From sadness to complete happiness...

Some of you might remember Oli from our website.

He came to Scooby in September 2008. He was small, timid and not very social. His chance for adoption were low. We tried to do everything we could to promote him, but soon he started losing interest in life. He would just sit in the wooden dog houses and not care for anything... except food. As you can see here - it was something of a passion for him. He was one of the saddest dogs at the shelter in terms of sociability, but was quite happy eating.

In February 2010, Eva from Canada and Barbara from 11th Hour Rescue were visiting Scooby. Eva had a list of long time dogs and was showing them to Barbara. Barbara has been a great friend to Scooby over the years and she has always taken the dogs who had the least chance of adoption. When she saw Oli, she knew that he was one of those dogs. The reservation was made and he was prepared to travel in September. Although it was a long time to wait, especially since he arrived in 2008, it was worth the wait!

He is now living with the Liza Tivvy…the daughter of the late Elizabeth Taylor.

Here is Liza’s story about how Oli came into her life…

It seems like a real stroke of fate! I went to the adoption clinic with a friend who was looking for a dog. I had recently lost my old friend Buster, the last dog from a shelter that closed down many years before. A few minutes with Oli at that clinic and I realized my dog number was about to go back up to 3.

When Barb and Chris brought him to my house to meet the gang it was like he had always been here; the other dogs accepted him right away.

Since then, he has settled even more. He is totally into the routine of barn chores for the horses, donkeys etc, even the cats who he was terrified of the first time he met them. We go for walks (off leash now) in the woods every day which is his favourite thing to do, being as energetic and athletic as he is! Hopefully he has learnt his lesson about porcupines which he found out about the hard way on one of our 1st off leash walks. I don't think there are porcupines in Spain!

Being that he is already 7 or so, I will treasure the few years that we will have together, and grateful that the timing in both our lives worked out for our paths to cross!

Anyway I gather that you have the few photos that I had sent to Barbara, but if you should want any more, let me know.

Thank you so much for all you do!

Liza

Thank you Barbara for looking out for the underdog! And thank you Liza for opening your home and heart to Oli. From being one of the saddest dogs, we can see that he is now one of the luckiest dogs in the world and very happy.

Easter visit at Scooby

Dear everyone,

We thought you’d be interested to see some photos from the Greyhound Compassion Easter volunteer visit to the Scooby shelter in Medina del Campo.

During our trip we spent time nursing the nervous and shy dogs to try to help them gain their confidence in people, a very valuable job.  We had a professional builder in our group who (despite the snow, hail and rain in the first few days) managed to build the foundation and walls for 2 large kennel blocks, culminating in sunburn on the last two days!  We spent hours preparing food for the shelter residents and cleaning their quarters.  We also got to work on a mega spring clean of the storage warehouse and washing machine area.  What a sense of achievement when that was done!  We also painted the outside of the on-site clinic. The permanent Scooby team have so much work with cleaning the kennels and feeding the animals on a daily basis that they rarely have time to clean areas like the storage room. So hopefully we were able to help them by getting these bigger tasks out of the way.

There were lots of galgos in residence at Scooby and we were pleased to hear that the van would be taking about 20 of them to France to be rehomed with families there this weekend.  Plus, another transport will take place to France in May.  This is such good news to know that galgos are getting homes.

Thank you to everyone who came on the trip and contributed so much to the shelter and to all of Greyhound Compassion’s donors/fundraisers who make our continued support for the shelter possible.

Greyhound Compassion

Micky, the old charmer...

Micky is our model for April in the Scooby calendar and yes, I have fallen for his charm and beauty as well. His owner was good enough to send us an update, which we gladly want to share with you.

It has almost been two years since I spend 3 months at Scooby, where I met Micky.  There is nobody at Scooby who doesn’t know who Micky is: the best looking male in Paddock 2!  You really can’t miss him either, Micky is a galgo mix and draw attention to himself, not in the least since he was 2 heads higher than the rest of them.

This lovable guy was always patiently waiting at the gate and greeted everyone that came into his paddock, following them every step of the way. He just can’t help himself and if you are not careful,  he would place his paws in your face to greet you. This big boy loves to jump on people and often people got startled having him at eye level all of a sudden.

Before I went to Scooby, my friend said:  “don’t bring home any dog” since we already had two at home. But this decision was quickly made, already on the third day it says in my Scooby-diary, which I wrote in every day: “if someone is coming with me, it’s going to be Micky”.

