Share the message – so many people STILL buy puppies for Xmas only to discard them when they get destructive, larger than expected, a nuisance when they want to go on holiday!
Category: Advice
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A Dog is for life – not just for Christmas – share the message
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Introducing clicker training with feeding your dog
Extract from Training the Best Dog Ever
First, let’s teach your dog the value of the click. Begin that lesson by once again hand-feeding all your dog’s meals over the next four days. In general, I find that hand-feeding is a good exercise to reintroduce whenever my dogs (or other dogs that I am boarding and training) are learning a new, difficult skill, or when I sense that they are beginning to lose focus.
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Bikejoring – get going with your Podenco!
I’ve published about canicross as an activity with your podenco, now let me introduce you to Bikejoring. You can read all about it on this link. Most podencos are intelligent active working dogs and sports like this suit them. So if you are not a runner for agility or canicross, get on your bike and ride with your dog!
Here are 2 Podenco Friends competing in the UK.
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Letter to the Spanish Hunters – they have changed nothing…
It is now 10 years since members of some prominent galgo/podenco rescue associations – Galgos sin Fronteras, Amigos de los Galgos, Greyhounds in Need and others with the then- met Spanish Minister of the Environment Cristina Narbona and representatives of the Spanish hunting federations to discuss tackling the problem of over-breeding and mass killing/abandonment of their hunting dogs. Sadly the hunters were not prepared to meet any of the reasonable demands of the associations, too arrogant to even acknowledge the problems they caused. Sadly also since then there has not been another Spanish Minister prepared to consider the problem.
Often I, like the amazing volunteers working on the ground in Spain, woke up angry against the hunters and the long-reaching problems they cause, and so in March 2013 I put fingers to computer and wrote this letter to them! I am reposting here because the contents STILL apply, over 3 years on.
http://www.galgonews.com/2013/03/a-letter-to-senor-galguero.html
Please note that copyright belongs to me and no part of this letter can be reused without my permission.
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Do not give in to Emotional Blackmail!
In the 9 years since I first became involved in the plight of the galgos and podencos, hundreds of thousands more people now know of their maltreatment and suffering at the hands of the Galgueros.
New associations have formed and thousands of these fabulous hounds have found forever homes.
With the advent of publicity on Facebook, there have been worrying developments as even more people have become involved in ‘saving’ them, and not all working truthfully and within the law. I always advocate adopting a dog from a recognised rescue association. These hounds have already been rescued from a ‘kill station’, abandonment in the campo, injured on roads. Costs have been incurred in medical treatment and preparing pet passports, blood tests and castration before the animals are homed. These are the dogs which are ready for adoption.
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Rescuing from a Perrera – advice from Mo Swatek of Pro-Galgo International
The debate about rescuing from a perrera when not living in Spain or the Canary Islands continues to rage. Here are words of advice from Mo Swatek of Pro-Galgo International, who recently drove 250kms to a perrera to rescue podencos and galgos with a short kill date, only to find there was no kill date for the dogs!
RESCUING FROM PERRERAS
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As the emotional blackmail and the sharing without checking the real situation is getting worse and worse, here some Suggestions how to reserve dogs from perreras without being cheated, overcharged etc.1. Do not work with private people if money is involved. Pay only to animal welfare associations or directly to the PERRERA.
2. Always insist in the name and exact location of the place.
3. Do not send dogs in residencia or foster care without full details of the person or residence Incl address, phone, legal permits etc. Be aware that many people make a living with private illegal fostering and you risk your dog’s being decommissed if there are no permits for dog boarding for more than 2 dogs. Most villages do not permit more than 5 dogs or pets in general per household!
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The law about keeping a dog chained up
In France where I live, many dogs spend their lives attached to the end of a 2metre chain. Many are border collies, used as ‘guard dogs’ in rural farms. As long as the dog has food, water and shelter, there is nothing one can do to help the dog. So this poster about it being illegal in Sweden to keep a dog like this made an impression on me. In Florida I read that you can’t tie any kind of animal up outside for you will get fined, even jailed if the situation is extreme and the animal will be taken away.
Every country should adopt this law, applicable to whatever animal including dancing bears (currently a petition against this in Pakistan) and elephants in the Far East used for tourists and ‘entertainment’.
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Toxocara Canis – why people should clean up after their dogs/cats
We’re looking after our neighbour’s dog whilst they are away for a few days. She lives in the back garden with access to a large cool barn. We know they are not very good at cleaning up the garden of dog mess, but were horrified when we went in, to find just how much there was. What makes this worse is that they entertain in the garden…and even worse, they have a 2 1/2 year old son who plays in there!
For anyone who doesn’t know about the illness Toxocara Canis, find out more on this link. Please make sure everyone you know with a dog is aware of the illness.
Needless to say, we’re cleaning up the garden whilst we are ‘in charge’.
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Leptospirosis vaccine killing dogs – warning
Read the full article on this link. And remember, don’t use Bravecto oral flea and tick treatment as that kills dogs.