here is the question we have to ask ourselves: Are we going to let all these years of waiting turn into a lifetime? Because if nothing changes, that is exactly what it becomes. He doesn’t know. why he hasn´t been chosen. He only knows he’s still waiting. Flappy has 200 euro sponsorship for travel from one of his fans who has spent time guiding him through a period where he lost a little confidence. Flappy has Leishmania which can be controlled with an inexpensive tablet daily. Approx weight 02/04/25: 25kg Approx weight 04/06/25: 26kgs Approx weight 21/01/26: 26kgs