Six Years ago we decided to take a trip to a Dog Rescue Center in Spain where we lived,the one we chose was well known to experts in our area and was run by a couple from England,who I assumed had moved to Spain for warmer climates,like most of us had.
Most of the money the Center received was given by experts holding different functions to raise money,and this continued year after year.
The center also held car boot sales to raise money and they have received money from some great sponsors.
English and Spanish vets would attend the Center to assist and keep these animals in tip top condition and at great expense, I would assume they would travel to these centers when needed to cure sick dogs. Looking after these animals was a great task in it's self,and all of these dogs were well looked after,even volunteers would work on a daily basis taking the dogs for walks in the countryside where the Center was situated.
They would also hold annual dog shows for Rescued dogs only.These events lasted all day,and ended with giving out prizes and rosettes for the best looked after dog,the funniest dog,the most gorgeous eyes,etc etc,it was a really good fun day out that attracted some 200 owners of dogs friends and families,almost 50 dogs would show up in all there glory.
This not only made it a great day for dog lovers families and friends,but also help generate much needed money to keep the center running smoothly,and the dogs loved it.
It was the right time for us to own a dog and we both decided after recommendation that this was the place to visit and they could help us to choose and decide on a rescue dog as a pet
On visiting the center with a couple friends who were also interested in having a rescue dog,we started the painful walk down the kennels, looking at some really beautiful dogs,some appealing some not so,and as we ventured further,the task got harder. We really did not have any idea what type of dog we wanted,and all that was clear was that we would not take home a puppy. We did not want a very large or even a small dog,i guess really the answer would be down to a few things such as;the size of our house,the time we could spend with our dog,whether or not we could handle a large dog,and most of all could we really give this dog commitment and love.It was true that this was the least each and every one of them deserved.
This Rescue center had many dogs of all ages,including young,older,mature dogs,and even the smallest new puppies, and some with only a few years left in there life,so there was plenty to choose from.
we had walked most of the center in about an hour,some dogs would pull at our heart strings and others would not.We moved back to previous ones again,really just to check we had not missed something at first site,and this began to give us some ideas of the type of dog we could choose.
We were now on the last leg of the kennels,and there was only approximately six left to view,besides the puppies that we had purposely stayed away from,as we knew these puppies would have really upset us seeing them begging at their caged environment maybe anxiously waiting to move to a good home.They may have even hoping their owners would soon return to claim them.
As we walked forward to the next kennel we came across a Pure Black English Cocker Spaniel Pedigree, this breed being very popular in Spain,and for the reason that they make fantastic family pets,and are renowned for being good with children.
As we looked on this very sad looking Spaniel with these gorgeous large brown eyes,a red tongue hanging from his mouth and a really scruffy long haired coat,that was in desperate need of a haircut.
He just won our hearts strait away,and it would not have mattered what he was like, we had to take him from that kennel and give him a loving home,that we were sure he had never experienced. You could actually see that in his eyes.
It was common practice that that all animals would see the veterinarian before they were released to new owners, and that a check would be done on ourselves to see if we could take proper responsibility to owning a Rescue dog,some of these dogs had been through some traumatic times,and ours would be one of them.
The veterinarian gave all injections and checks free for the first six weeks of us owning a Rescue dog, We would just give a reasonable donation to the Rescue Center before we took the dog home, and this proved to be a really helpful time,as many things could go wrong with the dogs in that time,as ironically ours did,but these visits to the vet's were not serious, but could have been a little expensive,so a great idea by the Veterinarians and the Rescue Center,
When we went back the next day to pickup our new pet and take him home, we were told that the dog had suffered a two year torment. From one year old he was owned by a Spanish Family who worked long and sometime unsociable hours, and this dog was left on a sunny hot Patio for hours on end, his owners had no love towards him,but worst of all he was tormented daily by young children, they would hit him with sticks,through the gate of the house,and i guess with no one around to stop this the dog would have to take theses taunts all of the time.
From there on he went to an English couple,the reasons we do not know about, but probable the Spanish couple were reported for the trauma the dog had taken from the children.
Apparently the dog in this second home was also with children,and it was not long,that this family could not cope with him either,and we were told that the dog did not like children to much for obvious reasons.so this being the reason why he was in a Rescue Center when we visited.
We were warned if we take this dog to be very careful around children,and we were quite prepared to take that chance, as we did not have any living with us as all of our children had grown up, but they did have children our grandchildren.
For three years we became very close to him and he with us,in fact we showered this dog with love & affection and he reciprocated the same to us.
