Eco Hvar

Dogs: how to help when needed

Published in For the Common Good

Lots of dogs have a tough time on Hvar and in other parts of Croatia. Helping dogs in need can be tricky. These are basic guidelines to help show you what can and can't be done.

Homeless puppy rescued, one of five abandoned in Jelsa in November 2018. Homeless puppy rescued, one of five abandoned in Jelsa in November 2018. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Every year Eco Hvar receives numerous requests for help from local people and visitors who are worried about dogs they have come across, mostly on Hvar, but sometimes from other islands or the mainland. The most common causes for concern are: stray dogs, abandoned dogs, lost dogs, hungry dogs, thirsty dogs, sick dogs, injured dogs, dogs kept in bad conditions, dogs treated inhumanely.

Annie, abandoned in Jelsa in November 2018, rescued and pictured in May 2019. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

By law, dogs should be kept on a lead in towns and settlements, but (like so many Croatian laws!) this law is often ignored. Hvar Town in particular boasts a wide variety of dogs of all sizes who habitually wander around doing their 'business' and generally acting as if they own the place.

Strays, abandoned and lost dogs 

What you can do if you are worried about a wandering dog:

  • Ask local people if it is known to have an owner. Post the details on Facebook and via social media, and ask local animal welfare groups to do the same, in case the owner can be contacted that way.

  • Make a note of the exact location(s) where the dog is roaming, and preferably take photos of it.

  • Either: contact the local town warden (komunalni redar)*, who should take charge of any stray and check if it has a micro-chip; or: take the dog to a local vet to check if it has a micro-chip.

  • If it has an owner, but the owner can't be contacted via the contact details on the micro-chip, it may be possible to find temporary shelter for it through the local authority or local animal welfare charities. Otherwise it should be transferred to the nearest regional animal shelter. This is the responsibility of the local authority**. Failing that, a local animal welfare charity may be able to help. If you can help with transporting the dog to the mainland, that can make the whole process much easier. 

  • If the dog has no owner, it should be transferred to the nearest regional animal shelter, either by the local authority or through a local animal welfare charity.

  • Do not take stray animals into your rental apartment or hotel room: this is usually against house rules, and it is not in their best interests to get used to going indoors when they have no home of their own.

  • Do not get too attached to a stray dog unless you are in a position to offer it a secure future.

  • If you find local people who are willing to look after the stray, it is very helpful if you can give them a stock of dog food for after your departure.

* You can ask the local tourist office to contact the town warden. Alternatively the number is usually listed in the local authority's website. 

** Most of the local authorities on Hvar have contracts with the Animalis Centrum No-Kill Shelter in Kaštel Sučurac, near Split on the mainland. Eco Hvar has successfully homed many dogs through the shelter (see our previous article from 2017). The shelter takes exemplary trouble over the animals in its care, providing not only the basic essentials of food, shelter and medical care, but also training and socialization, including walks outside the shelter and swimming sessions in the summer. It has an extensive volunteer programme and is open to visitors on a daily basis. (See more on the Animalis Centrum Facebook page)

Špiro, abandoned in Jelsa in June 2019, then homed and happy. Photos: Vivian Grisogono
   What you can do if you come across abandoned young puppies:

  • inform the local Town Warden and local animal welfare groups and charities

  • provide full details of their exact location, preferably with photographs

  • if you can, give the puppies food and water - try to provide the best quality puppy food you can afford (preferably not adult dog food or processed human food)

  • if the puppies are newly born or not weaned, there is very little chance of them surviving, unless you yourself can take on the task of bottle-feeding them to give them a chance. The special formula milk needed for this is generally not available on Hvar, but can be bought in Split, usually from veterinarians.

What you can do if your own dog goes missing:

  • make a leaflet giving details of the dog and where it was last seen, preferably including at least one photo

  • inform the local vet(s) and place your leaflet at the vet centre(s)

  • inform the local authority's Town Warden (komunalni redar)

  • inform local animal welfare groups and charities

  • post the information on Facebook, and ask local groups to do the same

Note: it is extremely helpful if your dog has a label on its collar giving your telephone number. Otherwise anyone who finds your dog has to take it to the vet or Town Warden to read its micro-chip. Always make sure the contact details relating to the micro-chip are kept up to date.
 
Hungry, thirsty dogs
It is distressing to see dogs reduced to skin and bone through hunger. Sadly, this happens, especially among hunting dogs, particularly outside of the hunting season, which only runs from October to January. Another problem is dehydration: in the hot summer, dogs often lack sources of fresh drinking water.
 
What you can do if the dog is loose or homeless:

  • Put down a bowl of fresh water in a shady spot where the dog can reach it.

