Open Doors Day

We had so much news this summer that I almost forgot to tell you about our celebration the other day, as is the case on a hot Sunday in July we thought of opening our doors like we do every year.  In the beginning it was like usual and some fifteen people showed up  but when I started to talk, people were telling me, Fermín wait, there are coming more and more and more.  As a matter of fact we could not begin until half an hour later and meanwhile around 150 people had arrived at our facility, something absolutely unbelievable, we had never reached such a large number, not even close, and as a consequence the visit lasted longer than expected, because everyone stopped to see all our animals, asking questions about this or that animal.

At the end of the afternoon we all ended up in the new store that is already starting to pay off, it was a tremendously interesting day, most people left very happy and we are looking forward to seeing you at the next one because at Scooby there's always something new, although we have "only" animals out here.

One week before our open doors day we had a communal day among the volunteers who had helped on the day of the dog, by the way that was also very fun and very wet because Facundo put the hose on us, the truth is that it was very much appreciated because the heat was horrible.

See you soon,

Fermín

Scooby comes to the rescue or our trip to Cuenca

Each of the above titles would fit. A couple of days ago I got a call from Milagros which was about: Fermín, help us, we have so many dogs in here, they are attacking and biting each other, because we don’t have enough space for all of them here.

When I came here, I notified we would drive to Cuenca to get galgos from the Perrera Provincial and I remember my conversation with Dani about it, because at the moment we really should only go for bitches as the males were so hard to get adopted, even though this is a reality,  I found myself unable to make a choice from dogs for their sex or colour. Black dogs have more difficulty to get adopted as well. Yes, we have quite a few black galgo males, but I like to help animals, all animals, and I may be innocent to tell you this while knowing that you will come to adopt these less adoptable dogs and adopt more males and more black dogs, because they really are fantastic, those males of ours. Apart from that I believe you should not rescue dogs simply because they are beautiful, that would be kind of unconstitutional and anyway I always like the ones who are worst off, the most. Anyway usually my dogs pick me and not the other way around.

So we drove to the Perrera in Cuenca and brought 39 galgos from there, among which a puppy, who in my opinion is a podenco and super loveable, and also a mother dog with two pups, who are definitely galgo mixes, but need to be adopted just as urgently as all the others. So please, let’s not be racist, when they are galgo mixes they too have a right to find a lovely spot on the sofa at your house.

Now they are in the puppy house and live together with our baby cats peacefully. I’m over there to take some pictures of them, so you can also see them.

Our rescue heroes by the way were Cristina and Claire who got up in the middle of the night to make the drive to Cuenca and back in one single day.

See you, I’m off taking some pictures.

Fermín                              

Oh, I completely forgot to tell you that one of the dogs we took from Cuenca is a greyhound. I’m not 100% sure whether she came from Ireland, but she is a greyhound. She has only one tattoo, a green one, as customary with the Irish, and on top of that illegible even though we tried. Not so long ago I had a conversation specifically about this subject, with Marion Fitzgibbon, in which I said I was convinced that they were still importing Irish greys for running. And look – now we have got one of those dogs here with us.

Photos of the rescue:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl3jF3TIokE&feature=youtu.be

What is impossible, well that is impossible, and beside this it is utterly impossible.

And you might ask yourself, what a strange title has come into his mind again.  But yes, I have to start somewhere. The cause is that we simply cannot cope, not with 3 puppy houses, not with 4, and not with 20. This year is simply crazy..

Yesterday we brought 3 puppies from Cuenca, today a mother with 9 puppies arrived. What shall we do with all these dog kiddies? It is utter madness.

Please if you know any shelter that may help these babies, or if you know any adoptants who can help our little ones, let us know. 

We rehome quite some puppies at the moment, but we are reaching the point the number of puppies is simply getting to large for us, and is getting beyond our possibilities. We simply cannot afford to find homes for so many mix puppies. 

They are very nice, sweet, friendly and cheerful and we give them to adoption already used to collar and leash, but PLEASE adopt them.  I know, adult dogs are easier to handle, but now they are born into the world and we have the responsibility for them, we need to find good homes for them. We count on you!

