A new adventure

On Friday the 7th of March, Scooby received a visit from Martin Usborne, a prestigious photographer from London, specialized in animal portraits, and who has had several expositions and published various books on his work.

His next objective is to create an álbum where the galgos are going to be the stars. When he found out that our shelter is one that picks up the most of this race, he got in touch with us to start a series of photos of our renters.

The adventure did not stop there yet and Martin Usborne will return to Scooby to continie another beautiful Project that we will see later in one of his books that will be published later and of course through the social networks.

We will keep you informed on every step of this new adventure our shelter has been caught up in.

 

Charlie and Amelie

Charlie and Amelie were saved from a certain death, their mistress wanted to put them down to get rid of them, like you would treat any throw away article. They were in Cuellar and we did not have to think for a moment and stepped in to save their lives. Their lives had not been that good anyway, they never received any love before arriving at Scooby and they have probably been beaten because if somebody they don’t recognize wants to pet them they cringe with their tail between their legs.. But even after all they have gone through, they are very loving and willing to give you their unconditional love. They follow you around everywhere and now they know what petting is, they are trying to get close to you to constantly be petted.

We have taught them to walk on a leash, since nobody until now has bothered to give them enough attention like taking them out for a walk and they love it! They have also learned how to go up and down staircases, something they were terrified of in the beginning, and they are starting to react to their names. They learn quickly!

Since they have been together their whole life and suffered these hardships together, they protect each other and are not happy when they are not together. They are more secure when they’re together and if there is something that scares them they start to shiver and get close together, as if that would help making things better and prevent anything bad from happening.

Even though they have lived their life only outside so far, inside the house they don’t bark, they are very quiet and surprisingly, they don’t have any accidents nor do they destroy anything, they adapt really well to living in a home and live perfectly along with other dogs, cats and kids.

The two have already suffered enough in their short life, now they are looking for a home where they get the opportunity they deserve, you want to be that person?

Charlie en Amelie.

Cobie Steketee´s dream

Like Martin Luther King, I also had a dream, who doesn´t? I had a dream that one day this whole residencia would have nice new floors and walls, that it would be painted in the most beautifull colors which made the dogs feel happy, that there would be a waving palmtree in every kennel to provide the dogs with shadow in summer and less wind in winter, that there would be a special place for traumatised galgos where they could feel safe, maybe with a little bit special music in the background, that there would be a small clinic for those who need treatment, that the big terrain next to the kennels would have beautifull green grass where the dogs really could run fast and play the whole day, that there would be heating in every kennel in winter etc. etc. That it would be a real small paradise as well for people as for the dogs. But the first thing we need for this is money and the reality is that many of our clients don´t bother to pay us for the services we have given them for their dogs. Like Fundación Luna from Salamanca, they had many dogs here, still owe us 4700,- euros but have already for over a year not payed nothing!! A German association, ACM ,also had many dogs here, they still owe us some 7000,- euros but did not pay nothing for over 2 years! Somebody particular left his 2 dogs, both over 10 years old here for, as he said, some 4 months and was crying when he brought them because he loved them so much and was going to come to visit them here every week, as he said. We never saw him back, neither the money he ows us! A galguero from Madrid left his 3 galgopups here, never paid nothing and owed us 1700,- euros which he did not want to pay. He wants very much his dogs back but he can forget that! No money for us means no dogs for him and these pups, in the meantime almost 2 years old, are on our adoption page now. Lucky them!!! Several other galgueros did not pay their bill so they cannot bring anymore dogs here of course, which makes us feel very, very sorry for these dogs because without any doubt, they would be here much better than with them. It's a question of education, I think...And we? We keep on dreaming...from palmtrees in the sun, nice floors and walls with nice colours, everything painted, heating, clinic, green grass...sweet dreams...!!!

Another victim of abandonment

This poor Galga was straying near  Medina and as soon as we got to know Dani and Marcos went for picking her up. And first it seemed they would succeed but the poor animal, scared of humans and not knowing these 2 came as saviors, escaped again before they could close the cage and ran away. She was not to be found anymore until the police called, telling us a Galga was hit by a car. And it was her again, not able to move anymore and with so severe internal injuries that she died in the clinic;-( 

So former owner of this dog and of all the other abandoned dogs, if you recognize your dog, ran over by a car, you are as guilty for this completely unnecessary death as if you would have killed her yourself. But it is so damn easy this way, isn´t it? Open the door, chase your dog away and problem solved.

In a cruel and irresponsible way, but you don´t care, do you?

BUT WE DO!! And do you know why? Because we have a conscience that can tell right from wrong, we have compassion with the defenseless, we feel responsible for those  who are under our protection and we have a heart that still aches after all those years when we see things like this.

And what do you have?

Meditating on a rainy and windy day

The other day, walking on the premises, I was thinking that my role of continuous ogre was becoming a bit tiring. Always looking for the bad things to be able to repair or improve them, especially around the subject of the animal wellbeing, and then later on always criticized, most of the times unfounded. There are times that I would just like to be like any other animal lover, rescuing an abandoned animal from time to time and then calling the refuge so they can come and pick it up, because that’s where their job ends and they are very proud of having done so, they have rescued an animal. But later when you ask these animal lovers to bring some amount of money, they are no longer the animal lovers they pretend to be and they start insulting us by saying things like: “you call yourself animal protection? This is what you have to do right? But don’t worry, the whole world is going to know about it” . The same version comes from animal owners that want to leave their pet at the refuge. All this without even being aware that the animal that comes into Scooby will not leave unless it has found a home, vaccinated, free of parasites, sterilized, with chip and Passport, and without realizing that in the meantime this animal eats and shits every day and there has to be somebody to feed it and clean up after it.

Sometimes it is better not to think about this, because everybody is coming to Scooby and wants something from us, and I personally sometimes get tired of being the bad guy and refuse somebody entry but it just so happens that I need to be pragmatic and realize that Scooby has to survive over many years and that includes making tough decision.  Really I would love to be able to rescue all the animals in the whole wide world but if I want to be a responsible person, there is no choice but to say no and it really is not easy.

Sure, it is a lot easier. Pick up a dog, bring it to the refuge and they will take care of everything without thinking that like you, that day another 10 to 12 people have done the same thing. But if you refuse, you’re the difficult one, and I really would sometimes love to have no responsibility whatsoever but it just so happens that at Scooby we are very responsible people and although we always try to stretch our capabilities a little, we will never stretch them too much as it might snap and break down the running machinery, so this is what I fear we must do.

Kisses, hugs, bites and responsible licks, Fermin.