  • Inform the local authorities and animal welfare groups.

  • If you choose to feed it, please give the best quality moist dog food (preferably not dry) that you can afford, and feed it in an area which will not inconvenience other people.

  • It is very helpful if you can hygienically remove any dog faeces you come across.

What you can do if owners fail to provide their dog(s) with adequate food and water:

  • Ask local people who the owner is.

  • See if it is possible to help the owner create better conditions for the dog(s).

  • Depending on circumstances, if the dogs are in an isolated location, you can provide them with water, especially if the weather is hot.

  • If there is neglect, contact the local vet or Town Warden, giving details of the situation and the exact location in which you have found the dog, preferably with photographs; if possible, name the owner.

Ill-treated dogs
It is heartbreaking and frustrating to see animals suffering inhumane treatment, whether through inadequate living conditions, neglect, or physical abuse. If you want to help, first make sure that the dog really is suffering - "looking sad" is not a reliable symptom! but non-stop barking or howling day and night are sure signs of real distress. Croatian law provides for animal protection in line with European law, and applying the law is the correct mechanism for safeguarding an animal's welfare.
 
By law, dog owners have to provide adequate care for their animals, with fresh water available at all times, and adequate food. Dogs must not be kept permanently on a chain, and if they are chained for part of the day, the chain must be long enough to allow the dog to move around. There should be shelter against sun, rain, wind and snow. The dog's living quarters should be kept clean.
If any of these conditions is not met, the situation should be reported to the local Town Warden and vet. When they have visited the dogs and ascertained that the law is being broken, they will call in the Veterinary Inspector from Split to take appropriate action.
 
What you can do:

  • Any action has to be taken carefully and discreetly, to avoid making the situation worse for the mistreated dog.

  • If you identify the owner as a reasonable person, you can offer to help by providing the dog with water and food, and taking it for walks.

  • Otherwise, report the situation to the Town Warden and vet, giving full details of the dog's living conditions, preferably with photographs; describe the dog's state; give the exact location where you have seen the dog; if possible, name the owner.

What NOT to do
 
:        * Do not trespass on private property to approach the dog

  • On no account should you get angry and challenge the owner: this might lead to reprisals against yourself and/or the dog - you might be able to defend yourself, but the dog can't.

  • Do not take matters into your own hands and try to intervene against the owner's will.

Sick or injured dogs
What you can do if the dog is loose or homeless:

  • Contact the local vet or Town Warden, giving details of the problem and the exact location in which you have found the dog, preferably with photographs.

  • In urgent situations, depending on circumstances, take the dog to the vet yourself if you can.

  • If the dog does not have an owner, ask the vet to contact local animal welfare groups or local people who might help look after the dog until it can be homed or transferred to an animal shelter.

ADOPTION
If you can offer a street dog a good home, that is the best luck the dog can have. Some dogs are happily adopted by foreigners, who come here for a holiday and go home with a special kind of souvenir! Think it through carefully, as it is a big -lifelong - responsibility, especially if you are taking the dog out of Croatia. Take account of the lifestyle differences if you live in a city, also the trauma of travelling if it involves a plane journey. Adoptions through an animal shelter usually involve a probationary period, so that if you and the dog aren't totally suited, it can be returned to the shelter. Once the dog is abroad, that possibility is lost. For helpful tips on providing a good home and bonding with a new dog, read Dr. Karen Becker's article '5 Ways to Create a Lasting Bond With Your Newly Adopted Dog'.  Remember, a dog is a lifetime commitment: the worst thing for an adopted dog is being abandoned again.
 
As Croatia is in the EU, it follows European law on the export of animals within the EU. Check with a vet for details about requirements for a particular animal going to a specific country, and make sure you allow enough time for the necessary inoculations and anti-parasitic treatment. 
 
Adopting a puppy
Never take on a puppy just because a child in your family wants one! A puppy is hard work, not child's play. Looking after a puppy responsibly takes up many hours every day, and requires a lot of patience, tolerance and understanding.
 
A puppy's practical needs are: shelter in a safe environment, food, water, training, company, stimulation, exercise, healthcare, hygiene care. Like a human baby, a puppy needs to chew as its teeth develop; it tends to explore new things with its mouth; it will pee and crap wherever and whenever; and it will not understand your language or your way of thinking. Teaching it new behaviours requires patience, and you will need to know the best training methods for its individual needs.
 
