How I came to have my spanish stray dogs – An adopters tale

I thought maybe as an adopter of eight Spanish stray dogs amongst my pack, it may be of interest to new adopters as to how I came to adopt my Spanish Stray Dogs (SSD).

I always had dogs, my first being a pup that I brought home from school, and persuaded my parents to let me keep him. He lived a great life until his death at thirteen years of age.

I had already gotten greyhounds, daschunds and a whippet when I came upon Spanish Stray Dogs after joining Facebook and I saw my first ‘foreign’ dog Suzi. I could not believe that such a pretty special looking podenco cross could have been waiting over two years for a home and was on the long stay list. I knew I had to offer a home to her and she arrived shortly after, closely followed by Paco a fun-loving little Podenco Maneto.

A few months later, I took in Paloma, another dog, from a friend as she was not settling with her dogs.  We made the decision as she so loved men and I have three men living in our home, my husband and two grown up sons, who all adore the dogs. Without them I would not be able to do what I do.

Not long after I was asked if I could take in Breeze, a beautiful Spanish water dog cross as a temporary foster as she kept escaping from her young owner’s house. I am totally hopeless at fostering! So after a few days, we decided that Breeze was definetely staying with us.

Then, there was a plea on behalf of all the long term dogs at the pound, who for one reason or another had been overlooked. I saw a lovely Corgi type dog who I named Iris (Nea), that had been there over three years. She was in a kennel with bigger dogs and had been in short term foster due to the pound flooding after a terrible storm. Her fosters adored her, but were unable to keep her. My heart just went out to this girl and she came ‘home’

People do ask me ‘how do I know which dog will get on with my current group’. Well,  I do have a lot of experience with dogs and am now retired so I have the time, which does help, but I wholeheartedly trust the volunteers as they are very good at knowing the characters of the dogs they have at the pound.

I would always say try not to be swayed by what a dog looks like. Trust the advice given by those who are with the dogs, and you could well be amazed at the sweet nature and affection of the dog that maybe was not your first choice. Puppies although very endearing are not for everyone and do need full time commitment. I have not had a puppy for many years now, as I prefer to take in dogs that are a bit older.

Hence Lula, an older Podenco who was being kept in the pound office as she was very gentle,  and it was feared she would be very vulnerable in the pound amongst some of the more robust dogs.

Lula came to us and she is our ‘smiler’. She really does laugh and shows her teeth when she is happy and she is very nearly always like that.

So we had more or less decided that our pack of dogs was complete. That is until I saw a very endearing couple pop up one day on a post. There were so completely different, one a big lab type and the other a small Jack Russel. Both had been together and suffered an awful past, being chained in all weathers, and then waiting for two years in the pound. There were called Madonna and Kylie. You may have seen them, they were overweight and were frightened of the noise and all that was going on in the pound.

I had never taken in a bonded pair before and the volunteers were certain that there should not be separated as they both depended on each other so much. I did ask lots of questions about the girls and I have to say the volunteers have been spot on with them.

When they arrived they did everything together, they wanted to eat out of the same bowl, but with a difference. One would have a mouthful and wait while the other had a mouthful. They slept in the same basket, went outside together, went to the toilet and drank together, looked out for each other. We even had a little incident where Maggie (formerly Madonna) took a biscuit and bit it in half and waited while Amy (formerly Kylie) had her half before Maggie ate hers. This is the shear devotion they have for each other. They have settled in very well and we just adore them both. After everything they have been trough they have put their trust in our family and started to enjoy the new life that they have never had and so much deserved.

Please do not be afraid to take in a couple of ‘bonded’ dogs. You will have a ready made little family who have shared so much already and would so love and need to stay together.

This blog was written by Spanish Stray Dogs adopter, Janice Ball