No doubt there will be some who read this article by Fermin who will disagree with the proposition. One way of trying to change the attitude of the galgueros is to work with them, to encourage them to improve the life of the dogs whilst in their care. And to at least ensure that not all their dogs end up abandoned and in perreras, starving, sick and injured.
During my visit to Valladolid last year, Cobie and I spent many hours discussing this issue of her caring for galgos during the ‘non-hunting season’ at the Residencia. There were young galgos not yet old enough to hunt and also half a dozen owned by a gitano – he travelled around Spain in his work for 3 months at a time. He asked Cobie to keep the dogs in the kennels – for payment – whilst he was away. He had no one to look after his dogs otherwise.
At the time, Cobie told me Fermin was extremely unhappy about the arrangement.
Whilst I was there, the gitano and his friend arrived to exercise his dogs on open land opposite the kennels. Much as I abhor the treatment meted out to thousands of galgos, these dogs were very faithful to their master, ran free but were obedient on recall.
I, like Fermin in his article, believe that there are times when associations/shelters should work with the galgueros, to get across the message that it is the hunters themselves who have to change the situation for their dogs – as they are the ones who create it.
For those of you who may disagree strongly with Fermin, please remember he is one of the most experienced of people as far as the plight of the galgos is concerned. He does not make these decisions lightly. And please do not turn away from helping Scooby – at the end of the day it is about the dogs.
Comments
7 responses to “Scooby English News Blog – Fermin speaks”
ok i do disagree with one thing the turning away of some galgos that ant chiped or boostered cause the hunters cant be bothere to be responsible for their galgos its not the dogs fault what will happen to them dogs if he dont take them its a good idea to work with the hunters and he mentions some pay so they should and i know what he means the goosbump part working along side them but it is for the sake of the dogs i still wont forget what as happened already never will i dont think i will ever forgive whats happened either there as been no need for whats already happened not just there all over the world my feelings are all mixed really
I don’t disagree with Fermin, but I really don’t think that it will change anything. The galgueros and gitanos who are willing to pay to have their dogs kennelled are NOT the problem. They are obviously the responsible ones.
The problem is with the ones who don’t want to spend a cent on their dog and abandon them as soon as they are not useful. Those people still will not spend money to have their dogs kennelled. It’s far cheaper for them to get new ones (or steal them) when the season begins.
Scooby is not the only sighthound rescue that works with the breeders / hunters.
However it is a sign that such a big association tells it openly.
For me it means they see no other way out.
The association I know of, that works with the people producing more dogs has a difficult situation however, as it must keep silent of the details on this cooperation to beware the showy picture of “kind and responsible breeders”.
I would not be able to do that and thanks to God Scooby does not need to paint things rosier than they really are.
I do think there are a good couple of responsible galgo owners who occasionally hunt, but there are also the less responsible ones and there are the totally irresponsible assholes. Those can generate a huge problem as they tend to produce an enormous amount of dogs and then abandon them simply. Or torture them to death.
It might be a help to cooperate with the rather kind galgueros, simply because when the rescues call all the galgueros names, then the kinder ones are hurt and will cooperate.
I see the solution (alongside with the cooperation with some of the galgueros) in the way the galgo breed is seen in Spain, in the image of the breed and in the changing of this image.
At the moment the galgo is mostly seen as a working breed. But this image is changing and this is the chance for the galgos… when they will be seen as a pet, the Spanish society as a whole will not tolerate their abuse anymore I think.
But as the adoptions in Spain are increasing, this change will at some point happen. The Spanish “pet galgo lobby” is growing…
sorry a little correction:
“then the kinder ones are hurt and will NOT cooperate.”
The idea I find especially innovative is this kenneling, exactly as Fermin says “Right now Cobie in the residencia is starting to refuse to take in some galgos because they (…) don’t have all their animals vaccinated and chipped…”
which means that the precondition for the cooperation is that the dogs must have at least the minimal care as chip, vaccinations etc.
It is certainly an improvement, and in fact, normally all dog kennels require basic vaccinations before a dog is allowed to enter the facility. So Scooby can tell all their new “clients” that basic care is a general requirement as it in fact is when you want to kennel your dogs while away on holiday or wherever.
Sorry for posting so abundantly but I have an idea… I heard that many of the shelters totally lack money but again some of them cooperate with hunters and sometimes even give them medicines for the dogs. I do not know if Cobie would ever do such a thing but I suddenly remembered an interesting US American website, where a beagle breeder who wanted to save money publicized a cheap way of deworming dogs, then another cheap way to prevent heartworm infection and then on another website there was an article about a cheap way of treating heartworm infection…
I post these links here because it might be an idea to use these methods when cooperating with the galgueros most of them will of course never spend much money for their dogs. But they might be willing to pay a few Euros for a cheap medicine.
These methods might be a help for very poor rescues, too.
So here the links:
Canine heartworm treatment:
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/11/22/cheaper-safer-therapy-for-heartworm.aspx
Heartworm prevention:
http://www.beaglesunlimited.com/health/canine-heartworms-and-inexpensive-prevention
Deworming (intestinal worms):
http://www.beaglesunlimited.com/health/canine-intestinal-worms-and-inexpensive-treatment
I think the deworming does not cover each and every kind of intestinal worm (in contrary to the pills with praziquantel as active ingredient do) but it is good enough against several common intestinal worms.
your info will be very useful tunde for those who would want to use it