He had never had this before, and he was now three years old, we knew we had to keep this affection up to gain respect from him and this we did,and after spending a lot of time together both me and my wife with him, he became very secure, in fact it was very hard,even six years later,he was still feeling at times very insecure and frightened,he did not like us leaving him alone,we spent a lot of time trying to get him to believe that being in this environment was good,and no harm would come to him whilst he was part of this family.
We both walked him for miles,and enjoyed our time with him like most families do, and we spent hours laughing at him, spending time like this with him gained respect from him,in fact to tell you the truth he became a little to much at times, and would always want our attention,just like a small child would.
We needed desperately to build up his confidence, as he had a fantastic character,and we had managed to bring out some of that Character. we laughed and enjoyed his company,don't get me wrong at times he had to be disciplined,and although that was the hardest thing to do, especially has he had suffered so much trauma in the past, and he found it difficult to forget that, as it showed many times.
He would lay down and scowl at the smallest of things,even when we got a flannel to wash his mouth,as it smelt awful where he had dribbled,Putting cream in his ears was a weekly event but he still scowled down for years after and this even when he knew after we had finished he would get a treat.
so all these underlying problems had to be addressed, but we got through it together and he made an absolutely devoted pet,and he protected my wife all of the time in the house or when she was out walking.
I was his play mate,and we spent hours together rolling around the floor, he would even let me take a bone from his mouth, with my mouth and share it, as if i was eating it,he was a fantastic dog,he would Howell like a wolf,and i would copy ,and this made him do it all the more, and we would talk to each other in moans and groan's, he loved to do that, in fact as long as we were around he was so happy.
The one thing that really was so unique,is he used to go to bed upstairs every night between ten and eleven o'clock,he would have supper,a small piece of toast,and i would cut it up in in to finger shapes, and he would not touch it until i gave him a piece at a time,then he had to have a small saucer of tea,he loved his tea.....well i think it was the milk....but just a few laps on his tongue was sufficient.
He had already been taken out for his last toilet,so when he was ready he would go be to the bottom of the stairs in our open plan house,and he would sit there waiting for me to say to him.....you going to bed Ronnie.....His Name was Ronaldo )black dog,and named after the famous Brazilian football player at Real Madrid,Spain.
As soon as i said, you going to bed Ronnie he was up on his feet, and ran up the stairs with me behind him, and went strait into his bed just short of the the bedroom door,he lay down and looked up as if he was waiting to be tucked in,and after closing the bedroom curtains,i would even put a light on for him, how spoil't is that,and on going back down the stairs telling him we would see him in the morning,and he would stay there until we went up sometimes two hours later,he would not move then until we woke up,never waking us up at all,even if we slept in which was very unusual.
The one thing that was really close to our hearts, when we walked out over the rocks area of the coastline, he would always make for a large rock piece on the very edge of the rocks looking over the Mediterranean, he would never let us get there first, he always ran to it,even when we tried to rush some fifty meters away he would get there first, checking in the corner of his eye, whether one of us was going to beat him to it.
He stood proud on that rock until we arrived, waiting for us to sit down and he would sit in the middle of us,and wait to be told how good he was,and not even a treat,he had some lovely ways.
We had six great years with him,and our life was totally devoted to him, we would never do this to another dog i am sure,but he was so special,and he needed that in his life, as he had suffered so much in the past from abuse.
This was about to change,just before Christmas 2006,we found out he had cancer, this was so devastating to us both,but we needed to console ourselves,and hoped nothing would happen soon.
We had booked him into Kennels for five days over Christmas,usually he would go to a friends house, and he loved it there with her dog, and she would spoil him just as we did, as she knew what a bad start in life he had, she knew of the underlying problems we had with him as far as his insecurity and being left.
The kennels were run really well and we was not concerned of his treatment, we knew it would be fine,as they were a dedicated team looking after the animals at this site.
It was only when we returned,things changed,usually as soon has he smelt or heard us approaching he woulds start to bark and sweat up in excitement...But this was time so so different.....all the dogs has we passed in their kennels greeted us with barks, just like he usually did, as they waited for their owners to return,and i know they would do that every day when a keeper or other family member returning walked past.
We could not hear that familiar bark, why......where was he, what had happened ? my wife Marj was the first to get to his kennel, a large room with a separation wall with his bed placed on a wooden pallet of the cold concrete,and where he could hide away and sleep and not be disturbed.
Next to that was his small carpet what he used to sleep on outside on our patio if we were out shopping at home,he loved that carpet,this was about fifteen feet from the front of the kennels he was staying in so it quite a long way back.
