Review on 2012

I know, I know, Christiane is almost having a panic attack, and she did tell me well in advance: Fermin, you need to do the final year update, and I told her that now I have holidays it is a lot easier, and what a fool am I, now I am on holidays without being able to open my email. It ‘s almost too scary to open it, and if it is already like that now, what is going to happen when I get back to work.. Anyway, I know I have thanked you the last year, and I am not going to repeat myself. Not because you don’t deserve it, you do and a lot more, but I just don’t want to repeat myself, you already know I have you in my heart, what would Scooby be without you, so here you go, just consider yourselves kissed and hugged and I will tell you that if I contunue I get mushy and melancholic, although that is more or less normal at this time of the  year.

But to come back to normal, I am going to tell you about the things we started this year and we will continue with in the coming year with your help. Regarding the refuge, the improvements have been considerable for both the dogs and the other animals, we still have a few months left to perfect it and to open it to the public and organise school visits, to promote our refuge for what it is, a real safe haven for all the animals we have here and I don’t think there are a lot like this. It is definitely not the most luxurious one but I can assure you that the animals here are happy, and we want to attract school children to show them that the protection of animals is ageless.

We started with the heating and are renovating the perimeter fences that the dogs have been destroying, we are finishing the new cages of 7-3 and are starting to renovate patios 3A, B C and D creating a little corridor so when we have to move dogs, the other ones don’t bother them.

This year we have also added Rebeca to the team, who will be responsable for the promotion of Scooby, making sure we are getting published in the media and promoting our animals so they can find a home as soon as posible. I am sure you will hear a lot from and about her the next year, she is also responsable for drafting the complaints about animal abuse, and what is even more important, follow up on these complaints, so they will be handled and processed instead of disappearing into thin air.

And last but not least  I will tell you about the project that for me is the most ambitious, we have been sending letters to the hunting federations and the federation of galgos, to see if we can start up a combined project that at the end of the hunting season, the galgos and the other hunting dogs can be collected and the owners will be responsable, bringing them to the refuge and bringing in a small amount of money to arrange for change of ownership etc. etc.. so that they won’t say later on that we don’t want to work with them.

In total  this year, like all of them has been filled with activities that I will tell you about in more details later on, and like I told you, this has all been possible thanks to you, adopter, thanks to you partner, thanks to you volunteer, thanks to you employee, thanks to you who is helping us with funds, thanks to all of you organisations that place your animals with us. Thank you and now on to 2013 that will bring a lot of problems, but will also bring new energy to cope with them.

A big kiss and hug for all of you. Fermin

A new opportunity for the galgos from Sevilla

A total of 27 galgos arrived at the Sociedad Protectora de Animales y Medio Ambiente Scooby last Friday. Nervous but taken in with much care by the workers and volunteers for Scooby, they got themselves acquainted with their new surroundings during a couple of days until they will be adopted by some of you.

These galgos came from Sevilla, where they were taken in by the Fundación Benjamin Mehnert, our partners in the battle for better care for the animals. Over the past 10 days about 30 galgos came from the same site and found a place at Scooby, where they have joined their new kennel mates.

Merry Christmas!

A Muffin for your heart and soul

MUFFIN was a stray dog.Her first days at Scooby were difficult.And now…well,now,she is one of the happy,I would say happiest,garden dogs.There´s always water and nice food.She has a house with soft beds where she can sleep in the cold and rainy days.And,most of all,she has friends(humans and dogs).She is 6 years old but she is healthy and looks younger.

And now that she feels relaxed and at ease she is showing a playful character.Muffin is kind and gentle,modest and friendly.But there´s one word which will appear in any description of her:good,she is a really good doggy.She is never sad or angry,never growling or fighting…When someone approaches the fence she runs but not to attack but to welcome them.She loves being with people;she gives you soft hugs that take away all your pains and problems.And she also likes being with other dogs,specially the ones who are quiet and harmless like her.Her best friend is galga Salina who will  leave for Italy.We wish Muffin the same good luck and we´ll love to see her soon sleeping in someone´s lap

Hakuna Matata, a lion at Scooby

Yesterday Pablo and Claire went to Salamanca to pick up a dog from the streets. Two boys have been feeding this dog for weeks before they could catch her and after catching her they kept her at a stable with sheep where we could pick her up. The dog is a nice and calm Mastin that looks like a lion because her former owner cut her ears. Farmers cut the ears of Mastins because when the Mastin has to protect the sheep from the wolves, the wolf can´t bite the ears.  Some say she looks more intimidating without ears, but to me she only looks cuter. And when she is lying down she really looks like a lion on the steppe. Except for the hard life she had until now, Leona also has a skin problem that will be treated by our vet. Poor beautiful girl.