With kind puppy regards,

Fermín

It never rains but it pours

My father used to say this to me. Well, today our pump, we urgently need in order to pump water out of our own well, has broken. All faithful Scooby friends might remember  that the last time this happened it cost us 7000 Euro to buy a new one. It is logical we cannot operate without water and I already arranged everything for getting it repaired. But to finance this, we will need some Internet auctions, medieval markets or flea markets. For the moment we asked the city council to provide us with water und tomorrow the pump will be picked up for fixing since without it is simply impossible here.

By the way, how incredibly bothersome the mosquitos are in September. For sure they feel their soon end coming and are much more annoying than they were in summer. So, I just inserted this now to relieve some tension und to finish this, what actually is a tragedy, with a smile.

Until soon,

Fermín

Tuna, the cheeky Galga

Among the Golden Oldies in the garden lives Tuna, a five year old Galgo. Every morning I walk through the garden with my bag of clean clothes and my towel, ready to take a shower. And this morning it wasn´t the first time that I came out of the shower, noticing that one piece of clothing was missing. And of course, again, Tuna took it out of my bag without me noticing. Cheeky Galga.  But I forgave her in one second, because she is so very sweet and affectionate. Always first in line to get pet. Always happy and yes, always ready to steel something from your bag.

BASTARDS!!!!

It will probably not be political correct but it is the first thing that comes to mind, that anybody is able to allow an animal to reach this sorry state, there is no other name than bastard.

We picked him up in Hinojosa de Duero and in the end we had to put him to sleep,  worms had practically reached his brain, we don’t know what has happed, the only thing we know is that we cannot allow things like this to happen! The poor thing had a chip so at least we are going to report it, I don’t know if it will have any result but at least we are going to try.

Sad greetings, Fermin

Because the pictures are quite horrific we put them on YouTube so you can decide  yourself if you want to watch them or not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlWOn5Nqxoc

Our puppy house 3

As far as our puppy house is concerned, not so long ago we have informed you of building a first puppy house, showing you pictures of the happy puppies inside their new home.  The truth is we are collecting so many puppies, feels like thousands of them, so we have decided we need to construct a second puppy house, but not just for the dogs but also for the cats so the second house we construct is for the cats.  It was impossible to continue things the way they were with sick cats coming in being mixed with healthy ones, newcomers and many kittens mixed in the same room, we said we need to get the funds first but then again we went ahead and just built it. Being an aries and not very patient I did not like what I saw with all those kittens catching diseases so the cattery is already underway, shortly we will have finished the new place and all our kittens will have a safe space to spend their quarantine period. As for the success of the first puppy house, we opened a second one in the place we used for the reptiles, but since they are now in the lake area we had space left and so we now have two good puppy houses and ever we have had not a single sick puppy so these houses are a big success. Thus we are pleased because this Summer we had plenty of puppies and – knock on wood – all are healthy so now we want to carry on to do cat house 3 or puppy house 3  - depends on how you want to call it - but now we have to pay for them first so your support is much needed.

 My regards and till the next time. Fermín

The forgotten dogs

You don´t want to know how many forgotten dogs there are at Scooby. Some of them are Galgos but most of them are other breeds or mixes. For this update I will focus on five dogs that are the favorite dogs of Vanessa, a Belgian volunteer who has been coming here for years. Because the thing is, if you are working here and see all these dogs, you start to love them and recognize their distinctive characters. But for people in other countries these dogs are just pictures on our website. And I know, there are a lot of dogs and pictures and dogs on the website. This is not on purpose, to make it more difficult for you to choose the one you like, it is because we have so many dogs! Many many dogs.. So here Vanessa picked out five forgotten dogs for you and please don´t forget to look at our website regularly because there are dogs coming in here at a daily basis:

http://scoobyadoption.blogspot.com.es

FLORI

Flori came to Scooby when she was just a puppy. She needs a leader that will do active sports with her because she is very active and really wants to work for her owner. She loves to play with toys, she is sweet and affectionate and has a very special look. If you are looking for a dog for training, agility or other active sports, please think of Flori.

