Appache in Chella, Valencia – working on educating the locals

Maureen lives in a small village in the Valencia region called Chella. Here she writes about becoming yet another failed fosterer!

‘In the village is a fabulous group of Spanish ladies who I have joined to help with the protection of animals. The group is called Appache , it is a not for profit organisaion. They operate on a foster home basis and take any animal in need into their care. The organisation is only 2 years old and they are doing a fabulous job in an area where fund raising is challenging. They have welcomed me into the group and I was the first non Spanish person to join and have now recruited some of my mates too.

I was checking the Appache facebook page one afternoon when I saw a request for a foster home for a little black galga who had been abandoned. She was underweight by around 5 kilos and was sick with Leishmanosisi and ehrlichiosis.

At the time I had a 9 year old rescue Greyhound who moved to Spain with us and I had sadly lost her buddy a couple of months before who was a resdued Lurcher who also moved here with us. Bella my grey and Tom my Lurcher were a real bonded pair and Bella had been sad since he left us.

I was expecting a lot of family visits in the mext few weeks and said I would take Isla for a week to help Appache find a foster home and get her off the streets. I wanted to buy some time as I didnt know how Bella was going to be with her and if I could cope with a sick Galga and a stream of visitors for net few months.

I went to meet one of the ladies from Appache to pick Isla up and was sad when I saw the state of her but I have seen a lot worse. She was immediately very friendly , happily jumped into my car and off we went.

The introduction to Bella went well and the two little hound ladies seemed happy in each others company.

I took her to vets the next morning to get her health checked and it turned out Isla needed a month of injections twice a day for the Leish , 3 weeks of antibiotcs for the ehrlichiosis and a drug to protect her liver while she had her injections. I was a registered nurse in the UK and decided if I can inject humans I can inject Isla and we didnt have to go to the vet twice a day for a month , the vet watched me give her the first injection in the surgery and was happy for me to continue.
She also had a number of open wounds on her skin which needed daily care.

Isla pretty much slept for the first few days only getting up to eat and see to her toilet needs. Little by little she got more active each day , started to enjoy short walks with Bella and take an interest in normal doggy things.

Roll on a couple of months post treatment , Isla has had 2 Leish negative blood tests and her next is due in March , she has gained 5 kilos in weight , she has a lovely shiny coat and albeit some of her wounds have scarred her , they are healed well and she is healthy.

She is really smart little hound and has learned a number of commands, she is really food orientated so that helps with training. She will sit , give a paw , down , catch and her recall is great. She however is not cat friendly but neither is my grey so I know how to manage that so its not a problem. She is also incredibly muscular and strong but I walked her on a harness initally and that settled her down in terms of pulling, she is fine now , she just had to learn how to walk on a lead. She also enjoys playing with Nina Ottoson doggy puzzles with Bella .

She is a joy to have around and Bella is so much happier having a buddy again.

Isla is now adopted by us and she is chipped and passported. She has her own things which seems silly , but she has a collection of lovely collars , a couple of coats, a nice warm bed and lots of toys. She looks after her toys and she are taken outside during the day and she takes them back to her bed at night because they are hers ! She is happy to share them with Bella but she always tidies them away at night , who would of thought it a galga that tidies up !

Isla will always need blood tests to check on her Leish and I am lucky to have a great vet whose advice I follow but the prognosis is she should live a long and healthy life.

Isla is my first Galga and I would thoroughly recommend having one as pet , they are fabulous dogs but as with all dogs require committment and work to ensure they and you have a happy life together. The support of Appache with Isla during her foster, adoption and post adoption period also helped to ensure success for me and Isla and Bella.’

Thank you Maureen for sharing this lovely story. And what a stunning pair, black is certainly beautiful!

Maureen says ‘hear no evil, see no evil’!!