Mixes and crosses

They will always be mixed dogs, they have the incomparable beauty of mixed types and races and that is at the same time their sin; they aren’t pretty, they are not full blood, they are not galgos but they also have their little heart and also deserve their home where they will be loved and where they will receive something they have not received till now: Love... Well I am exaggerating a little bit, we picked them up from a village in Segovia. What I think is strange is that instead of picking up animals themselves, as is obligatory since 1970, so a little while ago already, the deputation of Segovia is handing out our telephone number as the number to call if an animal needs to be picked up.  Anyway, besides this little protest, Carolina and me went there to pick up some dogs at the house of an elderly man, who in turn had picked them up and taken care of them his own way, which is probably not the way we would have done it, but you got to understand that this is a man of over 70 years old, and the poor man needs to be operated on and then will move to a home, and I told you I was exaggerating a little because this man in his own way had given them love;  the female was pregnant and we sterilized her. The truth is that when we arrived at the village and told what was the reason for coming, people were delighted, probably because they could never understand why somebody would spend a part of his own pension on streetdogs, and when this person realized he could not do it anymore, he was able to find us to make sure we would take care of them instead.

What a difference with the woman that called me yesterday to leave her dog with us, a pit-bull, for the only reason that her daughter in law and the owner of the dog had gotten pregnant and was afraid she would stumble over the dog, and I refused taking up the dog. And on top of that she gets angry with me and starts criticizing Scooby and saying she would badmouth us, as if I am worried about that, she is the one abandoning her dog and she blames me, let’s see about that, but I just had to tell you because it made me so angry..

So.. this is the story of Jalisco,  a black dog, small and a little timid,  medium size dog Tony, timid, and Polly, a female without trauma, friendly with people and dogs, a story of mix dogs like many others but they really deserve a place in your heart, and why not: on your sofa!

A big hug for everybody,

Fermin

The renaissance fair, an unbelievable success.

During the last 3 days we have been in Medina del Campo with our stand in the Padilla Street, and we had to split up because we had this renaissance fair in Media and a medieval fair in Cuellar, so we had to organize a second sales team, with a few volunteers but without Carolina, our official sales person, and in the end I ended up being there most of the time, which is not really my favourite thing to say the least.

It was incredibly hot but the success was astounding, in terms of the fair and therefore the stand was seen by an infinite number of people (I know I am exaggerating but only a little!). We had 3 galgos there, one of them being Sara, and two males that were unbelievable, all the kids touched them and they received more loving touches than in their whole previous life. The children touched them, embraced them, kissed them, laid down underneath them, they took thousands of pictures and one even came to sleep with them, as a figure of speech. We also had our shop of course and we brought some of our kittens and puppies as well, and I think I have told my story a thousand times, of what is Scooby and how good these galgos are as companion dogs. And since the heat was impressive, I have passed these 3 days on beer and mojitos, which on one hand made me more talkative and chatty, but also made sure I added an inch (or two) to my waistline, but hey, you can’t have it all!

A few years ago, an American friend of mine named Pat, asked me: Fermin, do you think that the fate of the galgos could ever change in Spain? And now I say yes, that the things that I saw these days in Medina make me think that it is possible, that it is only a matter of time and effort. There will always be idiots but Spain is definitely changing.

One of the other things I want to emphasize about this fair is that there have been more people than ever in Medina, it was cheap and they didn’t have to mistreat animals for it, there were no bull runs or anything like it, and for me that is proof enough that when you use your intelligence and common sense, things will go well, you attract people to the village and you don’t have to resort to hurting an animal.  Good advice for some mayors who can only come up with the argument that without bulls the village won’t attract people, it is simply not true.

Greetings

Fermin

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxHxGtN9x94

Bureaucracy

This time it is only going to be a short update since I don’t want you to get tired of reading, but a little while ago I told you about the green car and the problems we had with the Spanish bureaucracy. Well this time I will tell you about other bureaucratic problems, with the hope that somebody will read this and help us so we don’t keep on throwing out money.

This is related with the identification of the animals, and since there are new guidelines, before being able to vaccinate against rabies, the dogs have to be identified and also registered  in the Siacyl database, and we find ourselves in a spot because before we can make a trip into Europe with our dogs, we have upload them, and them 1 or 2 weeks later take them out of the database again because they are transferred to another country and when the identification tags arrive, the dogs are no longer here. And this way we have thrown away about 7 euro per dog, and if you multiply that by the number of tags you see in the picture, it comes to a considerable amount that we are throwing away, solely because of the bureaucracy. If we would be able to save this money, I think we could buy about over 25000 kilo of food.

So, if anybody has any idea to prevent this, please let me know because every time an envelop arrives with identification tags, it hurts to think how many bags of food we could have bought instead.

Greetings, Fermin

The fury that doesn’t stop.. Veterinary cases that need urgent help

This time I am going to trouble you, I know, but we need you to help us, we will help them any way we can but we need your help to do that.  A few lines for each case, but I will write a more extensive update later.

Aida

A Doberman found in Cigales, he has a chip so we are going to report his owner to the police for abandonment and continuous abuse. It goes without saying he needs treatment, and I will not say anything about what I think of the owner, otherwise I will end up in jail.

