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I was told I should talk to Nina in Castelo Branco, who has a hot dog shop and a lovely dog called Luna. So I am! Or should I say so are WE!

The story begins here:

Do you remember the film "Hachiku" with Richard Gere? It was about the dog, Hachiku, and the train station. A true story about an Akita and a professor in Japan approximately 100 years ago.

The professor acquired an Akita puppy, no one knows how he came about this puppy, and over the first couple over years "Hachi" would escort the professor to the train station. The professor took the train each day to the university to teach his courses and return home.

Hachi was ALWAYS waiting for him at the train station...until one day the professor did not return. The professor had died at the university and no one told the dog what had happened. Hachi waited at the train station, for the remainder of his life for the professor to return.

He was cared for by the locals. And upon his death, the story had been told throughout the countryside. Afterward the country of Japan made the Akita their national dog due to the devotion and loyalty that Hachiku demonstrated.

My Luna girl, is an Akita, born in west Belfast, and because of her I now have an hot dog shop across from a train station in a little college town in Portugal.

This is the story of "Serendipity and the Puppy"...

Get those questions in about Portugal, Castelo Branco, furry friends and hot dogs!