RESIDENCIA NEWS

The residencia in Valladolid is slowly filling up. Besides the approximately 20 Scooby dogs staying here, and another 20 coming in from Scooby this week, of course all available for adoption inside and outside of Spain, we have also met several foundations that rented several kennels, so that MRW (a Spanish courier that also transports dogs) already knows exactly where we are because they are coming in from all directions.
For example, for the German foundation ACM we have 19 dogs that are waiting here for transport to a new and better life, amongst them 4 Galgos, 2 Samoyeds and 13 small dogs, mostly mixes. One of the Samoyeds is from Benidorm, the other from Valencia, both not wanted anymore by their owner. They came in separately but both came to Valladolid and both are going to Germany. Their names? Zar and Zara.. can you imagine?

You would almost believe in karma or higher things, no idea which.. but what had been looked upon as a typing error caused a lot of confusion.

Three of the mixes are from a shelter in Almeria and the 4 Galgos and the other 10 mixes are from a former perrera in Cuenca. They had 150 dogs too many there and needed to find them a place to stay as soon as possible, otherwise the community would take care of them and we all know what they mean by that. So, these 14 have been saved from this fate and are all in for German language classes!



From the spanish foundation El Hocico in Salamanca we have a gigantic Mastin, the poor thing had been given by them for adoption to someone who did not take care of him at all, and when they checked him out, it appeared he was lying in the street without being able to go back home, undernourished and dried oud, and with a serious infection to one of his front legs. As soon as he gains 15 kilo or more and has completely recovered, he will be put up for adoption again and we hope he will find a better person this time who will take care of him because he’s just such a good old softie.

And then the beautiful Galgo Argos, who had been taken to the perrero in Valladolid when he was just a pup of about a month old, and adopted by a local Spanish family. They had him for 3 years and now because of unforseen circumstances they can no longer care for Argos. Heartbreaking for the family as well as for Argos, and the lady calls every day to enquire about his wellbeing, and they don’t want him to go to a shelter because Argos is not used to a lot of other dogs around him and is afraid of such a large group of unknown dogs, so it might be very uncomfortable for him. So these people prefer to pay for him staying here safe and sound and this way he will be able to get used to other dogs. And it seems to be working.

His best two friends are Nana (wellknown to all Scooby volunteers since she is guarding the residencia and has become irreplaceable), and the Scooby galga Bonnie, another beautiful and sweet galgo, who only knows how to be the sweetest dog ever..And that’s what Argos needs to get used to company from other dogs. Now the three of them are playing in the garden and it’s great to see Argos enjoying the company of others and feeling happy. And we keep on introducing other dogs so in the end everything will work out for him, and he can stay here untill he’s adopted, and of course Scooby will help accomplish that!

Greetings from a very hot Spain!

Cobie

I Can’t , I can’t , I can’t ...

I just cannot give up several things that we have underway already and basically one of them is to further divide the yards 7-1, 7-2 and 7-3 in cages, we had to say goodbye to two workers already because of lack of funds and if time and money does not solve this, we will have to say goodbye to two more, which would mean we end up with only 5 employees, including the vet that have to clean and feed all the animals we have, and there are many! But honestly, as long as we can afford it, and that’s not going to last long, I would like to continue with these two workers that are dedicated to the building jobs we have at the shelter and this week they will go to work at the kennel in Valladolid, where we need to put in doors, fix some kennels, floors, ceilings and so on, we also want to arrange for some doors between patios, to be able to let the dogs into the 3rd patio where they can run. I want to remind you that the money we will make with this kennel will be solely used for the benefit of abandoned animals at Scooby, and I also want to say that we will always have special pricing for abandoned and rescued dogs, all these dogs that you find and that cannot come to a refuge (like Scooby), we offer you the possibility of leaving the dog there but still take care of them, covering the costs and making sure they get their shots and the necessary vet treatment. Because in any case this animal would never be owned by Scooby but by the person who has rescued or found it.

At a given time Scooby will of course help you place the dog but it is essentially your job and therefore your responsability, I think the reason is very clear if your read the beginning, since it is simply a question of funds, we just cannot continue feeding more and more dogs. We certainly have room for a quantity of dogs there in Valladolid, we just don’t have the funds to feed them.

