Duardo helps out ...

Our dear Duardo helping collect cents for ACE

Supervising the transfer!

Duardo and friend, standing guard.

Smiley faces - job done!

Another happy boy ...

A letter from Bono's new family

Bono 

Hello animal lovers,

It began when we read about a sweet Golfo, a very sad Spanish water dog. We realised that he looked very like our other Spanish water dog, Mop, who is sadly deceased. We found our Mop in Spain, when he walked into our neighborhood in Spain (where we had lived for 7 years). They looked almost identical and, in the beginning, Golfo was equally as fearful and, like Mop, he didn't wag his equally short tail. 

How different it is now. Golfo, now called Bono, has been joined by two Galgos, Duuk and Bettie.
Duuk is missing his right hind leg but he runs even more than Bono. They play together beautifully. Bettie is a cast-off hunting dog aged ten and a half. She too wants to play with them, but we can't always let the Galgos off the lead together as the hunting instinct is so strong and they are straight away chasing the bunnies.

Bono had a bad ear infection when he arrived in the Netherlands, but he allowed himself to be treated and didn't make a fuss, even though he was in pain. And now after a brisk shave, done by the boss himself, he looks beautiful. And now we can clearly see his little tail and after a week or two we see it every morning when the dogs greet us. Bono's tail wags back and forth. 

Bono was and sometimes still is very cautious. So that when we call him he does not dare to come into the room. But as soon as we call Bettie, then he will come and rushes to be the first one to come to us.   He loves to lie in the boss's lap, or otherwise on the ground next the boss's chair. When the boss gets up, he gets up too and follows his boss. He would even help him tie his shoelaces if he could, is eager to have his collar and lead on and walks nicely with Duuk beside the boss. Bettie always walks behind on the other side.

If possible we will take them to the beach so that all three of them can have a lovely, interesting, one- hour walk. Bono, like all water dogs, does not like to go in the sea, he finds it strange.  At low tide Duuk likes to lie down in a puddle and then then Bono loves to rush over and splash him and get him wet, but then he quickly runs away! Also when we leave them off the lead, Bono stays close to us, he will walks on his own towards other dogs to greet them and then he comes back nicely.

Bono has many similarities with Mop so that it feels as if he is back with us again. Fortunately Bono is young, only three, and we hope to have a lot of fun with him for a long time. Therefore on Bono's behalf we hereby thank everyone who has worked to rescue him and enable him to come all the way to Holland to us.

PS Bono has twice fallen into the ditch, he thought it was grass, but it was green slime.  That happened late in the evening. He really stank and was put straight into the bath - he found the hot water a nice bonus!

Greetings Rob and Joke vd Kleij.

King of the Castle!

All tucked up with my brother and sister.

Keeping close to the boss.

Lapdog!

If you ask us why we do it ....

Why do we struggle and strive and move heaven and earth to save these abandoned, abused dogs? You don't have to look very far for the answer. Our reward is the thousands of happy dogs who have been saved and who now have loving forever homes. Here are just a few pictures of a very few of these dogs. There are many more to be seen on the blogs and on the website under Lucky Dogs

Alessia, the sweetheart. Happy and loved.




Miko relaxing on his golden basket a.k.a. the couch!




Kisses for Miko.




Darto enjoying the green fields....




... and his golden basket and his special toy.




Bliksen & Donder (Thunder and Lightning) - so happy together in their forever home.

Marcopolo is still looking and longing ...

Marcopolo

There were four of them, all born in the Campo. We managed to save them, but couldn't catch their mother. One of our excellent Spanish foster mothers reared these four rascals with great care. They are now beautifully socialised with people and other dogs.

Marcopolo's sisters Marah and Lista and his brother, Pablo, have already found forever homes. Only Marcopolo is left, who knows why. He's such a lovely character and so handsome, with such beautiful eyes. This gorgeous cross-Podenco is bright and eager and growing very fast. Who will offer him a loving home so he can start his new life and bring happiness to his new family?

Marcopolo as a puppy.

Gody - it's time!

Dear Gody - still waiting.

Gody and Julio were brothers who belonged to some children. They loved the children but the children grew tired of them. They ended up with us. Julio was adopted some time ago but sweet Gody is still with us. He's been with us since 2009. He's in foster care in Belgium and life is passing him by. He's nine years old already and it's more than time that he had his very own family. I featured Gody on this blog not long ago, but he deserves to be in the spotlight again - we so want him to find a forever home. 

Pilar - please, please help her.

Pilar - such a sweetheart

Fabienne writes ...

Every time the phone rings and I see an unknown number I'm suspicious. I hestitate to answer. Should I just leave it? But you answer anway and then it begins - "We found a dog. We are on holiday. No one wans to help her. The police say to take her to the killing station but we don't want to do that because they will kill her. She is very small, barely knee high. Please will you help us?"

This sort of thing goes on all through the summer. this time it is German tourists who are staying up behind Velez Malaga, which is a serious distance from us. I explained to them that we were full, etc, that they should look for a rescue organisation in their neighborhood. Then the woman began to weep ... the crying was so bad that I thought "well, maybe we could take a little one."

And then they arrived and what do you think! This was certainly her own dog, because Pilar put her two paws round her and clung to her, trembling and afraid, she saw the whole refugio and all the dogs running towards them. This was not a lost dog and not a little dog either. She was 53 cm. The woman cried her crocodile tears - we stayed quiet! Pilar was obviously attached to her owner who denied being her owner and repudiated her!

Pilar's body language was more than clear. How can you do this? The woman walked away crying but for Pilar it was much, much worse. She was really in shock, the poor darling. Anyway, she is with us now, will have to adapt and then we'll see. She is very sweet ...

Her life has taken a different turn and the so called tourist will be somewhere on a terrace with one less problem to deal with !!!

Three more lucky dogs arrive at Schiphol ...

Schiphol August 15th

Tonight three dogs arrived at Schiphol, escorted by Ismay. They are little Nela, and our dears Flouk and Phenix. Here you see them meet their new owners, ready to set off home to their golden baskets.