Arrivals Rotterdam - 23rd July

Unfortunately, there is no photo of Freggels (12069). After the loving care of Maries, her foster mum, she was at last able to fly to her forever home. But she was so afraid that we told the adopters to take her straight away. So we only have a picture of her in her bench.

Next we had Marian(12015) renamed Abby, Rodrigo (12020) who immediately felt at home and Renzo (12023) whose new name is Filou. Rodrigo was so lively we coudn't take a photo of him on his own, hence just a photo of his backside!

Look how much Alida raised through the PLUS deposits ...

Dear Mila (ACE Traga) and Saartje (ACE Maartje) with their boss Alida van Alfen raised the wonderful sum of €403.85. With many thanks to them and to Plus Ton Henst in Best.

The material for the Section 4 cages is slowly coming together.

They are finally almost ready. The removable cages for Section 4 came this week - there had been another delay. It seems that this is inevitable. But, good people, we remain positive. If we encourage them and we are lucky they may get it finished next week.

Fingers crossed !!

Bo (Bokassa at ACE)

Bo, second from left, has now been with us for 7 days. He's doing well and he is very sweet. The three Spanish ACE ladies think he's great.

Greetings, Astrid

Photo gallery

Refugio - July 2016

Happiness is a doggie to cuddle!

Hey! What you doing in there?

Come on you little rascal! Out of the feed bin!

Dinner time (and no naughty doggies in the bins!)

Waiting patiently.

Puppies coming out of our ears ... No. 5 Slightly older puppies, ready for their forever home!

We also have a lot of puppies aged from 6 months to 12 months old, ready for adoption and still waiting for a nice boss. Such cute puppies - they deserve a home not a shelter.

Puppies coming out of our ears ... No. 4 Ten small ones in a box at our gate

From Fabienne's Diary

The ten small puppies that were found in a box at our gate, in the burning sun, have all survived - so far. When we got a closer look at them we noticed that they are all from different famiies. They are all a bit different, all ten of them.

The following day we were told about a striped puppy who was walking around in the park on it's own. We looked for the mama, but without success. The puppies are flowing into the shelter like water ...

We are setting up more sterilization projects and with this message we are asking vets if they want to come and help us by sterilizing for free. Our goal is to make the local people aware that we all need to take care and to solve this problem.

We can't do this alone and need help from vet to help us with sterilizing and castrating. Every year we sterilize 1500 cants and dogs and we are helping with various stray cats projects.We have made several urbanisations 'cat friendly' and keep going as much as we can.

We sterilize and castrate cats from an urbanisation and then bring them back there so that the population stops expanding. The cats are looked after by the people themselves who are working with us. These cats remain living in their own neighbourhood, but now they can't multiply any more. They catch the vermin in the neighbourhood and they are free and happy.

This is our aim and what we want but the process between wanting something and getting it done is often difficult. It has happened more than once that we are in the process of getting an urbanisation completely in order and then suddenly ALL the cats have disappeared. That's why we now make agreements with the municipality to make them aware and of what we are doing.

We won't give up, not for these cats - that's for sure!

Apologies - there are no pictures. They wouldn't convert.

Puppies coming out of our ears ... No. 3 Mama Mishka and her babies

From Fabienne's Diary

Another mom with puppies dumped like a piece of dirt ...

We rescued Mishka, along with her nine puppies from a killing station. You have no idea what we saw there! The place has apparently had no inspection, which could and should be done!

My heart breaks when I see the state in which these dogs come to us ...

Neither the pups nor the mummy could stand on their feet. The condition of the mama was even worse than the puppies; as thin as a skeleton and still trying to be a good mother. Unfortunately, there was not even a small leak of milk from her frail body.

She tried to give her pups the vital nourishment they needed. But four of the puppies just died of hunger and misery. The other five, we are fighting for.

Now mama is getting food and drink, vitamins and care and gradually going in the right direction ...
For puppies we hope we can make up for the nourishment they have lacked. Mama is becoming more pleased with our visits and the extra pampering ...

The gratitude of this sweet Galgo makes you shed a tear! How is it possible! How is it possible! Well, do not look back, but forward, where their future is now in our hands ....

Puppies coming out of our ears ... No. 2 Mama Agueda and her three little ones

From Fabienne's Diary

It was only 8.30 in the morning when we noticed the box. When we opened it poor Mama Agueda started barking, with large scared eyes. And then another suprise, three little ones lying there. Mama was so frightened but still preparedd to defend her puppies with her life.

Eight scared eyes looking at us like their last hour had come. It was horrible. The family is safe now but they need to get stronger.

