Welcome to Spanish Stray Dogs

My name is Amee, I’m the biggest dog lover in the world and Mum to one human (Rocco) and two former Spanish strays Sir Pete and Dennis. I’m also the founder and president at Spanish Stray Dogs and Spanish Stray Dogs UK. 

Thank you so much for visiting our organisation’s website and taking a little look into our world and the work we do.

Perhaps you are here looking for a new member of the family? We have so many wonderful dogs available for adoption. Over the years it’s been the absolute best part of my job witnessing the happy endings. Not a day goes by without another photo of one of our happy ending dogs popping up in my email or on my social media feed.  

We’ve had so many incredible stories from the families who have adopted from us. From the dog who barked and barked when his human took an epileptic fit and knocked herself unconscious. He saved her life as neighbours called the police after hearing his distressed barking. To dogs that have proudly walked their humans down the aisle on their wedding day.

We have even had dogs that have gained their kennel club gold award!  Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks has never met Tarifa!   

We even had a winner of a cutest eyebrow competition in their local dog show (yep some dogs will do anything for a mention on our website)  Yes Little John we are talking about you! But how could we not celebrate such a happy moment for him after all he went through in his early life. At one stage he had no hair at all let alone any eyebrows! A testament to what love and care can do for dogs that are seen by many as beyond hope!   

Adopting one of our dogs takes incredible strength of character not to mention gallons of patience and kindness. Many of them arrive to their new homes traumatized or with behavioural issues that can take months sometimes years to overcome. For us, I’m sure you will agree that from the biggest to the tiniest achievement we always want to take a moment to smile and celebrate them. 

For some, the biggest achievement they will manage is a tail wag. That may not sound like much to most as after all a tail wag is something that most dogs take for granted!  Sadly, for some of our dogs who have been subject to the most terrible abuse or neglect, a tail wag can take months to materialise. That glory moment when eventually they do find their tail wag can be the first sign that they are starting to accept they are safe now and a true moment of happiness for us and their adoptive family. 

We are proud of each and every one of our dogs and incredibly grateful to all their humans who have taken them on and into their families and given them the love and care they were waiting for their whole lives. The love and care that all dogs deserve.  

Did you know that its been nearly ten years now that SSD and SSDUK have been helping stray and abandoned dogs in Spain. That old song by the Beatles ‘I get by with a little help from my friends’….well that comes to mind right now! Over the years the charity has gone from strength to strength because of the incredible team of volunteers that make things happen.  People I am very proud to call my friends! I have been so honoured to work with so many lovely people over the years all of whom share the same passion as I do for helping these dogs. Our organisation has come so far thanks to the help of many friends, friends of mine and friends of the dogs that we help. Friends of all nationalities and all walks of life. Coming together, working together through language barriers, financial and geographical barriers we always somehow come through for these dogs.  I am and always will be incredibly proud to be part of such a hard working, dedicated and special team of unpaid volunteers. Yes that’s right we are a volunteer run organisation that means we don’t get paid! Why do I do this work? Why do all the volunteers at SSD and SSDUK do this work? For the love of dogs it’s really that simple! Our fight is for them and we won’t stop until each and every one is safe and loved. 

All those years ago I still remember as clear as day when quite a rude abrupt lady barked at me ‘well what are you going do Amee how can you help all these dogs?’ I replied quite feebly at the time that I didn’t know and was just going to ‘TRY’! What I wish I had said is well I’m going to do it with A LOT of help from my friends!    

I can still remember way back in 2010 Spanish Stray Dogs received 5 euros a month. A kind family from Finland would send us this every month and that was our ONLY regular donation! Their support meant the world and still does. Fast forward to today where in 2012 we became a registered charity not only in Spain but also here in the UK and since 2012 in the UK alone we have raised a whopping £433,629 (yes that’s nearly half a million pounds) all of which has gone directly to helping dogs.

In 2018 our charity funded over 28 thousand euro’s worth of vet fees in Spain and on dog food we spent a whopping 30 thousand euros! Last year 298 dogs found happy endings in the UK.

Supporters have run marathons for our dogs, climbed mountains, held cake sales, jumped out of planes…..donations have been bequeathed to us in wills. The support we have received and have is nothing short of incredible and these vital funds enable us to do the work that we love helping these dogs that we adore. We even have two charities shop run by a team of very dedicated volunteers. Each penny that comes our way, each pound that supporters raise or donate to our work spurs us on because it shows us that we are not alone and that people out there do support and believe in our work. If you have donated or raised funds for us over the years, thank you so so much from the bottom of my heart. We cannot do this work without you so please please keep donating and supporting us. 

I hope, and I know that all of us here at SSD and SSUK hope that our next ten years will be just as successful. Sadly we are just a drop in the ocean in terms of helping these dogs as more than 138,000 animals are abandoned in Spain each year! We know the road is long and the work is often heart-breaking, backbreaking and possibly off the chart in terms of stress measurement, every day is upsetting but the sight of those happy ending photos are what keeps us going. I hope that more friends will come our way and help us steer our small organisation to bigger and better things all in the name of helping our greatest friends these wonderful animals.  

Lots of love Amee

Please donate to paypal@spanishstraydogs.org.uk or email me at amee@spanishstraydogs.org.uk for more ways to donate