Holidaying – Spain or UK – cheap or working for keep? No golfing!

Well, folks, this is it. Galgo News is going to be silent for 2 weeks! I know, it’s not good! But this is the first time since I started Galgo News back in November 2007 that Galgo News will not have any postings for 2 weeks! And you can’t really begrudge me a break!

Thing is, normally when either hubbie or I go back to the UK to give our kids and grandkids a BIG hug, one of us stays behind to mind all the animals – horses, donkeys, dogs, cats – and whatever else wanders in the fields which needs saving from the French hunters at this time of year! Having said that, we have an arrangement with the local chasse that they will not allow their members to hunt our meadows. It only happened once – I walked out one Sunday morning to find 2 young men just bagging a hare. They were walked off the meadows with one demented screaming tearing-hair-out Englishwoman…………….not surprisingly, no hunter has ever dared come back!!!

We have had a mixed year Chez Nous. We had the death of Karmel in February 2009; then the arrival of Sahara in March. We then had a cat go missing in April. Then in June Carmela arrived – a foster dog – well, I promised My Other Half she was only to foster. But she had hang-ups from bad treatment in Spain so……….I will write her story in Rehoming.

Then at the beginning of August my little Swedish Valhund – like a corgi but sable in colour – disappeared. She had been bred by a friend in the UK, had a list of champions so long on her pedigree that I really thought we were not good enough for her! She had been sold, but had bad treatment, and so went back to the breeder. She then came to us. That was 10 years ago.

Since moving to France, Pepsi has done Dog Agility – she is a working cattle dog – and she is also a very vocal dog. No one can come near the house but she barks.

And now she has been gone for 9 weeks. We do not know how she got out of our courtyard. The fencing is 2m high, mesh, we thought it was escape proof. But somehow she got out. When we realised she was missing, MOH (my other half) went out up our private lane to the village. She had been seen by a neighbour round his lake. Since then, nothing.

I can’t begin to tell you the steps we have taken to trace her. She has a collar with a disc on with our name and phone number. And she is microchipped, which is registered in the UK and France. And there is nothing, not a word.

The gendarmes (police) believed from the start that she had been stolen. I believe she has been stolen. If she had been involved in an accident, we would have heard. If someone had picked her up wandering, we would have heard. She HAS to have been stolen. That is what is keeping me going. She is ALIVE somewhere. I just pray she is not suffering, not in pain, not unhappy. She is spayed, so she cannot be used for breeding…………….but dogs in France are stolen for their coats, for vain women to wear………SCREAM!……………it is the not knowing what has happened to her which is so hard to bear.

And we both have an emptiness in our hearts.

And, on top of all that, for the past year, we have had the emotional upset of donkeys, in poor condition, abandoned on us.

Well, what happened was that a charming Frenchman with blue eyes and a young girl with him (daughter?) came to see my husband to see if he could put his 3 donkeys on one of our meadows. So my husband, being an accommodating person, said ‘Yes’. It was me, with my legal background, who drew up the basic contract and the 3 donkeys arrived – one very heavily pregnant. They were only coming for 2 months! A year later they are still here! And we are now 4 donkeys!

The owner then ‘abandoned’ them. No word from him , he never visited them, never telephoned to see if they were ok. PLUS, he didn’t pay the next instalment of the rent. So it has been an emotional roller coaster since then. Finding someone with the legal knowledge in French but who spoke English so that we could prepare a court case against him. We wanted to be reimbursed for the rent and the farrier fees, and hay fees, and worming fees………and as they were on our land , we were responsible in French law for those anyway.

We have been to court twice, and the second time, judgement was given in our favour. BUT not what we wanted. What we wanted was that we could have the donkeys in lieu of what he owed us. BUT, know what, the donkeys aren’t microchppped so aren’t registered anywhere for ownership – including his!

So we now have judgement in our favour that he owes us nearly 4,000 euros, but we want the donkeys – 2 jacks and 2 jennies – as part of what he owes us. But unfortunately the judge couldn’t that because, as the donkeys have no papers as per EU law!!!!!!! – how many haven’t…..!! – they could not form part of the payment to us.

Our main aim, as animal lovers, is to save the donkeys from going back to someone who really should be prohibited from keeping animals. We have people who want to buy these donkeys – thereby we get our expenses back – and save them from – well, we know he is using them, on other people’s land, to produce donkey meat.

Our next step in this saga is, that, when we get back from our holiday, we will get the court paper and instruct a bailiff to recover the monies owed to us. But what we want is the donkeys, never mind money. And if the ‘owner’ won’t let us have them………………we’ll go down that battle when we get back from a 12 day holiday with our batteries recharged!

And, to add to all this, we brought out 3 cats from the UK when we moved over here 8 years ago. One died of cancer of the tongue – the French vet was crap and did not diagnose it until she died! Whatever we asked him to do to put her out of her misery!! (We are NOT with that practice now). Now one of them has gone missing. She never went far from the house. But suddenly she did not come back at night for her tea and to be shut in for the night. And I have a horrible feeling that a buzzard has taken her. Again, it’s the not knowing……………..

So, in some ways not a nice year because we have lost 2 cats and one dog – but we have 2 galgas and the donkeys have not yet gone back to their vile owner.

So, we are having some 10 days away from all this emotional roller coaster – not anything like as bad as the wonderful Spanish volunteers go through every year – and then I will be back to fight some more for a better life for galgos and podencos in ALL the Spanish territories and mainland.

AND yet again I CURSE you galguerros for the indescribable horrors and torture you perpetuate against galgos – such amazing affectionate, loving, calm dogs – who don’t hold any malice towards you bastards – and the same applies to podencos on the Spanish Islands – all you galguerros are not fit to kiss my feet!