Dogs are so precious, a gift from God ...

Refugio in Crisis - Update 9th May

Fabienne writes ...

(This wasn't translated so the translation below may have inaccuracies. The original is on the Facebook page, so if you understand Dutch, there will be a more accurate account here.)

Hello all you dear people,

Our first volunteers are here and have already worked all day today, including replacing the door of the clinic, which was completely rusted and is now completely renovated, this weekend we also painted all the rusted appliances and refrigerators - though we will need to replace one of them. 

We will try to do everything we can with what we have and then see if they will accept it.

Actually, people are really very welcome to come out to help, though only from 17 May onwards. We have our temporary cages, we have tiles for the cages and floor tiles - we will assemble these then we will be able to house the dogs and leave one section free so we can work on it.

Certainly we have helping hands here though we are all seriously upset at how long things are taking. We buy and order what we can locally, but here there is always a delay. But on the other hand if we bought the material in Belgium or Holland, we would have had to pay more and we would also have had to pay for the transport and it would take at least as much time to get it here.  It's all a bit of a double edged sword...

Yes, we would like to put some of the dogs in temporary foster, if possible with our existing foster families? They know how we work but most of them already have many dogs. We can of course sign up new foster families, with great pleasure, but there is a proceedure to follow, which takes time. We are sure we can count on your understanding about this.

We need people who can weld and lay bricks or plaster, people who can lay roofs, who can paint
 ... all are welcome. People who are not able to work with their hands or do physical work could take the dogs out, for a day at the beach for instance, to get them away from the chaos because the works are also going to cause our dogs a lot of stress.

We apologize to anyone who didn't get a direct answer from our co-ordinators, but this situation is   completely new to us, we're all new to this kind of crisis. Not one of us could ever have imagined that something like this could happen. After 15 years of intense commitment to saving hopeless animals.

I want you to know that any help is more than appreciated.

Thank you from our heart and in the name of our dogs ...

Until the next update, 

Fabienne
www.ace-charity.org

Our dogs need you more than ever ... we have to stay open!

If you can help with time, work or materials - please click here to find out how to do so.

If you would like to donate - please click here for bank details.

Kyra & Holly

I would also like to write a little note about our 2 dogs. Over three years ago we took 4 month old Holly into our home. We had two older dogs at the time. Bessie died a year later and this year, in January,  Alexa died. Both dogs were 15 years old. In February this year I came across Kyra (Schwifferke) on Facebook. We picked Kyra up from Rotterdam Airport on. When we adopted Holly three years ago she had been cared for in Belgium with her foster mother Sarah. I'm glad we were able to rescue two dogs from the ACE Foundation. With much love and patience we have two dogs that we enjoy every day.

Best Regards
Elvira and Rob Koree

Is it a Bodeguero? Or maybe a Dalmation!

Male, formerly known as Pocoloco



I'm a vampire. I am. Really. I'm a vampire!

I just wanted to show you this nice picture of Male / Pocoloco. We are always talking about Bodeguero's, but this is how he just looked after he'd been groomed and shaved, washed ant trimmed. To my surprise, a dalmatian, haha, emerges. The last time he was groomed there were fewer speckles. If he continues like this, next time he'll be blck were much less, but if he continues he is black! Fabienne always says he has Spanish dentures. In the selfie you can see that there is also a vampire!

Greetings again, Ellen.

Hilario's happy life

Our Hilario while still being looked after at El Refugio

A message from Tim and Marie-Laure Royer

We've been asked if we'll like to write a short report about the care given to rescued dogs and puppies from Spain, now living in the Netherlands and Belgium. Naturally we're happy to comply with this request. Like many others, we came into contact with the ACE Foundation and have been impressed by their commitment to rescue dogs from the most appalling conditions.

So this is our story. In late October 2014 we were told that a Pincher had been found and ACE were looking for a new owner to give him a loving home and a good life, after the misery that he had almost certainly experienced. When he was taken into ACE, he was given the name Hilario. As soon as we saw the pictures, we were sold. That was him ... It felt good .... We were going to offer him a happier life. We already have three dogs, so a fourth was not a problem. But alas. We had to wait. We could not adopt him immediately. ACE Foundation have a proceedure they follow. First, a "questionnaire" was sent to us. Quite rightly, of course. You do not just give a dog to someone without checks. The home visit went superbly! Fortunately, we were told that we had the green light and were to be allowed to adopt "our" Hilario.

Then comes the hard bit. You have to wait for the flight. Each message about Hilario was eagerly read by us. In between we got a video from ACE where Hilario could be seen among dozens of other dogs. What a nice thing to do. We looked at the video over and over. We could not get enough of it. In early December 2014 we received the news that everything was in order for Hilario fly to the Netherlands. Just before Christmas came the anticipated message. Hilario would arrive on Boxing Day at Rotterdam Airport. The time had finally come. To be sure that we would arrive on time we left early. So early that we definitely had an hour's wait at the airport. We were so nervous! And we were not alone. There was another a couple who had arrived much earlier. But we were all very well looked after by 2 lovely ladies from ACE.

Finally the doors opened and into the arrivals hall came two supervisors with some benches and a travel bag. Each bench contained a dog. But no Hilario. Why was "our" Hilario is not in one of those benches? Where was "our" Hilario ??? One of the supervisors opened the travel bag and a tiny cute little face peered out. That's where was our Hilario had been. So small that he could fly in a travel bag in the cabin. What a sweet little dog he turned out to be. We were instantly in love. We are going to spoil this dog to his last gasp. What a sweetheart.

The day after we started to let our three dogs and Hilario get used to each other. That period lasted about a month. Slowly, Hilario was accepted into the group. After that we tried leaving them together. This went better than expected. Now it's all going so well that Hilario sleeps in the same basket as one of our other dogs.  We have the impression that Hilario is starting to come to life. The fear in his eyes has turned into a loving and happy look. He is grateful for the love and warmth that we give him. Nevertheless although it is improving, he still suffers from separation anxiety. He's turned the corner though and we've noticed that he more used to us. He's a busy and lively dog who wants to go everywhere with you, at present. He's a fast learner. His "Dutch" is already quite good. He understands everything very quickly, he only needs something shown or explained to him two or three times and he knows it. 

Recently we took Hilario to our biannual club walk. One Pincher and some spring-like Scottish Terriers. What a feast for him. You guessed it ... the focus was just on Hilario. Many photos were taken. He was the talk of the day.

For us he is the talk of the day, every day. Thank you !! ACE. You not only make a dog's life happy, you enable us to live happily with a happy dog!

Tim and Marie-Laure Royer

Hilario living the good life!

Content

Hilario along with our 3 scottish terriers

Little puppies, abandoned in the boiling sun

This week  a lady phoned us to say that when driving past some dustbins she had noticed an old cat carrier! She went back to check and yes - there in the glare of the hot sun was a small carrier with three small puppies crammed into it. Luckily our foster mum Amalia was able to take them in.  The pups were starving and had an enormous thirst. They kept drinking ... Fortunately, everything is going a lot better with them. Our rascal Mozart, decided to be a surrogate dad!
All's well that ends well ...

Abandoned in a cat carrier. Left out in the intense midday heat.

Our rascal Mozart, playing Dad!

Don't go to sleep on the job, Mozart!

An armful of cute!

Safe in loving arms.

A kiss from Amalia/