Rocky, a cocker spaniel, is the latest addition to my own menagerie, he has been living with me for around 4 months now.

Here in the North of Spain, the winters can be quite cold, and I first saw Rocky running along the side of a dangerous main road around Christmas time. It was around 7pm on a cold dark rainy night.

I was in the middle of thundering rush hour traffic and there was no way I could stop. When I did eventually manage to turn round to try to approach him, he had disappeared, or it was just too dark with poor visability to see him. I went home praying that he had known where he was going and could find his way home.

The following day I caught sight of him again- still on the main road. He was about a mile from where I had seen him the previous night. This time I was able to pull over, but as soon as he saw me he bolted into the oncoming traffic which by a miracle missed him and ran into an area where there is housing, away from the horribly busy main road. I searched the area for over an hour but did not catch sight of him again.

I could only hope one of the house owners would see him, and realise that he was lost. However, there are many lost and abandoned dogs in this area, and most homeowners do not react at all other than yelling and hitting out at the dogs. My only hope was as he is obviously a breed as opposed to a mixed breed mongrel that he might get lucky.

The following day, I caught sight of him again. Again a three hour search ensued with no luck.


On day five, I got lucky. I was heading off the main road to a friend's house and Rocky was just coming in the other direction but fortunately was still on a side street without passing cars. He was bedraggled, wet dirty and obviously starving. He came to sniff the food I held out to him, and I was able to slip a collar round his neck.

I subsequently discovered, due to a microchip that he is six years old and had belonged to a Spanish man and his wife who lived in a seaside town 20 miles from where I had picked him up. The man had died, and his wife was unwilling to care for the dog. Five months earlier she had given him to a couple who already had two other dogs although she 'had her doubts'. I do not know how Rocky had come to be on that stretch of road, but my guess is he was dumped there. He was filthy and covered with fleas, which did not just appear over the five days he had been wandering on the road.

He was very traumatised and had an exceptionally sad dull look in his eyes, however I am pleased to report he has now cheered up no end, and loves his daily walk with the other seven dogs in my care.

He eats very well, and shows few signs of the trauma he has endured in his the last year. I believe prior to his master's death he was well looked after.

        

Frustrated barking greets you
Have you come to chose me?
Oh how many beautiful animals need a home so desperately.
Cats, purebred dogs and mongrels
Fill compounds as far as the eye can see.
They will never find love in Spain,
It is up to you and me.
Some have been there several years,
Some give up, lie quietly
Others jump up, frantically.
Some are ill,
Money is scarce
The vet will see who needs him most.
Three hundred dogs to treat and feed,
Eight hundred cats, can you believe?
With trusting eyes just waiting for
A life with some normality.
A caring owner, proper food,
Two walks a day, that would be good.
They don't ask much, they don't expect,
They've never known man's respect.
Some we can save and some we must leave
And be thankful that through people like you
We have given a new life to more than a few
Dogs and cats, all now happy and free
From their anguished lives of misery.

        

Nearly a year ago, Jo from Essex wrote to us, explaining how she had recently lost her dog Ben, after having him for 17 years. She was wondering about the possibility of rescuing one of our Spanish strays.

Luckily, there were a few dogs ready to travel, one of them being Toby, who had arrived at the Tossa de Mar refuge from another refuge, which is most likely to have been the Town Hall Dog Pound, also in Tossa. Toby arrived with his brother, Willy. He was nervous and wayward, and nobody could get near him.

He went to live with Jo, her son Shaun and daughter Shannen in April, 2007.

For the first six months he did not even bark, but now he will when someone is at the door.

        

I have so many pictures of animals we have rescued over the years, I decided it is about time to post some of them.

I found this little dog when he was about 10 days old- I am not sure of the date, but believe it was around January, 2003.
He had been thrown into a lake and left to drown along with his sister. I was out walking my dogs by the lake, when I heard the puppies screaming from the other end. I ran as fast as I could, and found the two tiny puppies washed up in the on the bank. They were still half in the water and crying for their lives. It was also the middle of the winter, and freezing cold.

There was another puppy that had already drowned. I was able to get Toby and his sister out, and quickly got them home and onto an electric blanket. They were old enough to suck from a bottle and for a while it seemed they would survive.

I was working long shifts in a bar at the time, and had to carry the dogs into work in a bag to feed them every few hours. Luckily Kate came to Spain a few days later and she was able to take over the care of the puppies.

After a few weeks they began to gain strength and we thought they would survive- but unfortunately it was not to be.

Toby and his sister began having fits about a month after they had been found, and also started 'fading'. This would inevitably happen in the middle of the night- Kate would have to rush them to the emergency vet who would revive them.

One night Toby's sister had a severe fit and died.

Toby however, bit by bit, gained strength and eventually was able to travel to the UK. Kate decided to keep him.