I cannot really explain what it was, but I loved him from the beginning because if his bumbling, lovable and almost goofy way. When I heard how long he had been at Scooby already, I could not understand why. I had almost never seen such a beautiful dog like Micky. And of course I spend a lot of time in my favorite paddock 2.

One of the many days I was there, I was overcome with homesickness and went back to Paddock 2, where Micky followed me around. He seemed to notice that I was feeling sad and tried to cheer me up by putting his paws in my lap. That moment clinched it for me, Micky could come home with me.

And now he has been accompanying me for the last 2 years and I am overjoyed I have made the right decision. OK, sometimes it is exhausting since everybody, really each and everyone loves Micky. There is hardly anyone that can withstand his charm. So we are being constantly stopped on the street, even when we go by bike, by people asking us about the beautiful dog we have, what breed it is and if they can pet him. But of course they can pet him, he is one of the cuddliest dogs I have ever seen and sometimes it is even embarrassing to see how he just begs for cuddles from everybody. He is good at giving paws and wags his tail and when you say jump, he knows he can jump like in the old days. We had to train him not to do that since he was jumping up to strangers in the street, out of sheer enthusiasm and happiness.

Popular is his “Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu”.. it doesn’t matter in which situation, whether he is happy, playing, or has done something wrong and wants to appease us. He lets out this long loud howl which sounds like “Ruuuuuu”. And he knows very well he can wrap us around his little finger when he does that, and everybody who knows us won’t let us go before he does it.

Micky, the old charmer..

I recommend everyone to take a look at the mix breeds at Scooby. A lot of them wait for years for a great home and are nothing less that their purebred Galgo friends.

Ivonne

Correction:Time Scoobyday Soest: 11:00-17:00 h

SWEET AND TENDER GORDITA

One night more, lying here in my corner I close my eyes with the hope that my dreams will come true.

I came to Scooby Zamora 3 years ago from another shelter, where I had been dumped as puppy already.

I have lost the count of the days that I´ve been here … abandoned.

I hardly remember if I had a home. The years pass by, and every minute that passes I´m more away from my dreams.

I´ve seen a lot of friends passing away here by my side, some went to heaven because their lifes were dying without strength to fight more. They went without having known the warmth of a home, they aged alone and abandoned like me.

I have a lot of fear that the story will repeat itself, fear to spend the last minutes of my life here in loneliness, that is what I fear most.

I just ask for a home where to spend the last years of my life, where to show that I have a young heart full of love.

I am afraid that nobody is going to choose me. I´m not young, I´m not pretty, I´m not athletic, I´m not a tender sweet puppy, I´m an old lady and a chubby dog and what I like most is to spend the hours lying in the sun , dreaming of  care, a gesture of universal affection that transmits a deep message… trust in me. That is what I want, trust in you.

PS; Never in my life I will lose the hope of finding a home , in the last minute of my life I will still have the illusion to know your love.

For you , my future owner, my rescuer, I will always wait for you.

GORDITA

Little sweet person frightened and valiant, your life didn’t have importance for the one who abandoned you, your eyes and body are small but you hide something very big inside… ONE HEART, ONE EMOTION , ONE LIFE TO LIVE.

Help us to save GORDITA

PROTECTORA DE ANIMALES “SCOOBY ZAMORA” ( Tlf; 678 198 376)

info@scoobymedina.com

Pal, one among many of our abandoned street dogs

Little Pal was abandoned in the province Salamanca and has been wandering the streets already since October, felt cold, hunger and fear and suffered from the human´s carelessness who wouldn´t stop to rescue him.

He fed himself on rubbish that fell to the ground or was lying around and from the food,that very few people gave to him.

Every day he waited rolled-up in the entrance of a bank. We think, Pal has been left behind there and was waiting now for his “owner” to come back and pick him up, hoping everything was a mistake, that he was forgotten there and would come back to get him – he waited every single day at that door for the human, who had given him affection and took care for him until then, to finally come back and set an end to this nightmare.

Although he was kicked, people didn´t pay attention to his little paws and stepped on them while scolding him, he waited faithfully and good for the one who had once taken care of him.

But one day his fate changed. Somebody came along who saw him and did not hesitate one moment to go for a leash, take him home and call us for picking up the little fellow.

Now he belongs to the Scooby tenants, looking for a home. He is a good little boy, very cuddly and always looking for affection and understanding. Pal goes along well with other dogs and behaves perfectly.

Do you want to help Pal to make him forget his past? Give him a chance and adopt him!

Scooby Auction!