Pity

He is a Pittbul, we called him Pity. Skinny to the bone. A huge head in comparison with his body. Eyes almost popping out, hungry, thirsty, friendly,satisfied. Saved now.

The Medina Police phoned to Fermín. Someone informed them that there were dogs left alone somewhere in Medina. The owner left ONE MONTH ago and nobody has been taking care of the Pittbul. All that time this Pity boy survived and stayed alive. A miracle. This nice poor guy has been drinking, drinking, drinking once in our shelter. We´ll try our utmost to get this boy on his feet again and let him feel that he matters and deserves happiness and being taken care of. More bad luck is waiting for him, he´s a Pittbul and because of that his chances are limited to find a home, he´s not allowed to leave Spain. 

Eight reasons why galgos make perfect pets

1.       They steal food. And, logical result, everything they steal from you, won´t be found at your hips and belly as fat!

 

2.       They would even give a friendly welcome to burglars, I suppose.

Just imagine you´d wake up at night by a bark, go to have a look and get killed in affect because you caught them in the act. So this could actually save your life!

3.       They are very clean dogs, they even use toilet paper.

4.       They won´t necessarily come when you call them.

So what? Fresh air is evidentially very good for the complexion!

5.       They are of variable size. Two of them can even fit into a 90 cm bed with you. Given you are stupid enough to sleep with the back of your head leant against a wooden night table.

6.       They know exactly when a cushion is raddled and should be renewed. And they even have a way to let you know! Amazing, right?

7.       They can teach you more about complete relaxation than any yoga teacher ever could.

8.       They consider it more or less superfluous to learn commands.

This is actually very useful because it may save you a lot of time when you don´t have to exercise “Down”, “Sit”, “Heel” and “Give paw”. Time you can spend on other important things like buying new food, toilet paper or cushions…

Above all these qualities they are simply adorable creatures and highly addictive due to their stunning charm!

Reward

I met this little galgo at a crossing on road nr  N601, which is the national road going to Madrid, close to my village Alcazaren. It’s a very busy road.

When I saw her I stopped the car, and she stayed quietly and did not run away, I could see one of her paws wasn’t on the ground, like something was wrong with it, and the poor thing was covered with flies.

I got closer and caressed her, let her smell me and helped her get into the car. She didn’t resist, she was being very good, she got in the car and laid down, I have got a picture of it that I will send if you want me to. When I got to my work, I gave her something to drink and something to eat but she didn’t want anything. I left her in the car, in the shade with the windows down untill I finished work and could bring her to Scooby. She spend all afternoon sleeping in the car, very quietly, she was sooooo good!

I was very happy to see her and that she did not move when I stopped the car. Because  I stopped the car many times when I saw a dog walking along the road, and all of them ran away because they thought I was going to do something bad to them. And it really hurt me to see because if you just imagine what might happen to them, that they could be run over, and I would come back and put food out where I last saw them... Finding her and being able to help  has been my reward for stopping every time and for going to stop every time I see one by the road!

Greetings

Chris

 

The chip has been cut out of her shoulder

Simone

From Salamanca  a very very skinny Mastin mother with her 2 little children came in. Skinny to the bone. She´s been wandering around for a couple of weeks and now she had to leave. As there was a fiesta week coming up in this town, all the mess and rubbish needed to be cleared because a lot of people will visit the fiesta and the city-council wants good promotion for their town. All trash out, so also Simone and her babies…

Mick

Rosy

Little meows

Every morning when I come into the cattery, I really don’t have a chance to put down my bag because as soon as I set foot inside three sharp insisting and constant meows demand pampering, and they want it now! They are Buni, Miel and Pinki, three little cats whose good (or bad) luck brought them to Scooby.

At this moment they are staying in the quarantine zone because they cannot move to the area with the other cats untill they have at least gained some weight. They do care that you put food near them, but their interest is shortlived, they care most that you pick them up, cuddle them and take them outside for a walk on the grass.

Buni and Miel are sharing a cage and love eachother a lot. They always sleep close together and stroke eachother all day. Buni with a grey tigerstripe came in a month ago in bad shape, together with a little brother that did not survive. Today she is very healthy and eager to play.

Miel arrived with a very severe trauma in one of his her hind legs, probably caused by a collision. She was operated and well but will probably always limp with that leg. She is a quiet and gentle cat and only is about 6 months old.

Pinki is the smallest one, she was found in a ruin of a house in Cuellar, she was born there but her mother was killed in an accident so she was not taken care of. A lady brought her milk untill they informed Carolina, who brought her to Scooby. She was very thin when she arrived but now she has recovered a lot and eats a lot. She is the most demanding, she wants attention and cuddles all the time.

These are the little meows we have here at Scooby, that make me get up in the morning with a smile on my face, because I know they are waiting for me.