Kelly

Was found after she was run over, she already had an operation but she needs another one. She needs new plates since these were doubled over to save her leg.

Dwarf

This is a galgo mix that reminded me a lot of a few we rescued some years ago, and there were seven  little ones, so therefore the name. As you can see another one run over and another expensive operation to save her leg.

Silvia

This one they left at our gate, also with a broken leg, but we have witnesses and the license plate of the car, so we will report this to the police as well for abandonment and abuse, but for the moment she will also need a costly operation.

So just an overview of our most urgent cases, if you can help anyone of them, please do so and let us know which one you would prefer to help with your donation. Thanks from the bottom of our heart and please note I will write an article on all of them.

Greetings, Fermin

Latest news

It’s summer now and we have our holidays so now I have the time to tell you about a few of the things we have been doing here lately, and since it is always a lot of different things I am going to list a few of the improvements we have made here at the refuge in Medina and shortly in the refuge in Valladolid. We have opened a new building right at the entrance of Scooby that will serve as our merchandising shop. We put it right at the entrance so that people coming to visit us will always have to pass it on their way out and will be able to buy something there. We are sure this has been an investment that will bring us profit very soon.  And I can already tell you that shortly we will have a new online shop that will be much more complete, but it will be announced with a little fanfare. For sure it will be officially opened on the open house day, but that will be a new item for another newsbulletin.

In the same area we have put some shades so our volunteers and visitors can sit there and drink or eat something. Obviously we take good care of our animals but we also need to take care of the people who take care of them! We have already used the area twice, one with a meal for our volunteers that helped with the Day of the Pet, and once on open house day.

Well and then of course we have a lot of improvements made for the most important ones, our animals, from the new puppy cuarters that we already told you about, to the complete renovation of the Cattery I, which has been tiled from bottom to top, renovated shelves and beds, we have separated the feeding trays from the sand outside  so it is a lot more hygienic and easier to clean ( a lot of people who’ve seen it liked it very much), and in this Cattery we are only placing cats that have been tested, that are disease free and vaccinated, in other words: ready to be adopted.

We have put some shades in patio 7, in the areas that did not have shade of their own,  we have put in some pergolas and a roofing over them.

We will continue remodeling patio’s 7-1, 7-2 and 7-3 but I will tell you more in another bulletin, we are redoing the farm, which I will tell you about later too, and we are renewing all kennels at the shelter of Valladolid, and a lot of other things I have already told you about... but please simply remember that all this is possible because of your generosity and your help, so thank you veeeeeeeeeeery much, and I hope that as long as the crisis permits, please continue contributing so we can continue to improve the life of our tenants.

Greeting and till soon!  Fermin

Zita

Zita is a beautiful Galga that acts like a puppy, even though she is five years old. She is living with our Virtual Adoption oldies at the moment because she was the underdog in her paddock and they attacked her. Every morning I go to give a treat to them and when I enter the paddock Zita is jumping and running like a puppy, even jumping over the other dogs of happiness. I can touch her, but only briefly. She will eat the treats when I lay them on the floor behind me, but she is not sure enough yet to take it out of my hand. Zita is in my eyes a beautiful Galgo, even with her scars and a sweet happy girl that will trust you in time, because she is open minded and always wagging her tail when she sees you.

Bag of bones..

No no and no.. I don’t want to call him bag of bones, even though the poor thing is very very thin, so I have been thinking for a while of how to call this one and the only name that comes to mind is Sebastian, so if nothing better comes up, Sebastian it’s going to be. And now of course you must be thinking: who the hell is Sebastian, well, maybe not since you people are a lot more educated than I am (and I am even working in a  school),  you might be thinking: for goodness sake, who is this Sebastian, well maybe not even that, you might not even care knowing who is Sebastian. But no, I don’t think that you don’t care because tadaaa I am going to present Sebastian, who is an adorable little black galgo with some white striping that makes him absolutely special and adorable, and apart from his color, it’s also his character and his personality.

Sabine and me picked him up from Moriscos, a very nice town in Salamanca, we went there with the car donated by LSF that is finally legal, and our friends from LSF should be proud of your car that was used for it’s  first ever rescue, and nothing less than the rescue of Sebastian!  Well, let’s get back on topic otherwise Conny will be complaining that I sound like a politician, that I talk a lot without saying anything, and Conny is one of our marvelous translators, thank you Conny! Anyway, the poor thing was there, looking like a bag of bones, without having been fed for a long time and with some wounds at his feet from wandering around during a long time. On the way back in the car Sabine had to touch and pet him the whole time because that was the only way to keep him quiet and he would let me drive.

When we arrived in Medina we found that he did not have a chip and to tell you the truth, if we find such a beautiful animal like Sebastian, I always hope he does not have a chip because then we would have to return him to some hunter where he would have a worse life than he would have with us. So, this is Sebastian, and right now he is with us but soon he will be at your home! 

Greetings, Fermin.