As i arrived at the front of the kennel,i could see he was not in view which straight away worried me somewhat,and Marj looked dejected,i heard her say,"come on Ronnie",i shouted out "where's my baby"....he always reacted to that,for some reason this time was so different,my heart sank and my wife's face was white and drawn,as i drew close to the front of his home for the last five days,i moved anxiously and reached the kennel,and there sitting on his carpet at the back of the Kennels was our dejected and and sad dog Ronaldo,his eyes were vacant,what has happened to him,why his he like this,"Ronaldo" i shouted again "come on mate", "where is he" just nothing no reaction at all,he did not seem to recognize our voices or even who we were, and this for at least some thirty seconds which is an awful long time when your calling your dog to come to you,he had always reacted instantly any other time,and especially as we had all been apart from each other.
Then for some reason,he got up and bound towards us as we entered the kennel, knocking me of my crutch which i was using for a damaged knee,he was not concerned about that he pounced on top of me knocking me all over the place,my knee was killing me,i was in agony from a back problem i suffered may be with incite i should not have even attempted to get in there,but the good news was, the excitement had now set in,at last he knew us,then in seconds he rushed to Marj and almost flattened her in his plight to be re-united with us both,it was such a great relief to get this reaction,and now we hoped everything was going to be fine.
Soon we were on the way home, Marj drove the car as i sat in the back seat with him, normally he would be in the boot area of the car where he was usually separated into his own area,today this was not possible he was not going to be separated anymore from us and made that point.
He cried the six miles or so home we had to travel home,he was panting profusely he would not take a drink of water earlier we had offered him,no mater what we had asked him to do,nothing was going to stop him,from spending another minute away from his home and his security,for which he had grown accustomed too before we placed him in those Kennels some five days ago,he just wanted home,he needed his familiar smells, and that was the longest six miles drive in our entire life.
It was almost back to normal after we had returned home,he was so happy,of course he would not leave our sides for one minute,but we would expect that to happen with any dog that has been away from his security and family.
The very first thing he did was go strait in the house for a drink to his bowl of fresh water,he knew where that was,he certainly had not forgot where that was.
Also i treat was now in order,a small bone that almost he snatched from my hand in excitement and bounced into his bed that was in the living room, he was ruined he had a few beds lying around the house and the car,and for some reason this was the place he always felt secure.
If we ever left him in a car park in the car whilst we went shopping,he would sit and wait for us to return,never was he a problem.....but leave him in his domain in our patio,and he would howl the place down,he was always calling us back to his place, why should we go and leave him here all alone,he really hated staying on his own,except for being in the car, maybe he knew we would always come back to the car, but being left on a patio for days and hours on end with his previous owners,he must have thought we would do the same,and even after six years he still felt the same way,and we never left him for more that two hours at a time.
Anyway getting back to the bone he had just chewed and ate in seconds rather than minutes, he was now feeling much easier in himself,and soon recovered,well at least being himself somewhat,and he was now looking more the Ronaldo we knew before we had left for our holiday,and this only three or four hours into his return.
Soon that day had fallen,and my wife had awoken early the next morning,this being usual when we were home,they both got up early in the morning,and only day break was about to show,the sun had not even risen as they started their regular walk along the rocky headland where we lived,and only some few hundred yards from our home,and a place where he could do his business,and regularly meet other dog owners along the way, stopping to chat about the weather i presume,and even the dogs would play and run around happily with each other.
Of course i was still in my sleeping mode,and it was only when they returned would i know it was daybreak,and that a cup of tea was on my bedside cabinet with a smile from Marj my wife uttering the words "Good morning lazy bones" lovely day outside or words to that affect,and then a wet sloppy kiss,from a lapping tongue,wet sandy Paws would adorn my bed,and these large paws willing me to rise.Funnily enough it was a lovely way of being woken on a beautiful day in Spain.
The day was fully upon us now,and we were soon in one of Ronaldo's favorite times "Eating Breakfast" as he always got a piece of brown bread toasted into small fingers,and he loved them, he always looked forward to this,and if it never happened or we were late eating,he would soon let us know.
Dinner time was much the same, and so was tea time,but he only got small snacks,well he was a little over weight i know,but he had to be treated like this,the poor thing had suffered so much in the past from neglect,how could i not give him treats.
we had just seen a whole week pass,and things seemed to be going fine,and one day into the second week i was brushing his coat and noticed these large lumps appearing to be larger that i had seen before,and they were more prominent on his body.One of them i touched and he growled as if it had hurt him,we did not like this
at all, and our conversation was almost muted,we were obviously feeling his pain,and really we knew this must be the cancer,that was getting him aggravated,so we left him alone for a while,muttering to ourselves about taking him back to the Vets.
