After the post about the dogs at Pepis Refuge being poisoned, this mail arrived in my Inbox this afternoon.
Category: Advice
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Podenca Beatrize – from Valencia to Devon, UK – settling in well.
At the beginning of July, I posted the story of Beatriz, a podenca rescued from Spain and now enjoying a new life in Devon. 6 weeks on, her Mom has written an update on her progress.
‘Having rescued beautiful podenca Beatriz from a little private rescue in Ontinyent, Spain, two months ago to a small farm in Devon, UK, she is now almost unrecognisable, temperament wise. She is still a little timid, especially with male strangers, but like all things, this will take time.
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Deaf podenco Fanta – his Mom is a Bullas Babe – finds his forever family
You remember the story of the Bullas, Murcia, rescue of 120 hunting dogs, mostly podencos. It’s great to follow the stories of their rehomings and here is a tale about a really special Bullas Boy, who was born deaf. Denise Heaton adopted him and tells his story so far.
‘Fanta’s story starts from when heavily pregnant Mama named Maya was rescued from the Bullas Camp by Ibizan Hound Rescue along with around 120 other dogs that went to various other rescues. On 4/4/12 Maya gave birth to 8 gorgeous pups under the care of Ibizan Hound Rescue fostered by Diane Hughes, who did a brilliant job with both Mum and her babies.
This photo is the very first one I saw of Fanta, and it made me fall in love with the little guy. I decided at that moment that I wanted to adopt him. A week or so later Diane Hughes & Valerie Wood contacted me to tell me the news that Fanta was profoundly deaf and asked if I still wanted to proceed with the adoption. I felt that the fact he was deaf shouldn’t make much of a difference only that it made him even more special.
On 27/07/12 I finally got to pick up my special boy in Birmingham. It was such a special moment to finally meet him along with his Mamma, Siblings & the other adopters & not forgetting Diane & Brian who transported them from Spain.
Fanta is a wonderful addition to our family and is no different from a hearing dog. His best friend is a little Shi Tzu boy called Bentley who I adopted from The Little Dog Rescue. They spend hours chasing and playing; it’s such a joy watching them.
Fanta responds very well to training through a series of hand signals and is a star at training class. I have had lots of wonderful advice from The Deaf Dog Network who also have a Facebook page and would urge everyone to join who is thinking of adopting a deaf dog.
You can find out more about Fanta and his siblings on our facebook page entitled Bullas Babes.
Lastly a huge thank you to Ibizan Hound Rescue for trusting me with the care of such a beautiful, special boy and of course the fabulous job they do saving these amazing dogs’.
Interestingly, I’ve known white cats which are deaf, and also a white boxer dog.
Aanifeira association in Portugal have written about one of their disabled dogs.
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Helping a chained dog
There is a belief in Europe that guard dogs should be chained up. There is also a belief in Europe that any dog can be chained up, many of them without even shelter. I see it here in France – a border collie chained up in a farmyard particularly angers me. Podencos also suffer this maltreatment and Aaniferira, a Portuguese animal rescue association, have published a piece about dealing with the problem. You can read more about it here.
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A Word of Warning – follow-up discussion
My article ‘A Word of Warning’ was posted on my Help the Podencos Facebook page, as well as here on Podenco Post. It provoked a lot of discussion and experienced podenco owners and rehoming associations shared their considerable knowledge of the breed. Here is a precis of the most important comments.
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A word of warning
I’ve received some disturbing information in the last few days from a couple of different sources about podencos being taken out of Spanish perreras to the UK for adoption. It’s being carried out by individuals who, I am told, have been turned down as adoptants by recognised established associations.
Whilst wishing to rescue abandoned podencos is admirable, the methods being used by these persons is irresponsible both for the dogs and the adoptants.
They are not an association, they do not have experience of owning a podenco, and already a couple of the podencos they have ‘rehomed’ have been returned – to the recognised associations. The concern is that in future podencos adopted through these people could end up in British shelters.
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Euthanasia – gas chambers – work in the killing stations explained
Link to an article about killing – the truth of what happens to animals on death row.
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Dog Walking in Spain – Spanish law explained
A question was posed to me with regard to walking and exercising galgos in Spain. A reader was stopped by a hunter and told she was breaking the law by letting her two galgos run free, even though their recall was very good. So I put the question to someone I knew had experienced a similar problem. Andrew Hurrell was a founder of Noahs Arc association in Mazarron, and he explains the situation and Spanish law. You can read the full article here.
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TARA Shelter, Gran Canaria – a successful neutering programme
TARA Animal Shelter on Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, in September ran a neutering programme for dogs and cats with the help of a Danish team of vets and nurses. Brian, a volunteer with TARA, reports on the success.
The dog and cat neutering project in Mogan county from 14 to 21 September proved a big hit for all concerned.
It was a most collaborative effort indeed: TARA Animal Respect Association recruited Danish Friends of Animals to supply professional animal medical staff to Gran Canaria providing the surgery skills and pharmaceuticals as a donation to the local cause of animal welfare.