Adopting a galgo - Part III - Fees

The fees requested for the adoption of a galgo or podenco are another area that can cause discontent among would be adopters.

People may feel, quite justifiably at first, that they are offering to take in an animal who is unwanted who needs a home, who may have problems, medical or psychological, and feel a little 'miffed' that they are also asked to pay a fairly large sum of money.

There are several reasons for the fees that are charged for an adoption.

The first is to cover costs. Until you have worked in the rescue system, you can have no real idea of the massive costs that are incurred in each rescue.

Firstly, it may be that a straying and possibly injured dog has to be caught, and this can take several people days of effort.

The shelter/refuge then has to take over, paying for medical treatment, housing, neutering, micro- chipping, passporting, collars, leads, and eventual transport to the border of France. Some dogs have to be flown out to Holland or Belgium, the UK or USA, and the costs involved here can be considerable. Someone has to pay for it.

By now the refuges have probably spent in the region of 200 Euros. Possibly a lot more.

I live in southern France and so I can only speak on behalf of the French teams, who then take over, transporting the dogs all over France to foster or adoption homes. Those in foster care still need to be fed, treated, housed, socialised etc. It all takes time and money.

Adverts need to be placed to seek homes, and publicity materials need to be created to raise awareness of the problem.

By now, I hope you can see, a fee of around 250.00 Euros is more than justified.... and if by some miracle there is any left over on your particular adoption, there will be another needy galgo waiting in Spain, perhaps with a noose already tightening around his neck , who could perhaps be saved with that bit of extra cash.

Written by Joanna Simm.

I'll add a note here too. If the associations didn't charge for the dog, how many people would take a dog for free, only to have it end up back at the centre when the summer holidays came. At least by charging a reasonable fee for adopting a dog, it reassures the rescue associations that the adoptants are serious about wanting a galgo.

Beryl

Related articles:
Questions to ask yourself
Importance of neutering
Fees paid to associations
Questionnaires and visits