Virginie Labat, a volunteer with Passion Levriers, recently spent a week in Spain.
This is her report.
‘I needed time to know what I was going to tell you about my trip of 1 week in Extramadura, Spain.
I am a French volunteer of Passion Levriers in France. All my best friends are in Spain, and during my holiday, I went to visit them.
Extramadura is very near from the Portuguese border, the capital is Badajoz, my friend Fatima lives in Guarena, about 70 kms far from Badajoz. It is a very small village where all the men are Galgueros!
She owns 2 shelters in the village, they are 3 volunteer girls and one very good but very poor man called Valentin, the dogs are totally crazy about him and everyday of his life, he takes care of them!
Fatima is a girl who shelters about 20 dogs and galgos or podencos in her own house, Manoly is another volunteer who also has dogs at home and she is the one who cleans the 2 shelters, Rosario has also another dogs but no hounds at home. Valentin is the man with so much love!!!
What I saw there is incredible. I am French and our shelters are not so POOOOR!!
Wooden houses made with their own hands, mud everywhere, the small dogs are covered of mud, I cannot say what colour they are but they seem so happy to see us. They bark like crazy !!!
At first, you can imagine that I cried a lot, hidden in the houses with dogs in my arms, but I realised that those houses made in wood were the only way for them to keep safe!
I stayed in Extramadura one week, I met fantastic people who let their life apart to cure the dogs, to make them adopted abroad. I feel so shy, so small, when I look at them.
Let me tell you about some the the hounds and dogs :
Greta, a Spanish mastine who arrived in the shelter like a skeleton, she is now better, she is so sweet; I adore big dogs, I have one at home, they are very sweet, very tender when you know them. Felix, a hunting dog, the only thing he asked me was : please, play with me and my ball during hours (they stole him last week, no news about him, I feel destroyed). Lisa a galga, very thin, very fast, she was always chasing me in the shelter (they stole her with Felix, no news about her).
Arturo, a little beagle, totally skeleton, he was shy but moved his little tale when I was speaking to him (the dogs killed him one day after I left Spain, too numerous), Buddy another hunting dog with problems in the eyes, and all the others …. mud everywhere but the seem so happy….I do not understand why…..I am so sorry for them.
When I remember, I feel very guilty because I am in France now, and my dogs live with us in the house; that is why I adopted there my little Keti, no race, she is just Keti, she was terrified of the big dogs so I adopted her. She is still in Spain but in Fatima’s house, not in the shelter. I have her photos and now she will never see any mud, never feel afraid …
In atima’s home, there were Dami and Peke, two sweet galgos, I love them,Peke has very special eyes when you come to him on the morning, he just waits with his tale like a ballon, and his ears are very dressed, you see he is more than happy to see you !!!
Dami, my sweet Dami, is a little girl, all white, very delicate, she loves cheese, and sleep with her was a pleasure of all moments.
Peke and Dami are adopted in France, they will arrive on the 29th November
Nulo, another galgo, lives in the mountain, on secure land of Rosario, his angel is a mastine named Bessie, they live together and wait for adoption !!!! He is very beautiful, very tender, and when we leave him, he cries, so do I!
After Guarena, we went to Cuidad Real: 280 dogs and hounds!! MY GOD!! 3 volunteers to take care of them !!!
There I met Roque and Fredy and Nano, my Nano is a mixed galgo which no one never asked about, he is fantastic; when I entered in his jail, he was like crazy, so happy to see someone who gives him love during 5 minutes.
I feel so weak in front of those animals, even if I know that my friends are doing their best.
Please, adopt them, each one is special, each one deserves a home.
I cannot tell you everything beacuse some things are private, I have their eyes, their smiles in my mind and each one is very special to me.
Bye for now.
Virginie
Volunteer with Passion Levriers in France
Visit Passion Levriers to view all the dogs