As you might know by now already I love animals, and although I’m a kind-hearted and caring person, I have no sympathy for people who mistreat animals. As it’s summer again, a lot of dogs are being left somewhere by the road because their owners want to go on holiday and a lot of cats, whose owners don’t feel like spending money to neuter or sterilise them, are getting litters. As a result of this the animal shelters are packed again. I don’t understand why people decide to get a pet, but are unwilling to spend money on it. It really pisses me off. I worked in the animal shelter as a volunteer for a while, and often came across people who came in with a dog or cat and made up some stupid excuse or just lied about why they were giving up their pet. In moments like that, I really wanted to give those people a piece of my mind, I do not respect people like that. So to all you who might be looking to get a pet, please think about it, are you willing to spend time and money on it? Are you willing to walk your dog at least once every day, are you going to make sure it’s not alone most of the day? There’s a lot of factors to consider. If you are however totally committed, I hope you’re going to an animal shelter, and not to a breeder, as there are so many great pets out there spending their best years alone and bored in a cage. Look at the sad pictures, look at them I say!
One of my dogs is an Irish greyhound, the kind that is used in dog races. We got her from a Belgian rescue organisation, Greyhounds in Need, that saves abused greyhounds in Spain. (you find it here, in English, if you care to know more: Greyhounds in need ) Fiona was born in Ireland, but unfortunately in Ireland they are very strict and only want the best dogs to race. My poor Fiona was not the best racer out there, which meant transport to a southern country. She ended up in Spain, where dogs are commonly not very well treated and animal abuse is often ignored. Just take the bullfighting; a backward tradition that is nothing but animal abuse, and people see it as entertainment. The amount of stray dogs in Spain is staggering. My friend who lives in Spain now has 8!! dogs, most of which she found on the street. She says it’s really too many, but she couldn’t bear to take them to a shelter as they are not very good most of the time.
Fiona has a sports heart, which means her heart is twice as large as normal. This is probably the result of being tied to a car to train them to run faster. She is still absolutely terrified of loud bang noises. Luckily, greyhound races have been abolished in Spain (thank god), and Ireland now transports their greyhounds to other southern countries, where pretty much the same horrible things happen. Although I love Ireland, dog races there should be abolished as well, hundreds of puppies are killed each year because they aren’t ‘race’ material. Dogs that don't end in first, second or third place often enough, are either sold on auctions, but more often killed at home.
In Spain you have the Spanish greyhound as well, the galgo, used for hunting and other horrible things. They are, if possible, treated even worse. Some end up in so-called ‘death-rows’, where they are left in cages without food and water to die. This Belgian organisation tries to save as much of these dogs in Spain as possible, but there are only so many that will be adopted.
What’s sad is that greyhounds are probably the nicest and most docile dogs out there, even after being treated like trash. They are known to be the dog least likely to ever bite, they are incredibly lazy, although they love a good playful run, they bark rarely, they don’t have that typical doggy smell and are almost odourless and are great with kids. Kids can walk all over them, they will continue on sleeping. Also they are incredibly soft. My own dog has her very own fatboy sleeping pillow, which she totally loves, and her favourite thing is to be covered with a blanket and get all cosy. She even makes grumbly sounds of contentment.
I’m not going to get into all the horror stories of what they do to these dogs in Spain, you can read it on the website but I warn you it's heartbreaking, but do check on the website and see what these type of organisations (I think you have several over the world) do for greyhounds. And maybe you, like me and my mom, will cave for these sweet darling dogs, and will decide to rescue one as well.
If you read all this, thanks for hearing me ramble on :D
Here's some pics of my lovely greyhound
greyhounds love to sleep on their back with their paws in the air, it's so funny :D
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