Irene

Pasha - The bitter sweet story of a Galgo in Spain

We came to Spain over 7 years ago and built a house and studio in the
mountains of the Costa Blanca. Our ancient whippet lurcher Bill came
with us and lived in our shed while we built the house. We decided to
give a home to a Spanish galgo, so the timid but very beautiful Mia
joined us in our first year. Old Bill made 16 years and actually made it
into the new house and claimed his spot. When he died we took on another
Galgo Pasha who already came with an interesting and checkered history.
At about 5 years old she was found starving and abandoned as is the
fate of many other galgos. She was brought back to health by Mandy and
Alan of Maserof kennels. Pasha was lucky to find a home eventually with
somebody but the man had not had much experience of dogs. He made the
mistake of tying her up to his trailer while he went fishing. In her
struggle to get free she badly smashed both bones in her front leg. The
man felt very sorry and to his credit took her to the vets and spent a
lot of money having the leg rebuilt with steel pins and an external
cage. He found it difficult to cope and after two weeks took her back to
the kennels. Mandy did a wonderful job nursing her back to health but
Pasha was left with a leg that would never really mend and no home. At
this time old Bill died and Mandy gave me a call. We decided to give her
a try. She was about 7 years old by this time and the first 3 days
settling in with Mia were a rough ride with a number of battles as they
established the basis of their relationship. Pashas's first love for
food gave her the edge at feeding time and Mia's attachment to her new
home sorted out the accommodation arrangements.
I have had several lurchers but Pasha very soon turned out to be a
character above them all. For a galgo she was very clever or should I
say cunning. A life on the road had turned her into a bit of a Fagan
character; she was a thief like any good running dog and always worked
on the assumption that she could not really depend on where the next
meal was coming from. There were many instances where she was caught
slipping past the window like a spirit with a cake or a loaf of bread in
her mouth sneaking off to her little casita. When guests stayed shoes,
cardigans, i phones and on one occasion a double D cup bra would
disappear during the night. She had had nothing in her life so she
collected like a magpie and to give her credit when you checked her
place in the morning you could see that she had a real flare for
interior decoration. She spent her days no more than 3 meters away from
me and was wonderfully affectionate with all the grandchildren,
completely happy that this was her new adopted family. To be fair she
was lucky in that the next five years of her life were very happy ones.
On September 28th things came to an abrupt end. For ten days she had a
wonderful time playing with 4 grandkids, greeting them often with her
own garbled howl talk. We took the family to the airport in Alicante in
the afternoon and on our return she was gone. Of late we often left the
dogs around the house when we went out. It is in the mountains with
hardly a soul around and Pasha was at least 13 and Mia 10 so they were
very content to lounge around galgo style with perhaps an occasional
stroll down the hill. We searched everywhere and considered all possible
explanations. I visited all the neighbours and left posters in the best
places. I repeated searches using Mia and her good nose and drove
endlessly around the whole area. 48 hours later I was revisiting a place
when Mia's nose lifted and she took off. It was s
potting with rain and the day was heavy with an ominous thundery
atmosphere, I had a feeling I was going to find her so I ran to keep up
with Mia. We struggled though the gorse and pinchos along and up the
bancales until even I could smell her.
The picture I witnessed is fixed in my mind and will be for many years.
She was caught upside down in a cable snare; a simple lasso made of 4mm
cable and attached to a log. She had come from the bancal above, got
caught in the snare and fell over the edge. The body had gone through
the loop of wire and had caught her around the narrowest part of her
stomach. She was left suspended upside down and left to die. In her
struggle to get free the wire had cut deeply into her skin and blood
poured over her body; she must have been blown by flies within minutes.
The poor old girl died in agony and despair.
I am writing this only four hours after I found her with my eyes so
full I can hardly see. I am wrecked at losing her and I am angry, so in
that time I have become resolved to do something positive on her behalf
and maybe to help other galgos in Spain. It was so hard but I have been
back to photograph her so that I have the evidence that will provide a
shocking contrast to the other wonderful photos that show Pasha as a
happy contented dog. I want to make it as real and as extreme as I can
so that people are moved. There are lots of photos of poor dogs and
terrible cruelty to nameless galgos but Pasha had a name and was real
with her own life story that can be told in detail. The first part of
her life was clearly one of neglect leading to near starvation as a
result of the appalling attitude that some Spanish hunters have towards
their dogs. The end of her life was also at the hands of hunters setting
illegal traps to catch wild boar,Jabalis, a particularly cruel way to
die. If she had not died in the snare it could have been the pieces of
bone with the marrow laced with strychnine supposedly left to kill foxes
so that the hunters would be able to kill more of the red legged
partridge, the perdiz. Or it could have been that the hunter simply shot
the dog having seen little else to kill that day. I have seen a so
called hunter with 6 song thrushes threaded onto a wire on his belt only
100 meters from my house and delighted with his days hunting. This is
not supposition or exaggeration; I could quote several examples of all
these instances from my valley alone.
I am not against all hunting, especially in Spain, that would be
unrealistic. I just want that some of the Spanish hunters change their
attitude and become more responsible and caring about what they do and
this alone could effectively prevent far less suffering of hunted
animals and the so called hunters friend the dog.
Before I came to Spain I knew little of what goes on here. The story of
Pasha is the sort of story that is real and therefore could interest
people in other countries and therefore be used to exert some sort of
pressure or at the very least awareness on people who do not know.
If anybody has links with publications who may be interested then
please contact me. I am happy to rewrite or expand the story of Pasha so
that she did not suffer her terrible death in vain.

Cordialement,

Kate