Fear or Aggression?

When dogs are collected or brought here many show initial signs of aggression, whether it be full on attack mode, or low level growling. This is when I have to take the time to get to know the dog, and understand if the behavior is fear, or straight forward aggression. Every dog gets a chance, and many will work through the initial stages, and go on to became amazing family dogs.

Fear in dogs is so common, and they display their fear in many different ways. some signs are insignificant and others extreme. Dogs can be afraid of everything in the world, men, woman, noises, other dogs, cars, you name it some are simply terrified. Some dogs that come here you cannot even get near for a while, they either run away, or hide in the corner peeing themselves.

All dogs react in four clear ways:

FLIGHT- this is where they want to escape, they run, and run, trying to find an exit point, and will go through you to escape. The dog wants to get as far way from you, and the situation regardless of how that happens.

FREEZING- Many dogs will freeze on the spot, refusing to move, and hoping that you go away. No matter what you do they become a solid object.

FIDGETING- Some dogs fidget, they sniff, lick, play with toys, then move on to something else, then back to the first thing.

FIGHT- This is the hardest one to deal with when the dog comes at you, teeth showing, growling or barking. Most of the time the dog is simply scared, and warning you to get out of the way with no intention of actually attacking. However, there is the odd dog that will bite, and will attack no matter what, which sadly never ends well.

When you drop your dog off to the pound they will be terrified, and after a few days in the busiest, noisiest place they have ever experienced they will be on edge. This is when we step in and will often get bitten, or peed on due to the fear these dogs are experiencing. Sadly some are terrified to the point they want to kill the people who are actually trying to help.

The dog in the video was collected from the pound on Sunday. She is tiny, yet took three of us to get her in the car without being bitten. It then took another 35 minutes to get her out, all the time she was trying to kill us. She is so scared, and all I hope is that she realizes that I am here to help. Time will tell....

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Pound Pulling!

I was called a pound puller the other day, not in a well done, pat on the back way, more of a "is that all you do" sort of way. As I had not been called this bizarre name before, it made me stop and question why this is seen as a bad thing. Do I pull dogs from pounds, yep, but surely that is a good thing. 

Well, it seems not, as another "rescuer" spat the name at me in a shitty post, stating that was all I did, and maybe I should "rescue" The way I see it is if I am pulling dogs from a place they could potentially get killed or from starving on the streets I am rescuing them. Different situations, different reasons, however, same common ground. 

The pounds are full as ever, and this week alone we have had 15 dogs come in, another three due today, and one on Tuesday. Just under 20 dogs in one week, that is madness even by my standards. but hey they are safe, and will be going to new amazing homes at some point. Will I go grey, will I be broke, hell yes, but that is what rescue is all about. 

So, for the guy that made it sound bad that I "pound pull" go and concentrate on your own rescue, and leave me to run mine. As I am proud that I walk those cages and pull dogs to safety, and know that we are making a difference to so many lives. 

Brings Out The Best In You!

You would think that people who rescue animals are kind, and caring, and loving, well hell no some are horrible, two faced, lying individuals that will stop at nothing to cause a drama. This week I have been under attack again, and before you all go "oh god what did I do this time" I wrote a status on FB, on my own FB, my private FB and it was copied and sent out to the world by someone who I thought was one of us.

Now I have always been a believer in saying what I mean, and feel, as everyone in the world is entitled to their own opinions. Therefore, when I write or say something, you are of course entitled to disagree, and if you don't want to read it then please delete me, but don't cause a shit storm, just for the sake of it. 

Basically I congratulated Karma on doing her job, as someone who wronged me, and many dogs died. I was not going to lie and go "oh how sad" because in my opinion it wasn't. This woman in my opinion was not an "amazing" person or rescuer, she was a lying con woman, who had done so much damage, but as always her followers saw this differently. 

Now, I didn't go onto her page, her group, or near her friends I wrote it on MY FB and then it was shared... good old FB. I know who did it, and although I had been told she was a massive shit stirrer, I honestly thought she was better than the gossip. Hey wrong again, so deleted she is now. This is the side of rescue that drives me insane, the bitchiness, the back stabbing and the drama. 

So, for days I have received delightful comments, and messages claiming I am vile, scum of the earth, going to hell etc etc YAWN. All because I dared not to follow the sheep, and lie, and be two faced. Well my answer is am I going to hell probably, but I will continue to run my rescue successfully, save lives, and make a difference whilst you all sit on your arses, typing crap about me. 

Not the Happy Face!

I received a call the other day from a lady wanting to give me some chickens, after a few messages I had a location, and off we went. Now Spanish directions are never good, and I spend more time shouting at the sat nav and the co pilot in the car then focusing on where we are going. It came about that her "finca" was miles away from where she claimed, and then it begun to rain.

Rain never improves my mood, as I am very similar to the witch in the wizard of Oz and tend to melt in the rain, Finally we reached our destination, and off we went, on what would be a five minute walk in the rain, down a muddy slope, onto the edge of  a mountain.