NORA

Nora is one big cuddle monster. She likes to ´shake hands´, get a lot of attention and is very soft with people. She is e real people-dog: smart, soft, medium size and normal looking. And that is why many people don´t see her. And that is really sad for her!

LASZLO

Laszlo is a big impressive Shepherd at first site, but actualy he has a small hart. He is playful in his way, calm, has a good character and gives a lot of cuddles. He uses his weight and size, so he needs a strong owner, but an owner that is prepared to give him lots of love!

IVAN

Ivan is a beautiful Setter mix. He loves to play with his tennis ball, but you have to know something about him before you can play: you have to put the ball inside his mouth yourself. Because if you throw it away he is not running after it to get it for you. But if he has the ball in his mouth he parades around as proud as he can be.

DARIO

Dario is very submissive towards humans. He is soft, never jumps up and gives you kisses all the time. When he sees a leash he walks away, he prefers his freedom. The best attention he can get is rubbing his belly. Dario is incredible sweet and patient.

Mother and son

Hello, hello, here I am again because I would like to present you Sara and Zeus! This time I am going to be a little long-winded, but only a little, and I will tell you some personal things, things that I don’t really want anybody to know about. Anyway, just a little while ago, Sabine, one of our German volunteers, told me that she would like to stay here, working with us and I thought she was mad, absolutely crazy to exchange a steady job in Germany for the uncertainty of being here, trying to find a job and volunteering at Scooby, but I have to confess that after spending the most of summer working here, I realize that the same thing happens to me, that the only thing that really makes me happy is to rescue animals like Sara and Zeus.  Deep down I already knew this but I think it has just been reaffirmed. It is a pity I have to pay for my mortgage, otherwise I would spent all my time here at Scooby, so if anybody is willing to pay me a salary I will stay here, it would make me extremely happy!

Anyway, apart from these confessions, Sara and Zeus are mother and son and have been found abandoned next to a river in the province of Valladolid, dodging the stones the children of the town threw at them, and they are authentic beauties. Sara is a brilliant black and Zeus is a ginger colored puppy of about 4 months old. How I know they are mother and son? Well that is easy because they don’t leave each others side and also because they are constantly giving each other little licks. It would be ideal if somebody would adopt them together because they get along very well, and Zeus is not even an adolescent, when normally adolescents become impossible to deal with and start arguments with their parents, or is this only the case with humans? I have no idea, the only thing I know is that they are here right now and very soon they will be in one of your homes. They will certainly get along with the whole world.

Greetings

Fermin.

GOOD NEWS: BOTH ARE ADOPTED MEANWHILE!!!

Elena and her adorable babies

After thinking a long time about how to call her, I came up with the name Elena, with or without H, it doesn’t really matter if it is Helena or Elena, even though Helena is more classic. Anyway, this is the terrible story of a mixed breed Pit-bull I am going to tell you, a dog that has been living on the streets since the beginning of time. She probably was not born on the streets but most of her life she must have been abandoned. We came to know about her existence over 6 months ago, that she was out on the streets and had given birth, so we went out to try and catch her, but the only thing we managed was picking up one of her puppies, a girl we named Yala and who was adopted, but we could not capture Elena at that time. Six months later we received a call again, that she reappeared and this time with 5 puppies, a bit stupid if it was Elena, but I think you can understand, she was a little bit horny but she didn’t know about this safe sex thing.  Well the thing is that we have her here now, and to tell you the truth she is a little ugly, I am not going to lie about it, she has hardly any teeth left, her tits are sagging, she’s very thin but without doubt she is a monument for all mothers, taking care of her little ones like a good mom, if you approach her with bad intentions she growls at you. She never bites but she has to protect her babies and the puppies are chubby while she is loosing her energy in giving them her milk.

I am aware that it will be very difficult for her to be adopted and she will probably die in the shelter, but I did not want her to become just another dog in the shelter, anonymous, and this way at least you know about her history, her life in abandonment, a dog on the streets bringing litters into the world of other stray dogs, just because one day an animal who considered himself rational decided he no longer wanted her.