He appeared healthy, and was a very loving, fun dog. He loved all people and other animals, and was a pleasure to be with. He adored to play with his friend Lucas, who was around the same age, they would run and chase balls together for hours.


When Toby reached a year old, the fits started again.

They began sporadically, he had one or two, and the vet commenced tests and prescribed some medication.

However he quickly worsened, he began having fits on a daily basis, and then two or three times a day.

He was shaken, nervous and traumatised after each fit- he lost his appetite and no longer had any interest in his walks.

The vets did not know what was causing the fits and could only put it down to the near drowning so soon after his birth.

Very soon it became obvious that apart from the fits, Toby also had a lot of pain, he would cry and rub his poor head with his paws. The vets could offer no solution, and Kate had to come to the agonising decision that is would probably be kinder to put him to sleep.


I no longer walk by that lake- due to I now more dogs to walk, and it is not a suitable place to walk many due to the Spanish people's intolerance of animals in public. Sometimes I think of Toby, and hope to God there are not more like him, thrown to drown in icy cold water because someone was too mean to pay for their dog to be spayed, and could not be bothered to subsequently search for homes.

        

Steven, the new owner of Berba, (Mary) has been as good as his word and sent some pictures of her enjoying her first days at her new home.

She appears to have settled in remarkably well. I do hope Joseph is coping without her too- hopefully I will speak to Kate over the next few days and have an update on him too.



In the park near Steven's home




She looks like she loves that new bed!

        

Yesterday was the day Joseph and Mary finally left the quarantine kennels after three months to go to their new homes.

Unfortunately we were not able to home them together, Mary now named Berba has gone to live with Steven in London, and Joseph has gone to a home in the country with Dee and his family.

I do not have an update on Joseph yet, but Steven wrote to let us know that Mary is settling in very well considering it was her first day. It seems she was well behaved and appeared comfortble which is quite amazing when you realise she has probably never been indoors in her life.

We were very lucky to get two such good homes- it is difficult to home the larger male dogs such as Joseph.

Steven will be sending pictures of Berba in the near future.

If you think you would be able to give one of our Spanish Strays a home in the future, please call Kate on 07910531909.

        

Yesterday I made a post entitled A Simple Way to Help Us Raise Funds. I would like to expand on it a bit.

Easyfundraising.co.uk is a website that is sponsored by almost 500 retail outfits.

Anyone who is trying to raise cash for a good cause is entitled to apply for an acocunt- if your good cause is accepted, your oganisation is then added to the site. Supporters are then invited to sign up at Easy Fund Raising(It is completely free) and choose the cause which they would like to support.



Then whenever you are thinking of making a purchase ...<< MORE >>

As most of you know, rescuing just one dog from Spain can be a costly business. The dogs must be blood tested, micro-chipped, vaccinated, housed and fed for six months in Spain before we can think about them making the journey to the UK. Many of the dogs are sick or injured and need extensive vet's treatment and medication.

To find each dog a home usually means a lot of expensive advertising, and many phone calls.

The journey is also not cheap- apart from the petrol costs, tolls, ferry or channel tunnel tickets, the dogs must be de-flead and wormed and papers provided 48 hours before they land, by a vet- this must also be paid for as well as the pet passport.

There is now a new and easy way for you to help us raise funds for European Animal Welfare - simply by shopping online.

Easyfundraising is a shopping directory that features some of your favourite online stores, including Amazon, NEXT, Debenhams, John Lewis, Toys’R’Us, HMV and over 500 others. All you have to do is use the links on the Easyfundraising site whenever you shop online and, at no extra cost to you, we'll receive a free donation of up to 15% from every purchase you make.

It’s completely free to register and use and you still shop with each retailer in exactly the same way as you normally would. Your purchases will not cost you any more, and many retailers even offer additional discounts and money saving e-Vouchers when you shop using Easyfundraising.

If you shop online anyway then please raise valuable extra funds for us by using this simple scheme. 

All you need to do is visit http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/europeananimalwelfare and when you register, select European Animal Welfare as the organisation you wish to support.

        

Needless to say, we are not too keen on breeds here at European Animal Welfare- not because we do not like the dogs because of course we do, but it seems so awful when there are so many stray and unwanted dogs, that people purposefully breed more solely for financial gain.

If you can give a dog a home, please rescue one!

However, here is a list of the top ten dog breeds in 2007, provided by the Kennel Club. ...<< MORE >>

We have a very urgent need for a home for two of our abandoned strays, namely Mary and Joseph.

I first saw Mary and Joseph wandering cold and starving in the middle of an urbanization just outside Lloret de Mar last April.

They were in quite a dangerous spot- where all the traffic has to pass through. Mary was also obviously in season as every male dog in the area was visiting her. ...<< MORE >>