´

´

The sad story of Mora

Mora has known abandonment from the beginning of her life, she was abandoned when she was just a puppy and that’s how she ended up in the doghouse in the northern part of Spain. Like all the other dogs she wanted to get out of there but nobody came to take her. The day she would be put down came nearer and she moved her little tail to everybody that came, hoping she was lucky and they would notice her, but nobody did.

Not knowing about her sad fate, she was happy and innocent like every other puppy every time somebody came to see her, and she starting crying to plead for attention. One day her luck changed and a woman noticed her, she started crying and jumping and asking to be picked up, and the woman did, picked her up in her warm arms and told her „I am going to take you out of here“.

Everything was fine, finally Mora had a home with a warm bed, food, and most importantly love from her mistress. The two of them were very happy together and kept eachother company untill something terrible happened: her mistress was diagnosed with a terrible disease and she needed to be treated urgently and Mora had to stay at home all by herself. Untill her mistress got better she took the decision to put Mora in a temporary home but she did not like it too much because it reminded her of the cold place were she was almost put down.

Since the illness of her mistress progressed and worsened, her mistress had to make a terrible decision to find another adoptant for Mora, so that Mora would not suffer more and would be able to find a definite good home. She contacted Scooby and we were more than willing to help Mora and find her a new suitable family.

Now Mora is at Scooby and she doesn’t like it much, since she has gotten so used to the attention of her mistress and we unfortunately cannot give it to her in the way she is used to, it breaks our heart to see her so sad and scared and that is why we try to spend as much time with her as possible, but she really needs a home urgently where  she will be taken care of, loved and caressed. Does somebody want to give it to her?

PS Mora already found a new home meanwhile;-)

A Sunday like any other

I am going to tell you a story and although I know that these bits of news don’t have much to do with Scooby, I like to share them with you in case the same thing happens to you. On a day like today I get up and while I am trying to wake up, I start preparing my coffee with soymilk and my usual green tea, and while I am doing that I look out the window and I see all these little birds. Or better said, I hear them, and they come to eat here, especially in the wintertime  when there is not much food to find out there in the countryside, so if you can please help these little birds because with all the pollution their numbers are dwindling and the world would be sad without them.

Then I take some treats and I go into a few of the patios to feed a few of our dogs, most of the times the most sorry ones, this time it’s the turn of the oldies because some new ones have arrived, I wanted to see how they were, they bite my fingers a bit but it is very nice to see all of them standing around waiting for their treat.

Then I get closer to the entrance and I stop to look at some new galgos that arrived from Cuenca, the sun has come out and they are lying down in the sunshine and I tell Melissa that this is exactly what I like about Scooby, to see the galgos enjoying themselves in a liberty that they never have experienced before.

And then it is time to dedicate some time to those who live with me; Tino, Coria and Laura are looking spectacular with their jackets on and we take a walk around the Scooby farm, and the dogs are running around and having a good time, especially Tino who is barking at goats and sheep and these poor ones are starting to run. So I yell at him to leave them alone and then we come to the donkeys, and Tino is barking at them to challenge them to chase him, and both sides are enjoying themselves. The bad thing about a walk like this is that I don’t know exactly why but they love to eat the donkeyshit, and even though I forbid them, they do manage to eat some and I don’t understand because they get all the food they want.

I don’t deny that so far everything seems absolutely heavenly and I am sure that you would change places with me any time. Is there anything nicer for an animal lover? The big problem arrives at night when my dogs come in to sleep, especially Coria and that is when the chemical warfare begins. I don’t know if the donkeyshit is to blame, that it turns into a weapon of mass destruction in a dogs intestines but the truth is that their farts are absolutely unbearable, and Coria is really normally passing a lot of gas, but after eating donkeyshit it is becoming even worse, please believe me that four farts from Coria could kill any army... A good thing that the American army doesn’t know about it yet, otherwise they would take her from me and bring her to Afghanistan and I am sure the Taliban will surrender in 15 minutes!  But what can we do, not everything can be perfect

Till soon, Fermin