DULCINEA

This little podenco girl came to Scooby about 2 years ago and she is still waiting for a home. Since the majority of the podencos are alive for and because of the hunters, when the hunting season ends or they don’t “serve”well enough, they are abandoned or ruthlessly eliminated. In the case of Dulcinea, she was abandoned and she had a lot of luck finding her way to Scooby.

She is a little timid and scared of abrupt movements, but when you spend a little time with her, touching her and giving her some treats, she gives you little licks as to say “thank you” for what you are doing for her. When you take her out she behaves very well on the leash and she loves to greet all the dogs she meets, she gets along wel with her patio friends and what she likes most is stretch out on the sofa to spend hours and hours..

Up till now her life hasn’t been very good since her former owners never treated her well. Now she is looking for a home where they love her and take care of her..would you like to give it to her?

Ron

Before he came to Scooby Zamora, Ron’s life has been anything but easy.

He set out on the wrong foot, his first owner never should have gotten him. If you take in a dog it is obvious you have to take care of him and take care of his basic needs:  food and a roof over his head, and it goes without saying that it should include love and care as well.

Ron never received any of those,  he lived his childhood in a cold and solitary finca, where the one who called himself his owner, came once in a while with some food. Ron tried to escape several times and wander around the neighbourhood, he loved the tranquility, his trustful companion. He had always been on his own and could hardly remember the warmth of his mother and siblings.

One morning, when Ron was wandering around again, he was caught by the police who returned him to his owner, and to make sure that Ron couldn’t escape anymore, he took him home with him.  That didn’t make things better for Ron, it only made it worse because instead of keeping him with him, the owner locked him in a little patio where he had to remain most of the time. Little food, little walks, nothing like loving care, just another loneliness.. this was the life of Ron for two long years.

It wasn’t hard for us to persuade the owner to give him up, he never really wanted him, for one reason only: he was only a mixed breed of boxer, this little puppy that promised to be a pure bred, for him it was only a mix and therefore not interesting anymore. He never looked at Ron’s most important trait: his heart.

Ron came to Scooby Zamora very thin and very afraid, in the beginning he only ate, and ate with a fear of people taking his food away, or maybe with a fear of not knowing when he would eat again?

He was a bit suspicious of all the petting and affection he received, but fortunately Ron started to trust us, overcame his fear and recovered his happiness and will to live.

Now, Ron is a precious dog and one of the most loving and happy dogs in the refuge, he loves to go out for walks and is very playful. He only needs a good master who loves him and takes care of him the way he deserves, somebody that really looks at him and discovers how beautiful he is and loves him for being...Ron.

Scoobyday 2012

The history of little Mami

I’m going to tell you the story of this little girl. She came to Scooby from the south of Spain, when she just had a litter and when they came to pick her up, none of the little ones were found.

She passed several days in the refuge with a lot more dogs, but she was terrified of people (you can only guess what her past had been like) and she was not feeling well, so the friends at the refuge decided she needed a temporary home and called us, so we came to pick her up. The first time we saw her she was in a corner trying to hide from all us humans,  and when we managed to “catch”her, we put a collar and a leash on her and took her to the car. She didn’t move an inch the whole drive to her new temporary home, only her eyes were moving everywhere with a look of concern. When we arrived and got her out of the car she sat down and didn’t move, so we had to pick her up and carry her inside, where she met her flatmate, who taught her to be a real dog.

In the beginning she tried to flee from people that wanted to pet her, and she jumped every time one of us moved, making her get up and ready to leave, but little by little, with the help of her friend, Mami knows how to be a dog, she gets excited and happy when she sees people she knows, she sort of “plays” with other dogs, she lets herself be petted, she is only missing one thing: finding her own family. A family that understands her and teaches her what loving care is and where she can spend the rest of her live happily. She deserves it, don’t you think?

THE SCARED ONES OF ZAMORA

That’s how Cobie, the woman in charge of the Scooby residencia lovingly calls them, these dogs that came in from Scooby Zamora to the premises we have in Valladolid about 7 months ago.

Fermin told me about the status of these dogs who spent approximately 2 years in Scooby Zamora, having suffered from abuse prior to their arrival, and they were extremely traumatized and not socialized with people, as you can see in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXdj5n7yxi4&feature=player_detailpage

He asked me if there was something we could do for them, since because they are scared, they tend to bite to defend themselves, and the chance of them being adopted because of that was next to zero, so they would have to spend all their life in the refuge centre. Of course I told him that at least we would give it a try to be able to give them at least a chance. So we took them to the Residencia and a group of volunteers started working with them. I would like to take this opportunity to express my warmest thanks and appreciation to Luis, Raquel, Esther, Lidia y Monica for the terrific job they’re doing and of course to Cobie for caring for them in the residencia.

