In Canadian pet enthusiast Helen Siwak's case, a harrowing attack she witnessed convinced her that she was no longer going to sit on her behind while more and more animals in Greece were being terribly neglected and abused.

"I was ready to return to Canada - after three incredibly frustrating years in Greece - when I witnessed a litter of kittens being torn to pieces by two stray black labs," she recalls.

The attack set off a series of events which led Siwak to mastermind a fundraiser to improve animal welfare, no small feat in a country where getting a dog means risking your good standing within the neighbourhood and keeping to yourself the notion that pets can actually make people's lives better.

Enter last year's 1st Annual Athens Greece Wag-A-Thon, which was going to change things for the better - or at least try. Dreamed up by Siwak and organised in conjunction with the Friends of Animals Nea Filadelfia shelter, this short marathon encouraged people who own and love animals to walk together for the sake of raising funds to improve animal welfare. Participants aged 9 to 79, accompanied by 128 of their furry friends, managed to raise more than 7,000 euros in a single afternoon.

Now they're set to do it all again on October 3, expecting a bigger and better outcome.

Traditionally, Wag-A-Thons are fundraising events organised by shelters and municipalities throughout the Western world in support of a specific cause, but in this case it was a much more meaningful gesture.

Animal lovers had finally decided to stop living in fear. No more keeping your vet on speed dial in case a neighbour decided to poison your four-legged pal just to stop him from barking.

As for Siwak, a committed volunteer at the Nea Filadelfia shelter, animal activism came about more as an accident than as a result of a lifelong conviction, with the attack on the kittens that she witnessed serving as her motivation.

Seeking assistance from her husband, a police officer, she soon found out saving the kittens wasn't going to be easy. They gathered the still alive but badly injured animals and checked the phonebook, the operator and several acquaintances but came up empty-handed.

"An online search had me calling [the Greek Animal Welfare Fund] in London, who gave me a number of a woman in Athens, who gave me a number of a shelter volunteer who was on vacation, who returned my call with the number of a lady in my neighbourhood, who called with the name and location of a vet for the most inhumane 'humane' euthanizing I have ever witnessed."

Watching their little lifeless bodies being stuffed into empty souvlaki bags and tossed in the garbage was enough to send her over the edge. It was time to take action.

As luck would have it, there was an animal shelter four blocks down the street that she knew nothing about.

"I walked into the park, followed the sound of barking and there it was," Siwak recalled. "It was so basic and not what I was expecting at all. There was no power, no drinking water or bathrooms. Just nine cages, 68 barking dogs, and no funding."

After she had joined forces with six women fighting the good fight in what used to be a zoo in Nea Filadelfia, all thoughts of returning home soon evaporated.

The first thing she did was walk some dogs. Apparently, the poor little brutes were condemned to spending their lives behind bars due to a severe volunteer shortage. It took 32 days before another one showed up.

"At the beginning there were five pit bulls of which I was secretly terrified, but these beautiful dogs inspired me to start focusing on finding them homes outside bars."

The shelter's modest Facebook profile soon graduated into a basic English website followed by email announcements to newspapers seeking volunteers and donations.

Everything just rolled from there. Utilising all the tactics she had learned as an independent contractor specialising in corporate startups in film, music and art in Canada, Siwak set about gaining exposure, volunteers and funds for the Friends of Animals Nea Filadelfia.

Fast forward to 2010 and attitudes are slowly changing. People are beginning to realise that loving animals isn't some kind of disease you need to steer clear of.

"We have no rabies or savage bite attacks, no blood disease or foetal death in pregnant women. Caring and loving a dog is natural." Siwak says.

And just to prove it, they will all be marching peacefully at the 2nd Annual Athens Greece Wag-A-Thon, scheduled for Sunday 3 October. The event is open to anyone who loves animals, which means participants can bring their own pets (leashed and muzzled, if necessary) or sign up to walk one of the shelter dogs.

Registration starts at 9am in front of the Alsos Cinema on Dekeleias Street and will be open until noon. Cost is 5 euros. The starting line is at the south entrance to the big park and the list of reasons to sign up is practically endless, including raising money for needy animal welfare and rescue groups around Greece, helping abandoned dogs socialise, meeting people with similar interests and showing the rest of the world that loving animals is nothing to be ashamed of.

• For more, see www.friendsofanimals-nf.com