Nights in the Spanish winter can be bitterly cold. And if you are a galgo with a skeletal frame and very little hair, it can be hell.
So one of the ways people can help to improve quality of life is to make dog coats. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a Zandra Rhodes or Mary Quant, even those who are not a dab hand with a sewing machine can make these stylish dog coats.
I’ve been sent the following from a supporter in France. So go on, give it a try!
Spanish galgos, like greyhounds, can make wonderful pets and dozens of galgos are rehomed by rescue associations. The associations have to rely on the volunteers working in the Spanish refuges to assess the dog’s character, test it with other dogs, cats, etc. Sometimes they get it wrong.
Whether or not a dog is suitable for rehoming depends to a large extent on the treatment of the dog before it arrived at the refuge. Most of them are rehomed without problems, apart from having to be toilet trained! But some of them need rehabilitation before being suitable for a forever home.
I am always overwhelmed by the generosity of of some of the readers of Galgo News.
A while ago I wrote about Caridad, a Spanish volunteer who looks after over 30 dogs on her own, in one of the poorest of refuges.
This is Lord Byron, he is in Tarragona, Spain. He was found tied to the door of a house, where the owner has an Afghan.
He was covered from head to toe in fleas and ticks, and very weak.
His coat was knotted like dreadlocks right to the skin, so his skin could not breath, so he had to be clipped.
He has dermatitis, woulds and lumps all over him, possibly because he got caught under a wire fence, which cut his skin and became infected.
As the hunting season with galgos in Spain draws to an end, the rescue associations are swamped with abandoned and injured dogs.
SOS Levriers is one of the French associations desperately looking for forever homes, or foster homes.
Currently there are seven dogs which they are desperate to bring out of Spain, including Nur, Azucena, Corso and Liberto, Fred, Jezabek and Gina.
Check the SOS Levriers website for more details about how to adopt, and to contact them if you can help.
A little podenco looking for a forever home.
About three years old, she was used as a hunting dog, beaten quite regularly. Then she got her hind leg caught in a trap. so her owner tried to cut the leg off with ‘scissors’.
Releasing her to a life on the streets, she was knocked down and injured further. Luckily she was found and taken in by a rescue association, who operated on her leg, to be cared for in a foster home.
She was so traumatised by now that she didn’t make a single sound, or move at all.
Whilst researching the Internet for information about galgos in Spain, I came across the website of this amazing lady. She’s British, married to a Spaniard, with 3 children and adopted animals, all living in a bi-lingual home.
Here’s her story, in her words.
Well what can I say, my name is Charlotte, I write and publish as Carlota, I’m 34 married to Dioni a Spanish man, and I have 3 children, Sofia 5 Sebastian 12 and Neizan 2. We live in a bilingual home, and we have 2 dogs, one a galgo adolescant, one an 8 year old little dog, and 2 cats a bengal and a burmilla. All adopted.
I have always been animal orientated and as a child very aware of the dangers animals faced at the hands of man. At 11 I can remember my Dad always telling me “Charlotte, anything important should be written on paper!” So, thats where I began.
It’s easy to tell the end of the hunting season in Spain is near. The galguerros are getting rid of their dogs. Why, because they can’t be bothered to keep them during the summer.
San Anton refuge, in Villamartin, now has over 50 galgos and, in the last couple of weeks, the volunteers have arrived in the mornings to find yet more left at the gate.
Five of them have been taken in by Paul and April Carrier at Alpha Dog School, sponsored by L’Europe des Levriers.
Galgos and podencos are gentle, affectionate, calm breeds of dog, which makes the atrocities perpetrated against them all the worse.
It also makes it all the more important that those of us who care, support the fight to persuade the Spanish government to regulate and control the indiscriminate breeding of these dogs and create effective laws to prevent their abuse.
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 9th 2008
Auberge du Balestie, Malegoude, Ariège.
8pm
Tickets 20 euros including wine, 15 euros excluding wine
Tombola/raffle
(The Auberge is situated off the main road between Fanjeaux and Mirepoix. It is well signposted from the road. For further directions please contact Joanna on the number given below).
It can be hard to get a good curry in the depths of the French countryside…and we will do our best to supply some! All tastes catered for, from mild to hot hot hot!! There will also be a selection of vegetarian dishes. Please come along and lend your support…and have a good evening too!