We have puppies coming out of our ears .... some abandoned with their mamas, others on their own. No. 1 Mama Lucia and her five little tots.

It's a never ending story. Puppies dumped on our doorstep, puppies found in the campo, puppies rescued from building sites. So many of the currrent stories on Fabienne's Diary are stories such as these. Here are just a few from the last eight days.

Below, Mama Lucia and her five little tots. She lived in a street where there was a depot where tow truck were parked. She became pregnant many times by the many dogs who, like her, were just trying to survive. Many puppies died, the others remained hoeless like their mama. Workers took some of them home. Others were hit by cars. Finally the boss had enough and told the workers to get rid of the 'problem'. Volunteers took 3 of the puppies and finally were also able to save the mama and the two left puppies. When mama and all her puppies were reunited in the Refugio their euphoric reaction was heartwarming! More than beautiful to see. Mama now knows she is safe and se is no longer afraid. We can stroke her and she lets us take care of her pups.

Please save them from the killing station ....

We are lucky not to be in the terrible situation of this lady, the boss of these old cats. She is going to be evicted very soon. She had a lot of cats living in her home. Most of them have found new homes but the oldest, as always, haven't been chosen. People wanted the purebred cats and the pretty young ones but these six stayed behind.

Like the lady, we also would like them to have a chance and that is why we are asking for people to adopt them!!! The lady saved all these cats from commercial breeders. It's so sad that fate hasn't been good to her, like a million other people. She has lost everything and has to leave her house. The cats would then be brought to a killing station and that is what we want to prevent.

Each of these cats have been well looked after and they are used to living in a home.

Who will give Divo his special forever home?

Happy, cheerful Divo.

Today it's exactly three months since we collected Divo and brought him to Hoevelaken (near Amersfoort). He is doing very well in his foster family! He is always cheerful, eats like a docker, and always wants to play - with a chewie, a ball or something he stole (a sponge, a brush or something).

Yes, he's black and he's big (although not very big, the size of a small Labrador). He is very muscular, but his body has to work very hard to compensate for the loss of his right leg. It doesn't bother him at all that he is missing a leg. It's no problem. He runs and play-wrestles just as hard as the other dogs in the foster family. And what's so nice about Divo, he can walk anywhere nice and loose it (where this is allowed of course). He is friendly to every dog ​​he meets. And if a dog is not nice to him, well then it just slides off him. He goes quiet in the car as he knows he is going somewhere. Preferably to the dog beach, because he loves water.

Divo stays in the utility room with another dog when the family is away and also at night. Then he is quiet. He loves a chew bone and gnaws away a very large specimen in a short time. Of course, he is sometimes a bit boistrous so he might not be ideally placed with small children, although he does have a giant love for everyone he meets. Only cats are not such a good idea, because he doesn't really get on with them.

Actually pretty strange that no one has fallen for Divo! He's a really a nice guy in home care for much merriment. Come visit him in Hoevelaken and get to know this superb dog.

Arrivals Schipol July 15th

The aircraft was delayed at Malaga but eventually they arrived at 02.20 am. Little Ainara, Jara, Jennifer Lopez and Toco Loco. They found it a bit scary and a bit uncomfortable. But they went into the arms of their new owners, all wrapped up in a cosy blanket ready for their golden basket.

Freggels with her foster mama, Maries.

Manolito

Manolito, came to me as a hugely fearful dog ... sooo afraid of being beaten and kicked.

Very, very occasionally something will happen to make me remember - "oh yes, that comes from his past experience" but overall Manolito has made huge progress.

I saw him transform from a scared dog from the  street and the killing station, who wanted to make himself truly invisible (because if he was not there he couldn't be seen so nothing could happen to him) to what he is now, a great sweet, humorous and confident honey. .. and every day he puts a smile on my face! I really couldn't be prouder of  him!

But these are also the smaller steps that happen unexpectedly just one day, which are like real gems, like today:

SO MUCH FUN ! AFTER A YEAR AND A HALF MANOLITO CAME TO ME IN THE GARDEN FOR A CUDDLE, FOR THE FIRST TIME !!!

To do this, he behaved as if he thought I was not looking, approachingly stealthily and quickly cuddling me and then running away as fast as he could, back inside.

But today he knows our little garden is there just for him. And so you see, Manolito's really getting there.

Eugenie

Greetings from Gabber, Gorki, Toco, Melisso, Sus and Djoef

Gabber

Gorki

Toco

Toco again!

Melliso

Sus

Djoef

Djoef again!