Hi,
My name is Tito, I am 26 years old, from Uruguay and since
three years I live in Badajoz. I am a
circus performer and my travels brought me to Extremadura and that's where I
stayed.
This is the story of Cedron:
Cedron is a galgo, one of the tallest I have ever seen. I
adopted him just a few months after arriving in Spain, and he has been with me
for two and a half years. I got him out of the doghouse in Badajoz, where he
stayed in very sorry circumstances, it was after the end of hunting season, and
as we know the doghouses in Extremadura are filled with galgos and podencos
then.
When I saw him at the doghouse all four of his feet were
infected, he could hardly walk, had no hair on his chest and lost one of his
fangs, he had a lot of wounds on his back and weighed 15 kilo less than he does
now.
It was the first dog I helped after arriving in Spain and the
first galgo I held in my arms. Cedron,
besides having been hurt also kept his distance, he did not play, did not
interact with nobody and you could tell that he had only been an instrument for
hunting because he didn't react to anything else but "let's go".
Seeing he was a dog that needed re-education and a lot of help, he conquered me
in a few days and I decided to adopt him until he was at peace again.
The first month consisted of giving him loving care, showing
him how beautiful love is and starting to trust. Teaching him to enjoy himself
and play, we ran beside each other, rolled around on the grass, we gave each
other loving bites and tugged a piece of cloth, each one on a side. Every time
I went to a friend’s house he came with me and slowly he started to feel secure
enough to interact with people. Until he got over his inhibitions completely
and turned into an animal that loves to greet people, be petted, to enjoy the
company and to invite them to play.
On the other side, with dogs it was completely the opposite,
Cedron started to feel more insecure all the time, get stressed and be afraid
of them. It started with barking at them from a distance, grunt, and on various
occasions, when I tried to let him interact with other dogs, we had very bad
moments where he even bit other dogs, hurting them.
Seeing Cedron’s needs and the fact that we did not get ahead
with the help I was giving him, I decides to take some obedience training
classes. We spend 10 months with Sonia, a trainer from Badajoz and we worked
hard, very hard. His fear, the stress, the huge amount of excess energy that he
had being a hunting dog, his insecurity, etc. The work we did with him and are
still doing is always based on positive things, always with little treats and
the exercise on a bicycle so he can get rid of all his energy and does not get
stressed.
Cedron has changed incredibly, now he is a dog that can walk
unleashed, that goes off but comes back the second you call him, he sits down,
lies down, does not walk into the road, stops at corners, it is incredible, the
more you demand from him, the more he likes it. He trusts me unconditionally
and even more so he trusts himself seeing the gigantic steps he has taken.
He is now playing with all the dogs, if he doesn’t like any
of them he will keep his distance or he will look at me and indicate he doesn’t
want to interact. The thing that I think is unbelievable is that he is
communicating so clearly, he lets me know when he wants to eat, when he wants
to go out, with which dogs he wants to play and which he only wants to say
hello to.
Sonia, the trainer, said that his problem was his insecurity,
that he didn’t know how to relate with other dogs because of the life he had.
Galgos tend to adapt the character of Cedron to achieve getting ahead and being
the first one to bark or bite, or just the other way around and they become
scared and suspicious.
The most important thing is that Cedron now is a dog that has
plenty of confidence in himself and knows who is in charge. We don’t use the
system of treats anymore, we exchanged it for love, and every time he has a
very good moment he feels the love, and the best part is that he understands, he
used to claim his treats after doing something well, now he is coming to be
petted…;-)
My life is the circus and I travel a lot for my work, and
whenever he can, Cedron will travel with me, he is very must used to travel
long distances, he gets into the car, lies down and gets up again to get out.
But a lot of times he has to stay in a temporary home or a friends house and he
doesn’t like it. As you know for dogs time does not exist and you can tell from
Cedron that he is always afraid to be left behind. I don’t think it is right what people are
saying: “and now that he is fine why
don’t you keep him. With all the time and money you already spend on him “
If there is something I do not want it is him having to adapt
to my lifestyle. I also think I do not want to love him in the egotistical we
they teach us: “I love you and I need you with me” Very much the contrary, now that he is very
well I do think it is the best moment to let him go to find his destiny and let
him find his place where he can enjoy life with a person that can really see
how awesome, intelligent and adorable he is.
I am proud of what we managed to achieve together, the way we
helped each other, what we learned from each other, for the times we spend
together and the enormous change he went through and I will never forget that.
I have dedicated all the time needed for Cedric to become what he is, and now I
will spend that time in finding him the best place in the world for him to
enjoy the peace he has found!
It really was very difficult to make this decision but I feel
this is the best decision I can take. He has his passport updated, with all the
shots, chip, he is castrated and is very well-behaved towards cats. He weighs
30 kg, is completely healthy and has no disease whatsoever, he even has donated
blood for other dogs on several occasions. He is quite an athlete.. haha
Well this is the story, the short version at least of my
friend Cedron!
It is very important for me to be very selective in who is
offering to adopt him, I don’t want anybody to adopt him on a whim or that it
is someone who doesn’t really have the time to take care of him, or does not
have sufficient room for him. I think that if he leaves me, he will have to go
to a better place,
I am attaching pictures of our travels, holidays and several
other occasions so you can see my lovely dog. I hope to hear from you if we can
count on your help to find him a good home and a person that can dedicate their
time to him the way he deserves. Any way you can help us will be very much
appreciated.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this message
and very special regards
Cedron and Tito