It's all too easy to fall in love with a puppy when it's at the cute, dependent stage. But your puppy will grow up - will you still want it when it isn't small and cuddly any more?
Unless you have experience of puppy care, or are seriously prepared to learn, we recommend not taking on a very young dog.
Puppies are cute, but they are not child's play! Photo: Vivian Grisogono

FOSTERING

Giving a dog a temporary home can be extremely helpful for a stray which is nervous in a shelter, or can't be admitted to a shelter. A foster home gives the dog a chance to settle and become socialized with people and other animals. It is different from full adoption, and the aim is to give the dog a better chance of finding the right permanent home. If you are in a position to take on the tasks of a foster 'pet parent', Dr. Karen Becker offers good advice in her article 'Why You Should Consider Fostering a Homelss Pet' 

VETERINARY SERVICES ON HVAR

HVAR TOWN: Dr. Mirej Butorović-Dujmović, 15a Šime Buzolić Tome, 21450 Hvar.

Facebook: Ormondo Specijalistička veterinarska praksa za male životinje

Telephone: 00 385 (0)21 88 00 22; Mobile: 00 385 (0)91 533 0530

Working hours: 08:00 - 14:00 weekdays; 08:00 -12:00 Saturdays.

Sundays & Public Holidays closed.

Besides diagnostics and treatments, the surgery offers expert grooming, including haircuts.

Directions: driving towards Hvar Town from Stari Grad, at the entrance to Hvar the main road comes to a small junction, where the main road curves right for the town itself, the left fork leads to Križna Luka, and the road straight head leads towards the graveyard. Take the road straight ahead until you see a sign for the surgery: turn left up this road, the surgery is on the left with parking in front of the building or in a designated area to the right of the building, on the left side of the road.

STARI GRAD: Dr Prosper Vlahović, Put Rudine 3, 21460 Stari Grad

Veterinarska ambulanta Lota website; Lota Facebook page.

Telephone: 00 385 (0)21 244 337

Opening hours: 08:00 - 14:00 weekdays, 08 - 12:00 Saturdays;

Sundays & Public Holidays closed.

There is a pet shop on the premises.

Directions: at the entrance to Stari Grad itself from the Jelsa side, there is a park with a stream between the park and the road; go to the other side of the park, turn off on to the Rudine road, which is the only main turning on the far side of the park, situated about halfway along. The surgery is on the left up that road, with parking in front of the building.

THE BESTIE FOUNDATION for animal rescues is essential to our work in helping unwanted dogs. Please support their work: here are twelve good reasons for doing so.

PLEASE DONATE TO THE BESTIE FOUNDATION!

Details for donations:

Via the bank:
Zaklada Bestie
Kukuljevićeva 1, 21000 Split
Otp banka
IBAN: HR9324070001100371229
SWIFT: OTPVHR2X

Paypal donate button: https://www.paypal.me/ZakladaBestie

CONTACTING ECO HVAR:

If you wish to contact Eco Hvar, please use email, giving full details of your query with photographs if appropriate: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. (We cannot deal with queries by phone)

Vivian Grisogono MA(Oxon), updated July 2024.

Related items

More in this category: « Poisoning Paradise - A Wake-Up Call
back to top
You are here: Home For the common good Dogs: how to help when needed

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Cop31 live: World leaders to speak at climate crisis summit

    Third day of UN talks begin but leaders of many big polluting nations absent

    Solving the climate crisis is hard but even getting to the venue to discuss it has become a challenge here in Antalya. Snarled roads and packed trams left people waiting for hours in traffic and lines yesterday and there was widespread horror at the prospect of an even worse situation this morning with the arrival of world leaders.

    The Cop31 venue, on the outskirts of Antalya, is festooned with police and masked soldiers as the leaders arrive, with roads blocked or narrowed. The presence of VIPs often causes some delay at Cops but this summit has been unusually arduous.

    Continue reading...

  • High fossil fuel prices spread inflation ‘like a cancer’, UN climate chief tells Cop31

    Simon Stiell makes opening address at summit in Turkey, where talks are under way about speeding up shift to electrification

    A global fossil fuel price crisis is “spreading inflation like a cancer” around the planet, the UN’s climate chief, Simon Stiell, told the opening plenary of critical UN climate talks in Turkey.

    Stiell joined Cop31 hosts Turkey and Australia, which is leading the negotiations, in promoting renewable energy and a new electrification goal as an optimistic alternative to a planet still tied to oil, coal and gas.

    Continue reading...

  • Alien menace or victim of xenophobia? The battle over Britain’s parakeets

    Established in UK cities for decades and much loved for their green plumage, the Himalayan birds have been recast as an ecological threat. But is the idea of invasive species itself a problem?

