Save the Galgo – Stop the suffering
From Sandy at Galgos Rescue Almeria.
‘On 11 February, this boy, Moro, was freed from his predicament. This boy was so battered, damaged both physically and mentally, and yet he still had the strength to fight. Now barely two months later, we see a very different Moro.
This boy has become a beautiful black pearl. This was possible thanks to your support, help, compassion….. and in particular our host family. Thank you fosterers Raymond Faber & Ilse for the good care and for fighting together.
Do you remember the terrible sights of this poor galgo covered in ticks – I’ve never seen such a bad case in all the 16 years I’ve been involved with galgo and podenco rescue.
After a concerted effort by Galgos Rescue Almeria and their team of vets, Eden made an amazing recovery and this is a heartwarming photo of her in her forever home.
Regular readers will remember the story of the galga starving and covered heavily in ticks, who luckily went into the care of Galgos Rescue Almeria. Sandy Galgoslover now give an update.
‘Galgo’s Rescue Almeria is feeling emotional.
Being born as a galgo in Spain means a life of deprivation, neglect, abuse, humiliation…..
We can try to repair the damage and prepare them to integrate in a world unknown to them. After a period of rehabilitation, many can build a new and different life, although some carry permanent mental damage.
How Eden’s life began we will never know, what we do know is how it goes from the day she was freed. There were rumors, stories circulated, but we never imagined that there was a place worse than hell where animals were left to their fate in a horrific way. The date August 4, 2022 is etched in our brains as a day we will never forget. Anger, emotions….. so many feelings haunted our minds when we rescued Eden from this place. It was terrible to see, when we arrived at the vet everyone was shocked. They had never seen anything like it.
And another story of the amazing work done by the Spanish volunteers to rescue and rehabilitate a poor galga left for dead.
A NEW MIRACLE CALLED RENEE. She was found half buried. As a consequence, her hind legs did not respond.
X-rays and other tests showed no injury to either her spine or her legs. But Renee couldn’t walk … Still we never gave up, and we set out to rehabilitate her paws and make her walk.
A miracle, an achievement of the entire team, and her enormous spirit of self-improvement have made Renee eventually walk. We can call it a miracle, because it certainly is. But it has also been the result of intense and hard work by her veterinarian Mariana and her physiotherapist Elena, who never threw in the towel, and by all of us who have always encouraged and helped her achieve it.
In all my 70+ years of living with dogs from puppies to old dogs, I have never felt the need to use a crate. But these days it’s become fashionable to use a crate if someone can’t train/control their dog. I think – well, human, how would you like to be shut in a cage?’ So this is a very informative article by Charl del Rio, founder of 112carlotagalgos in Alhaurin le Grande, Malaga, on this very subject and why one shoule NEVER use a crate on a galgo or podenco.
‘IMPORTANT INFORMATION
CRATES/TRANSPORTINES/BENCHES AND GALGOS
Please remember galgos are not greyhounds and come from an entirely different background. Many a galgo has been rescued from a severely dark place and time in their life. Many many are rescued from dark small hovels, under ground and in some cases with pallets on the top.
FROM Rebecca Hanlon – Canine Behaviour Practioner
Adopting a dog is a wonderful feeling for us. Full of excitement and the idea of saving a life. But the experience is not the same for them.
I often see posters stating the 3-3-3 rule. For the first 3 days they are totally overwhelmed but will then start feeling a little calmer. After 3wks they start to feel safer and more at home and then after 3months they have properly settled in.
This idea, at least, makes people realise that moving to a new home is a massive, life changing event for dogs and that they need time to settle in.
However, I find it a little too prescriptive and can set everyoneup for disappointment.
Many years ago on one of my many trips into Spain with French association L’Europe des Levriers we were asked to take a fearful galga who had been in foster in Southern France and was not improving. So Carmela came into my life and home. At 4 years old she had found herself dumped in a perrera, rescued by the association’s vice president in Spain, passported and blood tested and into foster in France.
At the time we had a French lurcher, 2 other galgos and a small podenca. So plenty of company for Carmela to give her confidence. She was fearful of my husband – not surprising as most Spanish rescued hunting dogs are fearful of men – whatever do the hunters inflict on them?! She would exit the farmhouse into the enclosed courtyard following the other dogs but coming back inside was a different matter. All the doors had to be open and we humans had to hide out of sight. Eventually she would rush in like a tornado. Frequent shaking if my husband appeared, even though he doesn’t look Spanish, only eating food if we were out of sight.
Many years ago I had the pleasure of visiting SOS Galgos in Barcelona. They are another long established galgo and podenco rescue association, working with the late Anne Finch to close down the Barcelona canododrome in 1996. Recently they were visited by student osteopaths to work on their rescued galgos.
‘Last week we had a special day at the Centre for our galgos. Students training to become osteopaths for animals, who are in their third year of training came and worked their magic on our needy galgos. At first they didnt know what to think of it but then they relaxed and you could tell they felt so relaxed and just let go and enjoyed their sessions.
Thank you I.F.O.A. for making this happen and thanks to Javi who came to film the session to include in a video in the making which we share with you.
https://sosgalgos.org/?fbclid=IwAR34bUQusHfzMnzgh0bnWPIPPyBv1viEZX8gm65K4scvVP1Z_Hkr3cvnwUo