Galgo News

  • Kool Karmel

    KarmelOverlooked by many prospective adopters, Karmel spent months in the refuge in Cuiddad Real hoping she would eventually catch someone’s eye.

    Only 3 years old, she had probably been used as a breeding machine. She joined our family in July 2007, and the first thing she took over was the sofa.

    Gentle, affectionate and very elegant, she is typical of her breed. She’s a bit of a magpie, collecting an assortment of items on her bed, including my husband’s shoes and T-shirts and a doormouse doorstop – she’s particularly fond of Dora, who is now beginning to look very grubby.

    She has quite a stylish wardrobe of coats, depending on whether it is raining outside or cold inside at night, and hates having to walk on wet grass! She’s very much the ‘lady’ of the canine tribe, and wins the hearts of everyone who meets her.

    Karmel’s dog coats came from www.weathertogs.co.uk who have a superb range of greyhound and whippet dog coats

  • Adorable Flora

    FloraFlora is a beautiful 18 month old galga who, after roaming the streets of Spain for eight weeks, was eventually caught and taken to a refuge south of Madrid.

    She was very emaciated and ill with Leishmaniasis, which is a disease caused by sandflies, which infects the blood. She had several blood tests and treatment was put in place.

    Once the tests revealed her health was improving, she was put up for adoption but, because of her nervous disposition, Leishmaniasis and her colour (she is black with white paws) she was often overlooked. But as soon as we saw her photo we knew that she was going to become ours.

    She came from Madrid along with several other galgos who were going to new homes. We signed her adoption papers and took her home to meet Zak, our two-year old rescue dog, three cats, 18 hens and three ducks. She settled in very well and soon discovered what being young is and that life can be full of playtime.

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  • Join us on International Day of the Dog

    Come walk with us on the 3rd International Day of the Dog (IDOD), Sunday 27th April 2008. The IDOD was the brainwave of Dog Listener Jan Fennell, who wanted to celebrate the canine species and acknowledge the wonderful relationship which can exist between man or woman and his 4-legged companion.

    So what we want is as many people as possible to do something on this day, whether it is organising a dog walk with friends, or the local dog training club – in order to raise funds for your favourite canine charity.

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  • Supporting the campaign from Basse-Normandy

    Nathalie polletNathalie Pollet lives in northern France, and every month she drives thousands of kilometres to transport galgos from Spanish refuges to new homes and a new life in France. It’s amazing how many long-legged canines can sleep comfortably in a Fiesta.

    It’s also amazing how school-teacher Nathalie finds the time to go on so many rescues, as not all of them are organised during school holidays.

    She’s always been an animal lover, having been a volunteer for many years at a local French refuge, and learned about the plight of the Spanish galgos and the French rescue association L’Europe des Levriers in a television programme.

    “When I decided to adopt one of these gentle dogs in June 2006,” she explains, “I completed the ‘Request to Adopt’ form and Atenea was chosen as the one most suited to my lifestyle, having been saved by volunteers in Spain from being gassed.”

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  • Christmas lunch takes shape

    Popped along to the venue for the lunch on Sunday. I’ve not been before, and I was very impressed. It’s a clubhouse, stone walls and wooden beams, with a stylish wooden bar, and an assortment of furniture.

    Unfortunately the snooker table was well taped over with plywood – it’s got to serve as the table for the food!

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  • A busy week but fingers crossed for Blanquita

    It’s been a frenetic week. More than usual, that is. It’s never quiet in a home with animals! For starters, the two foster dogs haven’t been as uncomplicated as foster dogs usually are. Then there is the Christmas fundraising lunch to organise with Sue.

    That’s only four days away, and I’ve yet to shop for the food I’m preparing. On top of that EDL are organising another rescue this weekend, and besides seven adult dogs to house overnight, we’ve got two puppies arriving as well. Or it could even be three. One never knows, until the cars and vans stop outside the door, just how many dogs will arrive!

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  • About Beryl Brennan

    Bo Rosie sitting bed 400Probably born with a pen and paper in my hand, I have written all my life, from letters to penpals to articles in newspapers and magazines and since 2007 on my blogs Galgo News and Podenco Post. I’ve been passionate about animals – had dogs, horses and cats all my life – and have spoken out and protested about animal cruelty in any form.

    My conversion to sighthounds happened in 1994 when a stray greyhound turned up at our farmhouse in Suffolk. Those were the days when no one would adopt a greyhound, rescues were overflowing with them and the unspeakable horrors of their end of life at the hands of breeders and trainers had yet to make headlines. Molly made a wonderful house pet, lived with cats and was a great ambassador for the breed with Pets As Therapy – she loved visiting the elderly residents of a local retirement home.