More things I would want to have done are like I said the cages in patio 7 and later on the separation by cement blocks between patio 3A-3B-3C-·D and those of 4ª-4B-4C y 4D, because they tell me the dogs right now go from one patio to another and that causes a few fights.

Again I would like to say I would like to make space in the shelter because we are facing a difficult period right now, with all the abandoned dogs in the summer that is coming..

Well, greetings, Fermin.

P.s. the telephone number of the kennel in Valladolid is 983334023

or you can reach us at our usual number 983481065, or of course by email.

Ronaldo

Once more life has dealt a bad hand of cards to our wonderful Ronaldo. A quickly growing tumor has settled in one of his legs and unfortunately the only option to save this gentle giant's life was amputation. The entire Scooby team is now hoping this will do to overcome this illness and will grant him many years to come, years he will of course spend in the safety of our pensioners' home. Even though we haven't given up hope yet that someone may step forward and give our sweet, nearly toothless, one-eyed and alas now also three-legged dog a chance to spend the last days of his life with a loving family.

To Molly’s former owners...

Every time I see Molly walking contently behind me, with her stiff little legs, I ask myself so many questions, so many questions that will probably never be answered but I am going to ask them anyway, even if I don’t know who you are.

And that is my first question: what kind of people are you? Rich, poor, hard working, unemployed, with or without children, alone or with company or doesn’t it really matter and it is normal in all layers of society to pick up your old little dog and dump her somewhere, of course not in your own town because they know you and they might bring her back or know who you are, but that you just take her somewhere and leave her to fend for herself? Victim to everybody and everything that might hurt her, cars, big aggressive dogs, mean people, anything? How do you go about doing that? Are you taking her for a walk, unleash her so she can sniff around, and then tiptoe away so she doesn’t hear the people most important to her leaving her? Do you watch her when you are sneaking out?

Or, when you take her by car, do you just open the door and push her out, of course just outside town or close to a park, insensitive to the look she will be giving you, looking at you and not understanding what is happening, and not understanding why the distance between you is getting bigger and bigger. Did she also try to run after the car with her stiff little legs because she didn’t understand she could always come with you and now you’re leaving?

Whichever way you got rid of Molly, I keep asking myself what you did then? Did you just drive home and forget about her, or did you stop in a bar to celebrate the easy way you got rid of this problem? Or maybe you even went shopping and bragged about not having to buy dog food anymore?

You probably did not have any problems sleeping, not thinking for a minute about this poor little creature that was totally lost and desperately tried to find her way back to her safe home, that was shivering from cold, but mostly from fear, hunger and thirst and cannot find a warm place to lay down her old little body. Because old dogs sleep a lot and really that was all she wanted, a place to sleep, her own little place. But since you were such cowards to leave her like that, she only had the streets to sleep on because nobody wanted her and shooed her away, dirty as she was.

And dirty she was, her fur was tangled and matted, but it was not her fault, it was your responsibility as owners! She became the victim, go away little dog!

Do you know how painful it is for a dog to have such a matted fur? And how fleas and ticks love a fur like that to spend their life in? That alone is serious animal cruelty you are responsible for. You should have cared for her a lot better!

On that good day when she was brought to Scooby by someone with some feeling left, a volunteer relieved her of this nasty fur and gave her a good soft bath. Immediately she looked a lot better but you could see she felt terrible since she had lost all she had known, and that really hurts a dog. In case you did not realize that, now you know! For every dog it is very traumatic to have been deserted all of a sudden by the owners she would have done anything for! She never could have done the same.

But my most important question to you is really: WHY?? Why did Molly have to leave at all? She is so sweet, affectionate and grateful for anything, never too demanding or barking too much. I just cannot find anything wrong with her. She just likes to be close to the ones she trusts and cares about. Did she have to leave just because she was a bit old? So what? I hope she will become a lot older but that is no reason to kick her out in the street. They are so touching and dependant on their owners, you really do not have any feeling or emotion when you are capable of kicking a small one (or a big one!) out on the street like that. You knew from the beginning they could get to be 15 years old and that you would be responsible for them until their last breath. And once you’ve taken up this responsibility, you should keep it until the last day.

Or did Molly have to leave because she had tumours on her nipples as our vet Enrique discovered? So she needed medical care and instead of taking her to a vet, as thanks for her years of loyalty you just kicked her out in the streets where only a painful fate awaited her?

How could you do that? Believe me, little Molly has more feeling in her paw than you in your whole being!

