I’ve just got back from a trip to Spain, catching up with friends and shelters and the animal rescue work going on. It’s a while since I’ve been; last year was out because I had serious shoulder injuries which required an operation; this year I had serious mobility problems with one of my horses. So my visit was somewhat overdue!
The planned route was Valladolid, Seville and Malaga; then drive straight back via Madrid. My first port of call was Cobie at Scooby Residencia Valladolid. I first met Cobie at a refuge in Cordoba back in June 2009 and she’s been a very useful and knowledgeable contact for me regarding the situation in Spain for the galgos.
The Scooby Residencia Valladolid is divided into a couple of sections – plus Cobie’s house. She lives and breathes dogs, sharing her home with galgos and xbreeds, plus two very tiny puppies which were taken from their mothers by the galgueros when only 4 weeks old! ‘So the mothers could be sent out to hunt again’, she told me. Such tiny babies.
One section of the kennels is home to galgos, plus a beautiful but very nervous podenca, Tula, who desperately needs a forever home – read the appeal for Tula below. Renovation work has started on this section of kennels, but there is still lots to do.
The second section of kennels houses an assortment of dogs, including a German Shepherd, a Mastin, a pit bull, a xgalgo…these are all privately owned dogs which, for one reason or another, the owners don’t keep at home. The owner of one beautiful Labrador arrived to collect it and take it home for the weekend – he works long hours and so his dog stays in the kennels during the week, where it gets the attention and exercise it needs. The owner of another dog arrived to take it home for the weekend also – for a birthday party – but then Cobie told me that the dog is up for adoption.
So sad – what happened to ‘a dog is for life’?
There is a huge amount of work to be done to bring the kennels up to standard – clearing land, concreting, knocking down walls to enlarge kennels, fencing a small meadow for a play area
If any of you readers have a week’s holiday – or longer – due, why not contact Cobie and offer your services – she will be very glad of your help.
Contact Cobie at Scooby Valladolid.
A couple of days after I visited Cobie, Scooby received an appeal to help Cuenca refuge; they brought back 39 galgos, 1 podenco and an English/Irish greyhound. Here’s the story and a link to the photos. So sorry I wasn’t there to help with the rescue.
INTRODUCING TULA
The dog on the picture is Tula, a very timid, quiet Podenca Andaluz who came to Scooby from a perrera in Sevilla where they were going to euthanise her.
She is some 2 years old and has the most beautifull, but sad eyes. As said, she is very timid but she gets used rather quick to the same person when she sees him/her regularely. Than she comes to you and you can touch and pet her without problems. She is absolutely not on her place in a shelter, where she only sits in a corner, trembling awfully because all the strange people she sees terrify her. She is not afraid of other dogs, they give her a bit more confidence.
Tula is an absolute beauty but she is very timid at the moment. It is clear that she is desperate to trust humans but this will take time as something or someone in her past has made her very cautious of people. Once she recognizes you and your voice she allows you to touch her. With time I'm sure she will be a very loving dog. She needs to find a home where there is a lot of patience and love which will allow her to blossom.
She needs a quiet family, preferably no children, with one or two other dogs, that would be perfect for this very sweet medium sized, gorgeous girl. She's been at the shelter for nearly a year now, she really needs a home.
Contact Scooby if you can offer Tula the home she deserves.
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