    Before we saw a single parakeet, we heard them: a disembodied static that grew louder as we approached Hither Green cemetery in south-east London. It was an early evening in late June, and we had come to witness an invasion. By the time my friend and I reached the cemetery’s western edge, the clamour was all-encompassing. We hopped the fence and picked our way through the gravestones. Above us now were the birds themselves, their kryptonite-green plumage, scab-red beaks, pearly black collars and trailing tail feathers unmistakable: Psittacula krameri, the ring-necked parakeet.

    Hither Green cemetery hosts one of the city’s largest roosts. Every day at dusk, a sizeable chunk of London’s feral parakeet population returns here, to a specific line of poplars. They like to spend the night in the company of their own kind. We watched them come first in ones and twos, and then in larger chirrupping squadrons. Hundreds of them, and then thousands. At maximum capacity, the trees fizzed. Here was a pandemonium, a parakeet concourse. It gave the impression of community, greeting and conversation. “This,” my friend said, “would make a great cheap first date.”

    Continue reading...

  • This small Alaska town is swamped by cruise ship visitors every summer. But what happens when they all go home?

    Skagway’s 1,100 permanent residents are caught between a boom time – when the ships bring more than a million tourists – and a lull in winter

    October comes to the small Alaska coastal town of Skagway like a sigh. The shops that were bustling throughout the crazed tourist season are reducing their opening hours or beginning to close. The hordes of employees sleeping in overcrowded bunkhouses are leaving or have left.

    The crowds of cruise passengers who have filled the streets since April, wearing lanyards emblazoned with the names of their ships, have dwindled to a trickle. Soon, they will all be gone. Snow is visible on the nearby mountains.

    Continue reading...

  • Slight fall in carbon emissions from fossil fuels as Iran war drives renewables push

    However, authors of a comprehensive assessment to be presented at Cop31 warn talk of a global turnaround premature

    Soaring oil and gas prices following the war in Iran have encouraged people to look beyond fossil fuels, leading to an easing of climate-damaging carbon emissions this year.

    Carbon dioxide from oil, gas and coal is forecast to flatline for 2026, based on data from the year so far, according to a comprehensive assessment by scientists. Emissions from burning oil alone will drop by 2% as drivers economise on fuel use and flock to electric vehicles instead.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘A new age of climate extremes’: Earth accumulating heat at accelerating rate

    Increased heat will supercharge extreme weather events, warns UN agency as Cop31 climate summit begins

    Heat is accumulating in Earth’s systems at an accelerating rate, the UN’s weather agency has reported as the Cop31 climate change summit begins in Turkey, with 2026 on track to be one of the four warmest years on record.

    The imbalance between incoming energy from the sun and energy leaving Earth reached its highest level since monitoring began, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its State of the Global Climate update.

    Continue reading...

  • Climate always comes second: are green issues slipping down Burnham’s agenda?

    Prime minister says he’s committed to meeting climate targets, but some believe his actions suggest otherwise

    Andy Burnham insists he is committed to the green transition, but his MPs worry that in decision after decision, he is showing that other priorities come first.

    “Our changing climate is a major concern for many Britons, not least because we have just emerged from our hottest summer on record,” the prime minister wrote in the Guardian in September.

    Continue reading...

  • Cop31: what is at stake at the UN climate summit and what can it achieve?

    Delegates from more than 190 countries are gathering in Turkey for climate talks, but the US will be absent

    As the planet faces unprecedented human-caused global heating, heads of government are meeting for the next fortnight for the latest round of climate talks. We ask why it matters and what is likely to be achieved.

    Continue reading...

  • Cop31 must deliver climate progress that people can see is real, host says

    High-stakes talks involving 190 countries begin on Monday as world grapples with El Niño supercharged by fossil fuels

    The Cop31 summit must produce progress, “a tangible outcome... that people can see is real”, its host has said as scores of world leaders and representatives of close to 190 countries gather in Turkey for the UN climate talks.

    The high-stakes meeting begins on Monday, as countries around the world grapple with the strongest El Niño weather system on record, supercharged by fossil fuels, which is set to take hundreds of thousands of lives and cause damage costing trillions of dollars.

    Continue reading...

  • Who’s who at Cop31: key players at the climate talks

    What are the relationships and dominant interests in play, as the summit kicks off after a bitter row over its hosting?

    Hosting Cop was a key pledge from Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese in 2021, while in opposition, before his successful election campaign. But arcane rules meant the country had to wait its turn to bid and was then embroiled in an angry row with Turkey over the hosting. The final compromise put Australia in charge of the negotiations which will take place in the Turkish city of Antalya. The bitter taste left by the row lingers and Australia has seemed to some a rather half-hearted host. The country’s media has been much quieter on Cop than previous host countries, and although Albanese will speak at the opening of the leaders’ segment, he is unlikely to stay long.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.