If you cannot take care of your animal due to unforeseen circumstances, there are more humane solutions than just dumping her, and you must know that as well.

 

In the meantime Enrique has removed her tumours and sterilized her as well, she had a rough couple of days but she is recovering very well. And I think, I hope, she is becoming a happy dog again. She follows me around all day on her stiff legs, and gets along very well with the other dogs, especially with the little puppy Flor (they are playing together all day) and she even likes the cat, but she is certainly no pushover and all of them respect her.

Because you know, when I found out they had picked up this little old dog wandering the streets of Medina del Campo , and I saw her feeling so lost in paddock 7.1 at Scooby, I felt so sorry for her I decided to take her in, and made her the promise she would never again have to feel so alone again. So if she wanted, she could stay with us and I think she wants to.

As for you, former owners, you are not the only ones who have this tradition of abandoning your pets. Research has shown that on average in Spain every 3 minutes an animal is being abandoned. Just take a look in Scooby, what we have coming in there. Old German shepherds with grey faces, old hunting dogs, galgos of sometimes 10 years old, and many other old dogs and doggies who have a small chance of being adopted but who can bring so much joy to a household and yet deserve to spend their golden years in a good home. Precisely these oldies who have experienced the same thing as Molly did.

To all these unscrupulous people I just want to say that I hope they have raised their kids with the same values, of not having to care for the elderly when they grow older and needy, that you can just abandon them. That would mean you are destined for a very bad and lonely old age, and I must say: you have deserved every minute of it.

So you yourself can experience how it feels and what you have done to Molly and all the other dogs.

Wishing you a very bad old age..

Cobie

The latest changes at Scooby

I am going to tell you about the last changes we made here at Scooby, apart from the house for our senior dogs that we already told you about, we have also completely reformed patio 7 and 8, so now they have, besides the wooden house, another house made of bricks with an insulated roof, that for the most part has been donated by the company Panelais Producciones here in Spain, for which we are extremely grateful to them.



We have made the separations between the patios with cement blocks, the truth is that the people who came to work here, as well as our volunteers were getting tired to see how our dogs kept on breaking through our fences, going from one patio to the other with the consequent risk of fights between them. We thought we could have continued the remodelling of patios 7-1, 7-2 and 7-3, setting up quarantaine cages, another almost 25 cages that we really do need, but we ran out of money.





We were supposed to be getting an important donation and with that donation we could have finished the work, but it fell through and we need about 20.000 euro to finish it. So if any one of you just happens to have 20.000 euro left, or just even a few euros you could donate for us to finish, that would be an enormous help.


A lot of little gifts make one big one..I know I am always begging for money but there is just no other solution. Like they say over here, there is just no chance to do this marvelous job without money, so please take a look in your pockets to see and I am sure you will find something, euros, dollars, yen, pounds or whatever currency that could help us out. The costs are high and the income is small.

Thanks in advance,
Fermín

Scooby Transports

Scooby is proud to say that we have been transporting dogs and cats for the past few years throughout Europe in our completely upgraded, EU animal transport standards van. Where animals have complete airflow from the front to the back of the van.



It's equipped with air conditioning, and a full GPS system that monitors our drivers location including the speed at which they travel and when and where they stop.
The safety of the animals and drivers is priority number one.

Olga - A new dog for virtual adoption!

August 3, 2011

*** Olga Update***

We are very pleased to inform you that we found a home for Olga in France. Our partner organization Galgos Espoir will receive her this weekend and she will be going to her adoptive home!
thank you to all who supported her.

***
This calm sweet and tender girls is Olga (app 2008). In her heart she is pure white but her body has ,completely innocent , 2 stigmas that´ll make it very hard for her to find a forever home
  

She is black and Leishmania positive as you can see in the pictures.

Of course we suggested her to all our partner orgas first but none of them agreed to take her, so now we decided to add her to the Virtual Adoption Program to cover the costs for the medical treatment.

It would be wonderful if you would think about supporting Scooby and come to the conclusion:
Yes, she is worth to recover to full health again and I want to be a part of the success!

If you feel like supporting Olga, please go the available animals and chose her from the drop-down menue!

More than 200 galgos...