After only a few months, the progress they are making is varying, some are better than others, some are still as scared as when they came in.  In these first photo’s you can see how they where when they arrived and in the following ones you can see their progress.

Therefore, we thought about the possibility of bringing them to Scooby, because in the residencia they will only be seeing the volunteers that work with them and Cobie, which might halt their progress. They need to meet more people, pass time with other dogs and especially adapt themselves little by little to different situations without forcing them. The most ideal situation would be to work with them individually but it was simply not possible since we don’t have any shelterhomes with a patio or garden where they can go outside, and right now they don’t even accept a leash.

So, for all the volunteers from any part of the world, please go to Scooby this year so you can get to know them and when you see any of them in the paddock, please don’t try to catch them or touch them in an abrupt way; they are “special” dogs that need friendly words, gentle gestures and for the moment some distance from people. You could offer them food so they could come closer to you and see that we humans are not all as bad as the ones abusing them. In a shelter situation their recuperation will be very slow, but we will keep on working with them so we could find them a home.

Finally we would like to say that soon we hope to have a blog ready about canine education on the spanish page of the Scooby website, where we can keep you informed of the news on these dogs or any other dogs with similar problems. We will have videos, articles and news about the ethology and the education of canines.

One of many, Lucre

Lucrecio`s (Lucre) history is both sad and common in Spain. He is just one of the many thousands of galgos abandoned in Spain every year. Just all in a day’s work here, nothing special…

When he was first seen in the streets he was estimated to be some 5 months old, by now he is roughly one year.

As a pup he had a hard time wandering around all by himself. It was winter, with nights that were freezing cold and nothing to give him even the slightest bit of warmth, no warm blanket or basket, his bed were the cold hard cobblestones in the street, it’s a miracle this tiny, thin  galgopuppy managed to survive at all…

He was attacked by a larger dog which almost cost him his life, he sustained many injuries but miraculously healed. He was chased and had rocks thrown at him which made him very frightful, afraid to go out to scavenge for food, extremely weakening him. To get to some food he had to cross a busy road which also nearly cost him his life 3 times so he refrained from doing that, thank heavens.

On top of all that he caught on Kennel Cough but got well again. Life in the streets is unforgiving for a pup, they don’t belong in the streets, neither do grown up dogs for that matter.

He was lonely, lost, scared, hungry, cold, how was he going to get on with this life?

One day a human with a dog came close to him which panicked him and caused him to run for it, but the next day that human and the other dog were there again and again the next day, little by little he gained some confidence in them, especially since they always took him some food which he gladly had since he was terribly hungry and had basically given up, he would rather leave this world which had been far from pretty for him.

Thanks to this human and most of all thanks to the food, he regained his strengths. This person, which was a woman as you already might have guessed, saved his life. He grew like a pup should grow and very slowly his confidence in this specific human increased.
This person was allowed to touch him if she really wanted, well okay and he really liked it a lot, but only this human and no one else.

In the mean time he became a well known dog in the neighbourhood and more people came to him to bring him food. He wasn’t as frightened of them anymore as before and even sometimes played with other neighbourhood dogs. But obviously such a young dog couldn’t live in the streets for the rest of his life, he needs a family of his own, a warm home, love, care and attention.

So one day Fermín Perez, Scooby’s chef, got a phone call with the question whether it was okay to bring Lucre to Scooby if they could manage to catch him, to get adopted by a loving family, and thankfully that was okay by Fermín.

Lucre himself however didn’t share those thoughts. A brief stroke on the head or being caught and put in a car were two very different things indeed and he wouldn’t have that. As a dog you never know what will happen to you and he had become very cautious towards people, despite their promises all would be better for him from now on.

After a couple of weeks and some failed attempts to take him they decided to put some tranquillizer tablets into his food and after waiting for a couple of hours, they could get him – with a little effort – and put him into the car. At last.

Because he lived very close to Valladolid he was taken to the Scooby residencia and he is there still.

The next day he was freed of some 80 ticks that used him as an appartment and got treated for other nasty critters, both inside and outside.

He socialised with astonishing speed. He loves to play a lot with the other galgos in his kennel and in the garden. He comes up to you all by himself and indulges in a good cuddle, he is friendly and sweet and no longer afraid, as you can see in the accompanying pictures he is a gorgeous galgo.

Again it has to be said and I’ve said it before: people have no idea of what they are throwing away and in the streets you can find real gems.

Lucre’s days of misery and despair are over, he is now waiting for someone to fall in love with him and adopt him, but there are still thousands of Lucres roaming Spain and hopefully their bizarre life journey of misery ends just as well as Lucre’s.

Cobie