Sun, sea and accommodation in Lanzarote, Canary Islands

Laura writes from The Kennel Klub, Lanzarote, Canary Islands.

‘Lanzarote is a small island and we have a very limited area in which to re-home dogs. Unfortunately that does not mean of course that dogs are not abandoned. We are a legally registered association and in the nearly 18 months we have been running we have re-homed 107 dogs.

We don’t have a refuge and save many dogs from the perrera, which means they go into kennels before going to foster homes or lucky enough to be adopted.

We rely solely on donations and fund raising in order to do what we do. At the moment we are really struggling to re-home locally, especially Podencos and Staffy breeds. We have sent a couple of dogs to the UK but from here it works out to cost about 1,000€ per dog. Having said that, if it means we can re home a dog we will find a way to get the money!

The same goes for dogs we can re-home on mainland Spain and the other Canary Islands! All of our dogs are microchipped, vaccinated and neutered before they go anywhere!

Our website is www.thekennelklub.org

This is the true reality of what happens on our beautiful island. Laurel was rescued from the pound in heartbreaking condition – exposed bone on his tail, emaciated, dehydrated and covered in sores. Thanks to those who support us he is now safe. We are doing everything we can to get him back to full health and ready for re homing.

If you can help with a donation, no matter how small, we would be forever grateful. If you live locally, you can leave a donation in an envelope at one of our collection points: The Bookswaps in Puerto del Carmen or Playa Blanca, The Cutting Room in Tias, Geppetto’s in Tias, The British Cafe in Costa Teguise, The Carvery in Puerto del Carmen or La Cabaña in Macher.

It isn’t always about food. Some dogs get very stressed and anxious in a kennel environment and either don’t eat or don’t put weight on. Denco whom we have had with us for nearly 6 months has been very difficult to get to an acceptable weight. He has been fed a good quality special diet twice a day, treated for parasites etc. and it is only really in the last month that we have seen any improvement – he looks great now

So far as perreras on Lanzarote are concerned, there are 6 perreras on the island and the conditions of each varies enormously. Generally if the dogs are found they have 21 days before they can be euthanised and if they are handed in by their owners 10 days before they can be euthanised. Most of the perreras keep the dogs for as long as they can but when they are full, they are full. The dogs most likely to be euthanised are the large, male breeds which is why we have mostly those – harder to re home of course.

The dogs we rescue usually go into private boarding kennels, but some especially the smaller or older ones occasionally go in to foster homes. The private boarding kennels costs us 5€ per dog per day. We try to limit ourselves to 6 dogs at a time but inevitably we usually end up with between 8 and 10!

Our website is www.thekennelklub.org, email and PayPal thekennelklub@outlook.com and our charity, association number is G76188560

Please remember the podencos on Lanzarote, they desperately need forever homes.’