Gorgeous Chelsea ...

Chelsea enjoying a break from training - which she adores. She's growing up fast and loving her life in England. She in turn is adored by her adopters, Gemma and Jamie. What a lucky pup - she has really fallen on her paws :)

Tequila did get her happy ending!

A few weeks ago I posted this picture of Maries and little Tequila. The caption read -

"Tequila and Maries in front of the Happy Endings Board. We'll make sure you get one too, little Tequila."

Now Maries has written with the wonderful news that Tequila has got her happy ending, her forever home. Here are some photos and a message from Tina, who has adopted her and who came out to Spain to pick her up.

Tequila is now home now and doing fine. She is so sweet , so loving and bright. Love her  so.

The pack respect her very much, she is  quite a self confident  lady J 

She is still having antibiotics. Hope the infection soon will be over.

Kind regards, Tina

Tequila when she arrived at the Refugio

Tequila - now called Buster - in her golden basket - what a difference

Relaxing with the pack

Suppertime

A message from Buddy

Hello

Again just a message about Buddy (on the website he was No. 8249)

He loves everything and he is a very happy dog. He comes for cuddles and loves long walks, preferably the one and a half hours every day when he goes to the forest. He knows exactly how to make this clear to his boss ;-)

Last week he came with us and Pepper to the Ardennes for a weeks holiday, for the first time. He enjoyed it there - the very lovely gardens and the walks and learning over and over again that when on a terrace, for example, you can also just lie and wait instead of whining and sauntering nervously around! The trip in the car was perfect - he just jumped in and slept all the way.

Today we went to the heath, which is really a celebration! Running and flitting through the water .... he loves water and really enjoys being in it. He listens pretty well here, except that just around the corner on the dunes the bushes are very interesting and there he likes to disappear. Then he closes his ears and only comes back when his research is finished. We are still working on this.

Truly a top dog is, he is so very sweet! And this month it's been 2 years.

Greetings from Maurice and Chantal and a paw from Buddy and Pepper

Buddy and Pepper

Water Baby!

With my stick!

With my boss and Pepper.

With my other boss. What a lucky dog I am!

Sweet Blimpy urgently needs a loving owner

"Blimpy has been in the Refugio for almost three years now, and I really want to make sure she gets some extra attention." So writes one of the students who has build a relationship with Blimpy and got to know her.

She writes ....

"This sweet girl with her special gray color has already been in the shelter for a long time and she urgently needs a loving owner. When Blimpy came into the Refugio she was terrified of people. For a long time she refused to go near them and she crawled away in a corner if they approached. 

As the weeks and the months went by Blimpy would only leave her cage when it had to be cleaned. She's stay right outside and quickly go back into her familiar corner. No human hand was going to hurt her any more but this also meant that no human hand could stroke her so she couldn't learn what it's like to be loved. Blimpy survives in the shelter .... yes she survives ... but that won't help her gain confidence ... Blimpy must not only "survive" but to live life like a dog should live as God in France. And for that Blimpy needs help. Help from an owner who will show Blimpy the good side of life.

Blimpy is still very shy towards people but has already improved a lot. If you approach her she makes herself small and stiffens but lets them come towards her. When I entered the Refugio I took Blimpy out for a few hours. I took her out of her cage, away from the noise to a quiet place. Blimpy was very cautious on the lead, constantly looking around anxiously. Step by step, without forcing her, I took her outside the refugio to the playground, the big field. 

I'm sat down and I talked to her gently for more than an hour, with an occasional pat on her head. Slowly the look in Blimpy's eyes changed. First very anxious and then a look of astonishment. Blimpy relaxed little by little and after a while she even followed me around the pasture. This was to Blimpy a real revelation. At one point she was even able to just close her eyes and enjoy the fresh breeze and the sun that shone down on her beautiful gray coat and warmed her. It was therefore very difficult for me to put her back in her cage afterwards. 

I have also decided to make it my job to find her a suitable owner. Blimpy needs a gentle approach from someone who wants to give her time to unwind. Blimpy has always lived with other dogs and for fearful dogs like Blimpy, another dog in the family would be a real added value. Another confident dog would give Blimpy support and will help her to quickly see that life can be beautiful. A life that should start soon for Blimpy ....

Click here for more information.

Blimpy - enjoying the sun

Gaining confidence

Don't buy ... Rescue!

Thank you Denise for sending this.

Update 11th June : Another inspection - so far, so good

Today the inspection paid us a visit, everything was checked, observed and discussed. Over a period of three hours our installations were tested, which was tense and stressful for all of us. But we knew we had worked hard so the result had to be positive. We are not finished yet and there are still months of work ahead of us, but we are on the right path. That's what the inspector said.

The inspector inspector will come back within the month. We are hoping to have a lot more work finished by then. People are always welcome to come and join us, we are still short of hands. We need to begin work on several different sections, with a wide range of work to be done. We are also looking for professional people who can help us with welding, construction, tiling, painting, repairing roofs ... ...

We will get there, slowly but surely ...

It was an emotional day, .. but we will go for it, as we always do.

Fabienne

Click here for more photos of the work.

Please sign the petition for free registration

I need to be registered now. It's the law. And it costs a lot of Euros!

Dear All, 

Since the new European laws have come into force, people involved in animal rescue need to do more to comply with the obligatory rules. The rescue centres now want to ask the Spanish Authorities to let rescue centers register their animals for free.

In Europe, and of course in Spain too, each dog who enters a rescue centre has to be registered, whether it survives or not, and rabies vaccinations also need to be registered. These registrations are very expensive, especially since you have also to register every dog already in the centre.

We want to do this and to comply with what the law says but we want it to be free for rescue centers.

Fabienne

Please sign the petition !!!

The petition is addressed to the President of the Junta de Andalucia - it is in Spanish. Here is a rough translation, it's not perfect but gives an accurate picture.

FREE REGISTRATION OF ANIMALS AND RABIES VACCINATION FOR ANIMAL RESCUE CENTRES

Started by Francisca Borrego Galafate Algeciras, Spain

Due to the large number of stray cats and dogs in the Andalusian Community and given the lack of identification of animals and especially that of the vaccination against rabies, there is now a compulsary registration for this. We ask that such mandatory registration for each animal and for the rabies vaccination should be free for protecoras (rescue centres.)

Andalusian protectoras are overflowing and their revenues are minimal, relying either on their members or donations from the public, with a very few receiving regional or local grants.

Our animals must be protected from rabies as the Andalusian law obliges them to be under the Animal Protection legislation 2003. It is essential to identify and chip them but the cost of this protective registration is not feasible for protectoras given the cost involved in registering each dog or cat.

We therefore request free registration including registration in the RAIA (Registration Andaluz de Identification Animal).


And the development of a form or method which allows protectoras to register each animal and vaccination for free.