I receive dozens of photos each week of galgos and podencos needing help; the ones which really break my heart are the puppies and injured dogs. This photo was the first one I receive of a puppy in a perrera, due to be killed. I appealed to Tina at Galgos del Sol, the little pup was saved from Jerez perrera in January 2011, and called Angela after her foster mom. Sadly little Angela fell sick of parvo disease and died the following month. But her legacy lives on in Little Pod Foundation and Angela tells the story of their work and why they do what they do.

As an Association we help any breed of dog along with cats but Podencos hold a special place in our hearts. They are the most wonderful dogs, loyal, loving and for everything they go through are still very trusting. We don’t necessarily mean to take the Podencos that have serious injuries or need surgery, it just seems to happen that way. We help Podencos from the streets and perreras and often they are there because they have been injured during a previous hunt.

We have formed good working relationships with Spanish Associations and Perreras in Valencia. We work long days and sometimes just don’t have enough hours in the day to do everything we need to. These people work efficiently to get a dog released from the perrera, they know what to do, what we need and arrangements can be made sometimes in just a couple of hours.

In the last year we have rescued around 28 Podencos who came along with 29 Puppies. The majority of the dogs have either needed surgery or have been nursing mums, but also when I reserve a Podenco from the perrera I often take the ‘cell mate’ too. I couldn’t sleep knowing I had rescued one only to leave another behind.

This was certainly the case with Merlin where I couldn’t leave Faith behind, and then had the surprise of 10 pups. We had booked Faith in to be spayed but over the course of the weekend she ballooned so we asked the vet to re-scan her before the operation, she was due in just a couple of weeks and we let her go ahead with the pups. I know it sounds crazy but Faith looked at me and asked me to let her be a mama one more time so I did, and I knew it would cause her more pain not to have them.

Many would disagree with this decision but it’s never an easy decision. I know this also sounds on the crazy side but dogs speak to you and if you listen you learn what they want, sometimes it even makes the hard decisions somehow easier. For us it’s all about what they want and they often tell you.

As we don’t currently have our own kennels and have to privately board our dogs the numbers we can rescue are sometimes limited and on average a rescue dog is normally with us for 14-16 weeks. This is just an average, some dogs are re-homed quickly whilst others like Gabriel who have been seriously ill are with us for months.

For me personally i have started to work maybe in a slightly different manner to others. I no longer read the text or information about the dog, I simply look at their face in the picture. This way there is no prejudice or knowledge to deter us from rescuing them. This may sound strange but I think even subconsciously a decision can be made on helping a dog or not if you know any of their details. Their age, injuries, illnesses or backgrounds are not apparent to me until the dog has been reserved or arrives with us and we are at the vets.

The dogs are taken to the vets on arrival where all blood tests, a full health check, microchip and passports are done. In the cases of injuries or illness, the dogs are x-rayd or begin their medical treatment. Our vets are brilliant, we are there daily and sometimes for hours, we often give short notice or just turn up with an emergency and it is never a problem. Some Associations cannot afford large vet bills which we of course understand but for us it is all about the commitment to the dog. If the dog is seriously injured or ill we work that little bit harder to raise the funds they need for their operations or recovery. We know we can’t help them all but some cases are more urgent than others and we would always try to find somewhere for them if the kennels we use are full.

With regards to fundraising we rarely ask for donations via Media Sites. We have done so on a couple of extreme cases like Pia and Honey who’s total bill was over 2000€ for Pia’s leg and Honey’s hernia operations. We know that, as we don’t ask very often’ when we do ask it is with a real need and our supporters would step up and help us. We would do anything possible to save a leg or enhance a dogs life.

For our most complicated surgeries we have a specialist surgeon in SAX who is one of the best surgeons in Spain, this obviously reflects in the bill but also in the end result of the surgery. We may be criticised for this in the fact that maybe we could treat two dogs instead of one but our commitment has been made to the dog and its needs and we honour that commitment to the best of our abilities.

We have opened a charity shop where some of our funds are raised but we also run some of our own events like quiz nights or a dinner. Our supporters are brilliant and we have a great team of volunteers that work so hard to help us, we couldn’t do what we do without any of them. But our funds are not inexhaustable and we are always looking for new ways to raise awareness and funds to help more dogs in need.

Not all of our volunteers can help on the animal side of things, the cruelty and mistreatment is just too much for them to cope with but they do a great job in their chosen roles. Many of our volunteers have been with us on our journey from the very beginning and having them around us makes all the difference.

Animal rescue is not a part-time or even full-time job it is a way of life. There’s no such thing as a holiday or a day off, I’m lucky if I can get through a meal without interruption but that’s just the way it is… 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Every day can be one of the most difficult and demanding days yet you continue each day because of the faces looking at you in the pictures. It can be draining mentally, physically and emotionally. Your heart hurts on a weekly basis but with the sadness comes the enormous amount of joy you get when you see the dogs rehabilitated and running like the wind, in loving homes with their new families, or just enjoying the simple things in life like sunbathing or sleeping on the sofa.

In Memory of Little Pod

Charity shop

The auction is on Facebook, for those of you who are members. Finishes 25th June 2013