Over 200 galgos are waiting for you at Scooby, as I suspected mainly due to the rescues from Sevilla, not long ago, we now have a bunch of galgos that need to get out of here, to be specific 260 of them, both males and females, so there are many, many more than I would like to have around here and we have to get them rehomed, the sooner the better.





The truth is that apart from needing to make room for others, this is also a matter of survival; 260 galgos, some of them in a very bad condition and needing a lot to eat, I am sure you all know we don’t have chicken to feed them anymore and have to use regular kibble, bread and dog treats instead.

The latter because we give them away, and as you will no doubt understand this all makes our expenses go sky-high and we need to get the number of dogs in our shelter down very very fast.

So if any of you happen to know someone who would like to adopt one or nine galgos, tell them to contact us here. We have just too many dogs at the moment which also produce a lot of dog poop that needs to get collected every day. I think I once told you so, but I will tell you again: the most silly part of the work we do here is that we spend the entire afternoon working like a mule, preparing food for all our dogs, and the next morning we have to collect this same food, now smelling rather unpleasantly after having travelled through our animals digestive tract.

One more reason why we have to get the numbers down: less dogs eating means picking up less of that same food processed through a couple of hundred dog stomachs the next day. The truth is that none of all of this would be possible without your help, for this we are extremely grateful and so are our animals.

Fermín

The Scooby Residencia

Roughly 37 years ago, Mrs de la Esperanza and her husband, both working as doctors in the hospital and very wealthy, built a dog shelter on land they had bought on the outskirts of Valladolid. It consisted of a house and 48 kennels of different sizes and had all the necessary permits. This became a foundation which owned the entire premises.
Although Mrs de la Esperanza never lived or worked there herself she set up the shelter wishing to alleviate the problem of the many stray animals in Spain.

For the last 20 years the dogs were cared for by a couple who lived on the premises. But as they were getting older they were not able to care for the animals anymore. In response to this Mrs de la Esperanza, being president of the foundation, contacted Scooby in Medina del Campo 4 years ago in order to secure the future of shelter.

And so the partnership between the shelter and Scooby began. Fermin became president of the foundation and therefore assumed responsibility for the management of the shelter. The shelter may not be sold and remains the property of the foundation.
Mrs de la Esperanza still lives in Valladolid today and she's around 87 years old. However her health is failing and there are fears the worst.
It's clear that she will be leaving behind a precious legacy for the animals. Many dogs have found shelter here and many have been adopted. Many have probably died during the course of all these years but not as stray dogs on the side of the road. Each rescued dog has found a better life!
Last June the couple who ran Mrs de la Esperanza’s shelter decided to stop due to their age and the dogs from this shelter were transferred to Scooby. Now it is our intention breathe new life into the Scooby shelter.

Thanks to the Internet and social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tuenti, the people of Spain have become more aware of all the abandoned dogs and the lucky ones who make it to a shelter. This means that more people who want a dog, think about adopting from a shelter. Valladolid is a big city with many potential adopters.
Due to contracts about catching stray dogs with other municipalities such as Zamora, Cuellar and Salamanca, more mix breeds have come to Scooby. It is important to have these dogs rehomed as soon as possible.
There are also still many greyhounds up for adoption and people are beginning to see all the suffering these graceful animals have endured and what fantastic pets they can be.

It's idealistic to expect that all the dogs will be rehomed within Spain, although for some of them this will be possible. Therefore ongoing help from abroad is needed.
Many dogs have been rescued from the 'perreras' (killing stations) by foreign and Spanish aid organisations. These dogs must have a safe refuge until the day they move to their new homes.
Because more often than not, dogs that already have been reserved have been killed by the ruthless management of the perreras anyway, because they take up space. Space that is being paid for when a new dog comes in, and the space that the existing dog takes up doesn’t bring them more money.
All of these organisations and other interested parties may rent an affordable kennel at Scooby for the short or long term, or even permanently. And the shelter is also for dogs whose owners go away on holiday, or for those who can't look after their pets and are looking for a temporary home for them. These animals are also welcome at Scooby.

We hope to find the financial resources that we need to do the necessary refurbishment work. Much remains to be plastered and painted — but as they say here: poco a poco and if it doesn’t succeed today, then it will manana! Your help is essential and is greatly appreciated!

The best case scenario would be to give the larger Scooby complex in Medina del Campo, with its 400 to 500 dogs, a little financial support so the the dogs there can benefit from it too! We're going for it.

Cobie