Michelle tells the story of how she came to offer a forever home to podenca Izzy.

‘It started with a photo. Not a great nor clear photo, but poignant and heart-breakingnever the less. It was of a tiny female Andalusian hound chained to a wall in a filthy Spanish cellar. No windows, no bed, just damp concrete to sleep on and a rusty dirt encrusted water bowl that was bigger than the dog.

The reason – she wasn’t good at hunting, and like many Spanish hounds in her position, she was thus regarded as trash. The luckier ones are rescued, but many are abandoned, hanged, burned alive, thrown down wells, or stabbed to death. She needed someone to offer her a home, otherwise she would most likely have suffered one of these fates.

Ellen saw the picture and something inside of her churned like sour milk. She knew it would be difficult to find room in her house for another dog as she already has five, including her little Luna a Spanish podenco, but decided that she would have to find room if everything else failed.

The following Sunday she went out for a run, the little dog still on her mind. She took the route around the local nature reserve as it was a beautiful day and the ground was dry. About halfway round she saw a woman in the distance walking with a greyhound. As she came closer she recognised the woman (and the dog), and everything suddenly slid serendipitously into place. She remembered that in the recent past the woman had mentioned that she was looking at the possibility of rescuing another dog, and had a real soft spot for her little Luna. Her heart was lifted as she thought of the possibilities…..

She told the woman all about the little dog chained to the wall; she sent all of the details that she could find on how to adopt this little dog. The woman looked at the photo of the sad little dog and knew that she had to help. That woman was me.

I agreed to offer a home for the little Andalusian hound, and Ellen put me in touch with Kim at Kim’s rescue centre in Spain. Now knowing that this little dog had the offer of a home and a sponsor for her vaccinations & medical, Kim was able to liberate the little dog and prepare her for her journey to the UK.

We called her Izzy, and Kim delivered her to me on September the 30th 2015.

She was frightened and nervous at first. She didn’t understand that she was a pet, she hadn’t been treated as such. She thought that someone was going to hurt her and cowered and hid whenever she heard strange sounds, she was even frightened each time I went to pet her.

That was two months ago now. She is now a great deal more confident. Her new brother Cairo the greyhound loves to play with her and licks her face and ears! She has put on a little weight but is still full of muscle as she runs up and down like a tiny red racehorse!

She is cheeky and incredibly affectionate; she loves nothing more that hopping up onto my lap and snuggling up in front of the fire. It’s cold for her here in the UK after coming from Spain, but she has lots of little jumpers and coats to keep her warm through the British winter.

She is healthy, warm, happy and well fed. She has all of the things that every dog should have.

Not every dog has a happy ending, but Izzy will be cherished forever.’