This is the story of Maik, a blind galgo who arrived at Djimba, Betty’s sanctuary Djimba in France. Here she tells his story as far as is known.
‘We think he has been used as a hunting dog till he got problems with his eyes. He was dumped on the streets, but somehow managed to survive till some brave ladies caught him (the video is here).
He went into a fosterhome and they went to a vet for his eyes. On one eye he is completely blind, on the other he has 10% “sight” (shadows), he needs special care 4x a day to treat his eyes. (They make no tears) eventually he will loose sight in this eye too.
Maik arrived at our home almost 3 weeks ago,(Feb 2014) and he is huge! We are used to big greys but he is the biggest guy, 76 cm shoulder height.
He does have a bit too much interest in our cats, who are not afraid of dogs, so we need to train him on that. He also does not like to be left alone (what is alone with 18 other dogs?), and tries to break down the door.
He is a gentle giant that loves to play and I am sure once he is settles he will be fine. He loves to sleep on the new little sofa that I bought for myself, haha. He is house trained and barks when he wants to go outside or when he is thirsty and the water bowl is empty.
At the moment we have 19 dogs of which a couple are really old (16-17) and slowly going towards their last months (hopefully longer).
I forgot to mention, he needs to go down 4 steps to get into our garden (which is lower than the house) and further one 6 steps to go up onto the large field, within 2 days he managed this without help!’
If you click on this link and videos, you will see a video of Maik being caught. (Click on ‘English’ for translation)
I hope on reading this heartwarming story, people will not be discouraged from adopting a disabled dog, whether it be leg (as my Polar galgo), deaf as some white dogs, or blind like Mike.
If you would like to bring your dog/s with you on holiday to France, click on this link for the choice of two delightful gites for rent in Burgundy (where the red wine comes from!).
Comments
2 responses to “Djimba in France and the story of blind galgo Maik”
another well deserving rescue well donr to the lady in the rescue for what she does maik is a beutiful galgo and just proves he still enjoying what he can with his disability well done boy and to think someone dumped you in that state they dont stop at nothing do they scum
Ah he’s a lovely big lad and so lucky to have been rescued. There are some rotten people out there to dump a blind dog on the streets like that. I was reading on one of the Spanish rescue sites about a little dog, a pet, 15 years old, blind and dumped in a pound utterly terrified. Luckily the lovely rescue people stepped in but what kind of sick in the head people would abandon a dog like that? Unfortunately too many uncaring people out there who should be ashamed of themselves. I would definitely not be discouraged from adopting a disabled dog. I think this is a wonderful thing to do.