Later that day He was ready for his afternoon walk,he had been out three times prior to this, but he always like a long walk in the afternoon,and so did Marj,so off they went as they usually did,he would be jumping and barking at her hips in excitement, he loved going out with her on walks.
Some forty minutes later they returned,and as i was waiting for them on the patio, they came through the gate and off the pavement that ran alongside our house,and he trotted in first,but not in his usual way he was not so boisterous and happy,this time it was different from the others,and Marj looked somewhat upset.
whats happened i said......Marj was shaking with some sort of fear,he has bitten a child with a shake in her voice......what.....i remember saying....How...How did this happen and why i almost shouted......"come on in the house" lets sit down,i will make you a sweet cup of tea......or do you want a wine?.........yes a wine please she replied.
As we both sat down poor Ronaldo not knowing what was going on,he looked distraught,as if he knew he had done something wrong,we could not shout at him, especially at this time,we had only just been reunited all together,and now this has happened.
Apparently a mother and child,who were also dog owners had been walking with their small dog along the favorite haunt for all dog owners.
They were all standing talking as the little girl seemed to put her hands near his ears as to stroke him,and the next thing our dog Ronaldo snapped at her,this resulting in a small bite to the hand between the thumb and the wrist,two teeth marks had entered the small girls hand,only small marks were showing on inspection,and one had broken the skin.
After all the worries about the child, everything soon smoothed over and the ladies with the small girl,did not want this to go any further,Marj had told her that he did not like his ears touched,but he had never attempted to do this at anytime in the past especially all the six years we had spent with him.
I know we had previously been warned about his problems with children over the bullying him, but we never expected him to do this,Cocker Spaniels were always very good with children,and had always been the case all over the world,they are a very good family pets.
We spent several hours discussing this incident,and it worried us greatly,especially if he was feeling ill from the cancer,and this was affecting his brain some what,we really did not know,and we could not afford to let this happen again, as next time it could be worse,and once a dog bites,especially a child that worries me and worries me a lot.
We decided the next day we would go and talk the local Vet who knew our dog well and knew all his history and this we did early the next morning,we left the dog at home not wanting to cause him to much stress,he did not like Vets any time surly because of his past history,living in a rescue centers,and with owners that thats did not care about him.
We spoke with the vet,and his reaction was one of sadness,as he loved our dog,we had become very friendly with this Spanish vet,who spoke impeccable English, every time we arrived at the vets,the veterinarian always recognized and greeted Ronaldo our dog ,and Ronaldo would aways hide behind us,as his fear was great,we could only assume it was the treatment he had received previously,and probable injections which he hated and the green gown the vet wore frightened him, but we always encouraged our dog to like him, i might add this never happened over six or seven years he had spent with us, but it never stopped the vet either from trying to be his friend.
We were asked to return that evening with Ronaldo,as then it would be a lot quieter and not so many people around,as the result of our previous discussion with the vet, was to have Ronaldo put to sleep.
This was to be the longest day of our life,and for some reason the time ticked ever so slowly, we spent the day trying to be normal,we played with him,and even took loads and loads of photo's,we did not want to let him go,he was like a child to us and we had grown so fond of him,he created many problems in our life,as he would always have to be the center of attraction,he needed so much attention,he had that kind of make up,he would always want us around him,and maybe that was the fault of myself and my wife, but he was the type of dog that not only demanded it,he needed it, he needed so much love and time,and we were always aware of this as the rescue center had fore warned us if we took him on as a rescue pet,he would be hard work, so we had been prepared for this,and we stuck with it all the way to the end of his life.
So time was now quickly running out for all of us,we knew what we had to do,what we did not know was how bad it would affect us, and poor Ronnie as we called him knew nothing,only we would know,that this would be his last visit to the one place he hated the most,the place that would now put him to rest.
This was the saddest and most horrific thing we had both ever had to do,and now it was upon us,the next few minutes would be his fate,and our sadness,but if this meant that a child was not to be harmed again,and that the suffering he could have suffered
because of his onset of cancer,then this was the best way for all.
Sadly our dog Ronaldo was put to sleep with dignity and thats all we asked.
MY VESPA SCOOTER IS VERY HANDY FOR GETTING AROUND THE TOWN, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE TRAFFIC IS BAD.