I stood there staring at a huge pile of rubbish, and asked where her finca was, she stated I was stood on it. Errrr nope love I was stood on a pile of rubbish, on the side of a mountain, in the rain.

She turned and pointed inside, and said that was where the chickens were, she was seriously having a laugh. Although I thought she was joking, she proudly told us that her dad lived in the cave next door.

I now had my "I am not impressed face" as it was chucking it down, and there was no roof, or walls in fact. All I had was a soggy cardboard box, and some terrified chickens to catch. After an hour of filth, stench and soaking conditions, we had managed to catch 14 chickens, and I admitted defeat.

It never ceases to amaze me that people think this is normal for animals to live in, or that they will also live in conditions that shock any average person. I am always being told that "the Canarians live differently" but this was beyond that. Come on I live in a goat shed, but it is clean, and does protect us from the elements, well most of the time. So, as we left all I could hope is that the old guy doesn't die in his cave, and be satisfied that we had changed the lives of these chickens.

All A Scam

Over the years I have been accused of many things, some hurtful, some hilarious, however, yesterday I was accused of being a scam artist. The Bull Terrier with the leg injuries has caused a huge worldwide stir, and has been shared thousands of times. Great for the page, not so great for my sanity.

Every time someone comments I am notified, therefore, my phone has not been out of my hand much, and thousands of people have commented. Many have donated (thank you!) but, as always there are a huge number of pointless comments. Yesterday a woman accused me of not even having the dog, of stealing the leg photo and publishing just for money.

REALLY!! that has got to be the most stupid thing that has ever been said, surely if she had taken the time to look through the page she would have seen the updates, the photos, and actually seen what I do. Nope, it was far easier to write this pile of shit on my page, and rather than deleting it, I wanted other people to see the crap I have to put up with.

Why don't people take the time to read everything, look around the page, see what we do, rather than skipping over vital things, and asking me the same thing over and over. Where am I? How is the dog? What happened? all of this is on the page somewhere, sorry if you have to spend time looking, and sorry I cannot stop feeding animals to give you the information.

Of course this then makes me rude, and unprofessional and un caring, and to be honest, I really don't care. I want people to follow what we do because they understand, because they are interested, and because they will share, and take the time to enter our crazy world even if it is only through FB world. Donating is of course important to us, but having support is also HUGE.

****  here is the dog I don't have, recovering well, and getting about on three legs!.....

Blackmarket Blood

Some of our dogs over the years have needed blood transfusions, and we have always been lucky enough to have other dogs that can donate the blood. To me this is the norm, and I have even seen other people appealing for doners. However, the other day I was shocked to learn that there are vets that sell bags of blood.

So, it is not traumatic enough that your dog is injured, but you have to hand over more money to a vet to give you the one thing that could save the dog. Blood is free, it comes from another animal, therefore, I think it is disgusting that a vet charges. Don't get me wrong I understand that the equipment needed for the transfusion needs to be paid for, but the actual blood wtf.

The vet charged a lady 100€ for the bag of blood, which she needed in a desperate situation, and he had one to hand. This made me think where does he get the blood from? Does he wait for dogs to come in for surgery, and then steal their blood. Which means that surely the owner of the dog should receive the money for the blood from their dog.

There are way too many things that do not seem right with this scenario, and needless to say it is a vet that I cannot stand, so I will be digging further. Also, I was thinking of suggesting to my vet if I provide the blood, and he sells it, we could make some extra money and get that vets bill down. Well it seems there is a market for black market bags of blood, so why not cash in.

Give Me A Break!

I'm a strong woman, and can deal with a hell of a lot of things being thrown at me all at once, but REALLY come on god give me a break. This week has been hard, mentally draining, physically difficult, and financially a struggle.  We have had quick succession of abuse cases, and both the money pot and energy pot are empty.

I actually cried this week, and it wasn't dust in my eyes, I cried out of frustration, anger, and despair. I cried because there is only so much I can do, and I feel this week humans have let everyone down. The latest two dogs to come in have been starved, nothing medically wrong, just someone who was supposed to be caring for them, choose to not feed them.

I cannot go into details as yet as there is an on going court case, but you know it is serious when the police get you out of bed, to drive to the middle of no where to collect dogs. If that wasn't bad enough, you then have to go the next day to collect two more from the same case that are likely to die.

Although they are critical, and there is a huge possibility that they may die, I could not leave them where they were. The only way I can do this, is knowing that I give 100^ and regardless of the outcome, that I tried.

The problem is we need funds, we need food, I am not going to sugarcoat it, we are in deep, and need help with these things. I am appealing to everyone, and hoping that all the people that read this, follow my page and know what we do, stick their hands in their pockets and help, even 1 euro would help. 

- Paypal: petpalsgc@gmail.com
please send to family and friends, or we get charged :)
- Spanish Bank Acc: LA CAIXA
ACC: 2100 6003 0002 0013 1820
IBAN: ES43 2100 6003 0002 0013 1820
SWIFT: CAIXESBBXXX

- UK bank account: MRS L BAKER NATIONWIDE 070116 40349444

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