    2002 saw my leaving the UK with horses, dogs and cats to live on a farm in rural France. A friend introduced me to L’Europe des Levriers and the rest – as they say – is history. I joined their rescue team and spent many years thereafter travelling into Spain to bring rescued galgos and podencos back to France for rehoming. I soon realised that the world was unaware of the terrible cruelty suffered by these wonderful hounds at the hands of the vicious galgueros both on mainland Spain and the Canary and Balearic Islands and my blogs Galgo News and Podenco Post were born in 2007.

    My research on these trips resulted in my creating my definitive guides to the plight of the galgo – From Heaven to Hell – and the podenco – From Pyramid to Perrera – and thanks to some wonderful friends these have been translated into Spanish, French and Italian. Because of the nature of the pictures I was unable to find a publisher for the books, so had to bear the cost of publication myself. All the money raised from the sales of the books has been donated to appeals for help with vet fees and more to many rescue associations.

    After 19 years living in France – and the loss of my last horse at 26 years old – I needed to downsize and return to my family in England. I brought back with me my last 2 galgos and tiny Podenca Bebe – all of whom have now crossed the rainbow bridge. So current residents in my small bungalow are Podenca Andaluz Rosely, rescued from a life breeding babies for a hunter, and blind Podenco Bocelli (Bo) who spent half his life on the end of a chain. I miss having a galgo but there just isn’t room for a third hound, sadly.

    Little has changed in Spain for the galgos and podencos over the many years I have been helping the volunteers and rescuers – galgueros continue indiscriminate breeding, mass abandonment every year – but now there are very few reports of dogs being hung from trees or dropped alive down wells. Hunters still dump their dogs at shelters, in killing stations or loose in the campo. I have the utmost admiration for all the rescuers and volunteers who work tirelessly for the dogs and the Spanish vets who continue to put injured hounds back together.

    I miss my regular trips into Spain to bring hounds back for foster and homing. I miss my visits to my friends in the various shelters around Spain. But time waits for no woman and physically I can no longer cope with the journeys or have room to foster more dogs. However, my work with the galgos and podencos and the many rescue associations continues daily on my blogs.

  • Interview with Beatrice Monnet

    Beatrice MonnetBeatrice Monnet is one of the founder members of L’Europe des Levriers (EDL) established in August 2006 and I talked to her about how she got involved with galgos.

    Beatrice Monnet (featured right): I was a volunteer with the SPA, mainly working with dogs who were considered to have no chance of rehoming. One I worked with was called Wanda and she was very traumatised by the gypsies. After six months she was fine with me, and I discovered she was a crossed galga (female galgo).

    So I decided I wanted to help other galgos. I fell in love with the breed. I was very angry with the cruelty against them and I feel that fighting against the galguerros (Spanish hunters) is also fighting against barbarity in general.

    Beryl Brennan: When was your first rescue?

    BM: To begin with I was a volunteer with Levriers en Detresse for two years and went on many rescues with them. I also went to Madrid to do a rescue for Amigos de los Galgos and at the same time I discovered another association called Perrikus. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship with Cristina de Luna.

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  • Watch out there’s a cake thief about

    It’s a misty November day, just the sort of day for getting the laptop out and starting off my blog. My main computer is upstairs in the study, so another reason for getting the laptop out is because I’m babysitting.

    When I say babysitting, it’s babies of the four-legged variety.

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  • The Greyhound

    Why.

    I went to the beach today, and ran on the golden sand,

    Ran because I wanted to, and because I can.

    I leapt into the sea, and splashed all around,

    Running this way and that, to see what could be found.

    I looked across the sea to where it joins the sky,

    And remembered times in a dark smelly kennel, and asked myself why.

    Why life couldn’t have always been like this, carefree happy days,

    Instead of days in misery, in the most horrid ways.

    I was luckier than some, taken from this life of grime,

    Where I thought I would stay for the rest of my time.

    Now I sleep in a nice soft bed, in a warm safe place,

    And I have the freedom to run, in so much space.

    To enjoy days out like this, running in the sea and on the sand.

    And to receive no more abuse, only the feel of a gentle hand.

    And why can’t more Greyhounds like me be found a similar place,

    When their lives are considered over, because they can no longer race

    I do not think that I will ever know the reason why,

    Only man can answer that, and until then sadly, more of my kin will die.

    By Sue Stoddart.

    (Whilst the poem refers to greyhounds, it applies also to the hunting galgos. BB)