Anyway, Elena, I want you to know that I will do everything in my power to ensure that you will live the last years of your life in a home without having more babies.  Got to tell you this story though:  we keep her in the “tortuguera” which is actually Puppy house 2 and there is a bath where she goes into but not the puppies, and sometimes she just goes and lies in it to have some peace and quiet, to rest a bit, which is understandable and I am sure all mothers understand, all these babies wanting to feed is very tiring.

And now the eternal question is: where is the home that will take up Elena and her babies, is it yours? Give it a try, I am sure you can do it.  A big hug and even though I am a little bit of a pain in the behind with these updates, I know these dogs deserve their own place in your heart.

Till soon,

Fermin

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm8Pc4GBJ1o&feature=youtu.be

DAY OF THE PET 2012

VALLADOLID, Sunday the 17th of June

The 19th of june of last year and the 17th of june of this year had a little bit more in common than being a sunny and hot day. If the 19th of june of last year was already a success for Scooby  in terms of organizing the first competition of mixed breeds together with the City Council of Valladolid (see issue nummer 13), then the 17th of june of this year was exceptional. In fact, the third edition of the Day of the Pet by the City of Valladolid and the second edition of the competition of mixed breeds, was an outright success with thousands of people that visited the event.

On the 9th of june, in Salamanca they also organized their first version of the Day of the Pet, an Scooby was present there as well.

In Valladolid, the program was expanded with a series of lectures on the 10th, 11th and the 12th of june  in the recently opened Cúpula del Milenio.

ORGANIZATION

The same as last year, both in the organization and as judges in the competion,  the Official College of Veterinarians of Valladolid as well as the Municipal Association of Veterinarians attended.
The program covered all day, from 9 in the morning till 9 in the evening.  There were some new activities added to the program from last year and this way all the people from Valladolid could enjoy a day filled with activities around and about pets, such as  lectures, exhibitions, parades, sales stands and information stands about the care of animals. With the exception of noon, when it was too hot and activities were stopped to give everybody a chance to have lunch, the Paseo del Recoletos in Valladolid was the scene of incessant hustle and bustle and full of animal lovers.

As last year, our volunteers Facundo and Alicia, together with a group of 25 volunteers dedicated a lot of work and several months of preparation to this special day which was very rewarding because of the success of the day and the good organization.

NEWS

On of the new features of this second edition of this day organized by Scooby, was the involvement of the children of a primary school, with a drawing competition, the theme being “I care for and respect my pet”, and the prizes for the competition were handed out in the morning.

Another new feature was the grooming competition, which took place in the recreative area from 11.00 till 19.15, at which time the jury would decide, and where we could see, for example, how afghan galgos were being groomed and made to look gorgeous.

And also the association “Con Perros” from Salamanca was present all day, arranging walks with children an elderly people with pets. And there were costumes and balloons and candy all day in the playground area.

TROPHIES AND MEDALS

Trophies and medals were handed out to the three best ones in each category in the canine competition, the categories being:  the best on 6 legs, the smallest dog, the biggest dog, the most skilled dog and the most original mixed breed.

The pricewinning trophies were handed out at  13.45 with all the members of the jury present. Fermin handed out the trophy, the medal and a bag of dog food, to the “best dog in show”.

With a stand of Hogar de los Gatos, the cats were remembed too, including a competition of cat photograpy.

The thirsty, hungry and children were not forgotten either because from 11.00 till closing time drinks, food and activities or children were available.

 

EXHIBITIONS AND DOG SHOWS

In the afternoon, the competition for mixed breed dogs was alternated by exhibitions. The C.R.A.S. (Centre of Rehabilitation and Recuperating  Wild Birds)  demonstrated the release of 2 wildbirds completely recovered.

The dogshows for dogs available for adoption by the local pound of Valladolid and Scooby was a success. Facundo introduced each dog with their history and what he knew about them and in the end:  dogs were.. adopted!

After this came another dogshow  and the pricewinners were announced for the grooming competition.

And when the sun started to set, the Unidad Militar de Emergencias (UME) gave us an demonstration of dogs for military work, security and rescue work.

In the end, Canuber closed the day with a demonstration of working dogs in obedience training.