Hello. Let me introduce myself. My name is Reggie and I am the luckiest and happiest dog in the world. Please read my story to determine why I am saying this.

Before we start my story, I well tell you I am a 15-year-old Shih Tzu mix living with Master Bob and Mistress Fay in Toronto, Canada. I am becoming a senior dog. My legs are a bit stiff and I must bark around 5 every morning so that Bob or Fay can come downstairs and put me out to pee in the backyard. When you are a senior dog (and a person!) you must go the bathroom more frequently! But I get carried up to their bed and can snuggle under the covers and fall back to a wonderful sleep knowing I am safe and loved. This was not always the case in Egypt.

I was born in an Egyptian city called Cairo. I can’t remember who my parents were as that was so long ago. But I recall I had an owner named Anwar who lived alone in a small house just outside the city centre.

Anwar was a well-known journalist for a national newspaper. He was perpetually happy and laughing after he said his morning prayers. He would feed me and then partake of his breakfast with two cups of tea and after that, of course making sure I had a small piece of date, would clip a leash onto my collar and we would go for a walk. I pranced and swaggered being so very proud to be with Anwar. There were numerous dogs of all sizes running wild in the streets. I thought I was superior to them as I had a home, food, water and a human who hugged me, played with me and fed me. It was a sense of superiority I came to regret.

I was with Anwar for two years enjoying a happy life. We would watch a lot of television most of which was in English so that is how I learnt to speak and understand English and learnt about politics. I would sit on his lap or beside him and if I was fortunate would get my tummy rubbed. That felt so good!

So you may ask how did I get the name Reggie? Anwar frequently watched an American cartoon called “Archie” and his favourite character was called Reggie!

As I am an old dog my memory is not as good as it used to be. I learnt about cognitive decline from some documentaries I watched with Anwar. The identical deterioration happens to humans when they become older.

What I remember very clearly was that one evening there was a frantic banging on Anwar’s door with many angry voices outside shouting, “We are the army. Open your door!” Anwar opened the door and heavily armed soldiers stormed into our house. The soldiers informed him he was under arrest for sedition because of his articles in the newspaper criticizing the government. This is the last I saw of Anwar. One of the soldiers kicked me hard and shooed me out of my house shouting horrible insults to me. This soldier pointed his gun at me and said he was going to kill me like the dirty dog he thought I was but another soldier stopped him and I ran off frightened and confused.

It was the middle of the night and I had nowhere to go. There was no one to feed me and give me water and the tummy rubs that I loved.I never knew that humans could be so mean to dogs. I never hurt them. I never barked at them yet here I was all alone on the streets with many other dogs and cats. I did make a few friends with some of the smaller dogs. The big dogs sometimes growled and barked at me which frightened me.

So how did I live? I lived in the streets hiding in abandoned cardboard boxes during the night. I was close to an outdoor market and most of the time so I would go there and beg for food and occasionally I would be tossed a goat bone but most of the time the merchants would spit and say bad words to me and some tried to kick me.

My canine companions warned me that the life of an unwanted dog was frightening as police and animal control would often shoot or poison strays. Very few people cared about stray animals in Cairo and killing them was a way to control them and not to find them homes with caring masters and mistresses.

One day I was so hungry as there was no food or garbage with food in it I could eat. Inside the gates to the public market there was a guard dog who was at least five times my size. I think it was a Rottenwhiler. I was starving so I snuck under the fence and thinking the big dog was not looking I started to eat food from his bowl but before I knew what happened out of nowhere he bounded up to me and bit my leg. I ran away under the fence and as he was chained to the gate he could not catch me. But I had a big gash in my leg and was bleeding. I was hurting so very much I closed my eyes and cried like I have never cried before. This is where my journey to Canada started.