A big bar of Chocolate

There is a dog in Scooby that is not really the most handsome dog of all. He is not a small dog, neither is he a big dog. Well, that depends on how you look at it. Chocolate is not tall, but he is fat. Really fat. And I always have a weak spot for the ugly dogs and yes, I am hopelessly in love with Chocolate, so this says something about his looks..

Chocolate was adopted from Scooby two years ago, when he still was a beautiful chocolate brown puppy. In the following two years he definitely ate a lot, until he was brought back to Scooby because the owner was moving into a smaller house and Chocolate would not fit..

Chocolate is a dog that has to get to know you. The first few days he is scared and you have to convince him that you are a nice person that is not going to hurt him but only to cuddle him (this convincing is easily done by food). But when he trusts you, he is really nice! He loves to be pet, is not interested in cats (only in cat food..), he likes to go out for a walk (he is good on the leash) and he loves to play with tennis balls. The ball hardly fits his mouth, but when you throw it he runs after it, catches it, looks at you and drops the ball on the floor. Bringing the ball back he still has to learn, so for now I just walk to the ball, pick it up and throw it again. Exercise for both species. 

My ¨beautiful¨ friend is looking for a home where he does fit and maybe can be put on a diet?

Two hanged Galgos in Murcia

The article is in Spanish. It is about a 48 year old man who found the 2 hanged Galgos on a walk and was shocked that humans are capable of such cruelties.

http://www.laverdad.es/murcia/v/20120808/cartagena/colgo-tiene-alma-20120808.html

Incredible but true

Six months later, the car that has been so generously donated to us by Levriers sans Frontiers (thanks you LSF for this wonderful donation), well like I said, after six months of continuous bureaucratic battles with the officers on duty, with Treasury as well as with the general traffic bureau, and even though we tried to explain the situation many times, that is was a donation, there was no way we could arrange it and in the end we had to import it like it was a regular sales-buy situation. A lot of other stupid things happened that I am not going to mention because we still have another problem to solve: the van that Merel gave us. The truth is that for people outside of Spain that make these donations, it is very hard to understand but that is the bureaucracy we have here and even the crisis doesn’t change that, and everything that is just a little outside the “norms”  is a nightmare to arrange and is almost impossible.

Greetings, Fermin

Residencia is getting a make-over

shelter in Valladolid is getting a make-over. After the walls have been painted white a while ago, now the floors are getting done. The concrete floors were cracked, broken and dirty. Plants grew in the cracks and all the feces got into them and it was a nightmare to clean this every day. Two nice builders are working now under the burning sun to make the place smooth again. The new floors are easy to clean and look very nice. And the dogs are more happy living in a clean environment. 

Chica and Punky – 2 Female dogs from Salamanca

Some time ago we got a phone call that a female dog was living in the streets in the province of Salamanca and got shot with pellets on a regular basis. A lady from the village had taken her into her home to prevent her from getting killed. Of course we drove over there straightaway to go and get her. Her name is Chica now.

At first Chica was very scared and felt uneasy with all the people here. It is clear that her experiences are not good. But after a couple of days she started to warm up to us, she welcomed our visits, started wagging her tail and came walking up to the door in a very happy mood when she was brought treats. In a short while she will move to a foster home to be really spoiled.

The same lady who rescued Chica had later taken in a medium sized black female dog who was suffering from the same bad treatment. We went over there and got her too. Her name is Punky now and she is really getting settled at Scooby. Punky looks very funny – she’s got a rough haired coat and big, pricked-up ears. Just like Chica she was very shy the first 2-3 days, but now she already allows herself to be touched, petted and spoiled with extra feedings. When she’s being lifted up you can sense her getting a bit tense but then she starts enjoying her daily dose of caresses.

We are now looking for a forever home for both of our lovely girlies, a place for them to forget their life in the streets. Maybe at your place?

VIDEO: Chica just after arriving at Scooby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuEoEogRyHM&feature=youtu.be

Video microscope for Scooby

Thanks to Motic Europe, the Scooby Veterinary Clinic now has a new digital video microscope to continue providing good quality care to the patients and to expand its educational mission to students from the University of Zaragoza and The Ohio State University. This video microscope allows us to project images into a computer screen or digital projector for viewing by a large audience. We want to thank Motic Europe, and especially, Ricard Tomas for making this possible!

Guillermo Couto/Ohio State University

Our foundlings Mickey and Mouse

When Marcos, one of our workers, arrived at Scooby yesterday morning he found a soaked cardboard box next to Fermín’s car. He was about to throw it away with the rest of the building materials but then all of a sudden two little black galgo boys were looking at him from within the box with heartmelting big eyes, apparently having spent the whole night in that box.  Again someone had delivered his pups at the Scooby entrance. In a stormy night with thunderstorms at that, so the two of them were first taken into the Scooby office to warm up in a comfy bed. They were absolutely thrilled about their new sleeping quarters and didn’t even want to leave anymore. Probably they slept in such a soft bed for the first time in their young lives.

Of course working was very hard yesterday, since we just couldn’t keep ourselves from looking at our two new office workers – they were just too cute!

Our foundlings are now called Mickey and Mouse, they have moved into the new puppy home and are waiting for a family to take them home soon, never to give them away again.