No, not a new foster dog. Nanda (short for "Fernanda") is friend's dog who is a little under the weather. My friend lives out in the campo (countryside) and doesn't have a working car at the moment, so I was dog taxi and vet pick up girl. Poor Nanda has bad tummy troubles so had to spend today in the doggie hospital and will need to do the same tomorrow. As the vet is all of 6 minutes from my house, I offered to keep her overnight and bring her back for her second hospital stay tomorrow. She is a bit confused as she is 12 years old and this is the first time since she was rescued 9 years ago that she has spent away from her mama. She is handling it with the stoical fortitude and patience for which her breed is famous, bless her little Galgo heart. If you don't know what a Galgo is, they are the Spanish version of a Greyhound. They are used as hunting tools here and sadly also treated as such, with tens of thousands discarded each year by hunters. Nanda was tossed because she had a wound on her leg and couldn't hunt. Her mama picked her up, she became a three legged marvel and she has been a happily retired hunter ever since. I think she kind of looks like a cross between a dog and a stork.
Aw bless you Emily. You are a doggy guardian angel for sure. Nanda has clearly got her feet under the table (or ....ahem....her butt on your bed )
What a huge heart you have. I have read terrible stories of how these poor dogs are tortured to "teach them a lesson" for not hunting well.
Hey, I like that title! I've been fascinated by Greyhounds and their Galgo cousins for quite a while now so it's really lovely to have her this evening. She's so incredibly quiet compared to Toby/Alf the famous Bodeguero. She just kind of exudes this zen-like peace. What a sweetheart. Not that I don't miss @catrionas ' Alf and appreciate his special brand of hurricane force energy. What a little pistol. The house seems quite empty and dare I say "boring" without him!
Suffice it to say that Galgos have it the worst of all the Spanish breeds (Galgos, Bodegueros, Podencos, Mastines). But Nanda is one of the lucky ones with a mama who loves her. Also many are shipped out to loving forever homes in Belgium and the Netherlands where apparently they are quite popular as four-legged family members. Hopefully the hunting culture will change - local groups go into schools to educate children and I've seen a couple "Galgo Days" where events and marches are held to promote understanding and humane treatment. "Poco a poco" as they say...
Bless you Emily you have an enormous heart Beautiful girl, so glad she found a loving home away from the "people" using her for hunting xx
I saw your title and squealed to OH "she's got a new foster!" and then said "oh, no she doesn't" when I opened your post. OH is just sitting next to me like I've got to say, she's the most peculiar-looking dog I've ever seen, but I love Greyhounds and if you say she's a sweetheart then I'll look past the peculiarness (you're right about the "stork" comparison!) How lovely of you to do your friend a favour.
Sweet little dog bless her. I still get angry reading about her past. I know it happens here too, a lot of dogs used as bits of kit and treated like rubbish, still makes my blood boil though. Well done you, I wish I had an Emily_Babbelhund, worth your weight in gold to dog owning friends I would think x
Hehe, my first thought was that she looks a bit like a marabou stork! Far prettier, though, obviously
I would have already had a new foster if I wasn't headed back to Germany in three weeks. I've had my eye on a mastin named Martina for some time and wish I could do something for her. I've only met her twice and she just stuck in my head for whatever reason. Funny how some dogs just do that! If Nanda goes back to her mama by tomorrow night, I'm going to see if I can get her out of the shelter for the day and to the beach. Nanda is part of the same pack as the famous Tiger (aka Toby's Big Black Beast) and their mama has asked me to take him overnight to see how he does outside her ranch. He's only been outside of it once and is quite fearful of new things. So we'll give that a whirl, probably next weekend. So I'm looking forward to quite a few short term "guest stars" before rolling back to Germany in June.
Thank you but the truth is that actually I'm very selfish as I love having Nanda here! She is most certainly thinking, "Yeesh, lady, nice bed and all but I just wanna go home!"
