The small dog always was there, begging for food and attention, anytime Michael B. McClelland of Meadville was at the hotel cafe during a 2004 visit to Athens, Greece, shortly before the 2004 Olympic Games there.

“She was friendly, but she had flea and tick problems,” McClelland, 23, recalls. “I followed her one time and noticed she had a litter of puppies (she was caring for) behind the hotel. She was malnourished and the pups were underfed, too. That got me thinking about what may happen to her.”

The unknown fate of that stray Athens street dog, her pups and others like her has stuck in McClelland’s memory. Many of the animals like that unnamed dog were domesticated, friendly and would come right up to a person, he said.

McClelland, a graduate student at the London School of Economics, plans to run the Flora London Marathon on April 13 as a charity runner to benefit The Blue Cross — England’s lead animal welfare charity.

With the Olympic Games to be in London in 2012, McClelland said it’s vital to support animal-related charities now because of what happened to street animals in Greece before the 2004 Olympics there.

McClelland, who was in Greece as part of a class trip with Allegheny College, said he was appalled to learn from one of his professors that unwanted animals wandering the streets were being euthanized.

“Many of which were dogs and cats that should have been given proper homes were being put to sleep in order to ‘clean up the streets’ before the Olympics. It didn’t hit me until we returned home and watching the Olympics on TV seeing the street scenes (of Athens) without animals.”

McClelland hopes to raise 2,000 pounds or about $4,200 to benefit The Blue Cross.

The Blue Cross provides veterinary care for owners who can’t afford it and finds homes for unwanted and abandoned animals.

“The Blue Cross will be able to use charity money to provide more and better homes so that this doesn’t happen in London,” he said.

McClelland is a 2003 graduate of Meadville Area Senior High School and a 2007 Allegheny College graduate with major in creative writing and minor in music. He’s in England studying for a master’s degree in communication regulation.

He said about 70 percent of those who participate in the Flora London Marathon run for a charity.

“Running a marathon for myself is great, but I though I should run for a charity,” he said.

“I’ve had a lot of pets myself,” said McClelland whose family has two black Labrador retrievers. “It’s wonderful for kids to have a pet.”

Though he’s never run a full marathon before — 26.2 miles — McClelland’s been training for the past several months and has set a goal of completing the London Marathon in less than three hours, 30 minutes.