RECAL, Almendralejo 

We have supported RECAL for a number of years now and some time ago funded some exercise paddocks to be built so that the dogs could have more room to run around. This has helped with socialising them and RECAL’s adoption programme. Mada, who runs RECAL, has also used this area for some of the school education visits. We have just been able to fund some new shaded areas/repairs to existing areas just in time for the summer months where the temperatures can rise to 40º !

Education

The education project is doing very well in Spain and the numbers of children being reached by several shelters is so encouraging. The activities on our site can be easily downloaded and printed off and the children are encouraged to take part in our drawing competitions. For more infomation, see Education

News and photos from some of the shelters using the GIN material……..

Galgos del Sol, Murcia

Recently we had a lovely visit from a school in Roldan which is an area where we have rescued many galgos in the past and present. Now the kids from that area are going to be our ambassadors for the GALGOS. In both visits on Thursday and Friday the kids enjoyed and worked hard on the drawings for the next competition. 

We had a wonderful morning with CEIP Martin Artigot from Pilar de la Horadada town.

So far all the visits we have had to the centre have been very successful and this one wasn’t going to be less. The kids enjoyed it very much and a few came out of the classroom saying that they want to help and work at the centre when they grow up…what else can we ask for? Our future and the future of the GALGOS is in their hands.

Recently some kids from the school - Maestro Jesus Garcia in Lorqui came to the centre. They enjoyed new activities from GIN´s teaching resources and yes they loved it!!! They are the future and they are learning that dogs and animals in general deserve RESPECT.

We had a lovely visit from SCOUTS DEL CARMEN from Murcia city. We had a wonderful morning and the kids loved all the challenges we offered working hard to solve all of them and as it is more important learning while playing.

Arca de Noe, Albacete

Children from Quijote y Sancho public school and IES Fernando de los ríos from Quintanar del Rey(Cuenca) both received a visit by Arca de Noè to learn about galgos and dog welfare.

Earlier this year we opened the shelter to school visits.

We visited La Paz school to talk to primary age children. Jisseth, who runs the classes, said that it was very pleasant to watch them participate and empathise with pet’s emotions.

RECAL, Almendralejo

Mada of RECAL visited the CEIP “Inmaculada Concepción”, in Torremejía, near Almendralejo to talk to 236 children in total. Mada has been very busy visiting children and schools in the Almendralejo area to promote the education programme and has been giving out our galgo water bottles and slap bands, which are very popular with the children.

They have also recently visited the RUTA DE LA PLATA school in Almendralejo to talk to 340 pupils.

All the pupils received their own #teamgalgo water bottles featuring the Greyhounds in Need galgo characters, which they loved!

2019 Projects

RECAL, Almendralejo - We have been able to fund much needed improvements and repairs to some of the kennels at RECAL.. These are now complete and Mada and her team have been finishing the kennels off by giving them a lick of paint.

The majority of the galgos we bring to the UK come from this area of Spain. We also support galgos that Mada rehomes in France ,Spain, Germany and Holland.

2018 Projects

Arca de Noe, Albacete — We are pleased to report that the new interior fencing at Arca de Noe in Albacete has now been completed. Much of the fencing had been up for 10 years and was in need of replacement so we were pleased to be able to fund this.

Galgos del Sol, Murcia — The education building we have been able to fund is now complete. Tina and Sam have been very busy organising school visits and workshops at the centre. We are pleased the education project is doing well.

They moved in a few months ago and it’s great to know they have a purpose built shelter which will definitely help their work. We’ve also been able to offer funding for some shading, storage and security.

2017 Projects

Arca de Noe—We were able to visit this shelter again in June this year and it was good to be see the many improvements that have been made since our last visit. The new kennel blocks have made such a difference and in the heat were nice cool places for the dogs to shelter in—and us at times ! We continue to fund the veterinary costs for the galgos Sole and her team are able to rescue. Last year around 170 were rescued, cared for, transported and adopted in France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia.

Two new projects were discussed when we visited—one was replacing the interior fencing. The current fencing was installed over 10 years ago and is important as it keeps the dogs securely separated in their paddocks. This now needs replacing and we have offered some funding towards this.

Another project we are funding is a new roof on the quarantine kennel block. Dogs are kept in this block when they first arrive so they can be checked, treated if necessary, before mixing with the dogs already at the kennels.

Work will be starting soon.

APA Santa Clara—this was our first visit to APA Santa Clara. Margaret who runs this shelter had written to us earlier this year to ask if we could offer any help. Our visit coincided with the urgent need for this shelter to move from their current premises to new land being offered by the council.

We were able to visit the current shelter and the new piece of land and were able to discuss the necessary work. Margaret had sent us plans for this project. Margaret and her team help all breeds of dogs, and some cats, in their area. After discussions with our Trustees, on our return, we have offered funding for the building of two kennel blocks for the galgos they rescue. Work has started on this project and hopefully they will be moving in before the end of the year.

Galgos del Sol—Our next stop was to visit Tina and the new centre and what a difference from our last visit. Last time we saw a large piece of land with the first kennel block under construction. Tina and her team have worked so hard to get this centre off the ground and it was amazing that so much has been achieved. We saw lots of happy dogs, volunteers working hard playing and caring for the dogs. The sensory walk, the play areas and still lots of space for more to be added. We were glad that the new office, with air conditioning, had just been completed so we could shelter in there from the heat!

Tina is as keen as us to promote education in her area and uses the GIN materials in her education work. We discussed our new website with her and were able to look at the plans she has for a new education building on the site. We have now offered funding for this building and work has started. Tina also mentioned running free bi-lingual five week courses for local children, using the material, to help them understand more about the galgos in their area. She hopes that parents will be keen to enrol their children.

International Projects - Top 3 from 2016

Arca de Noe, Albacete

In our Spring/Summer newsletter we reported that the Arca de Noe shelter in Albacete needed to carry out work to change the layout of their veterinary clinic in order to comply with new laws coming into force in June 2016. Together with the structural work needed at the clinic additional veterinary equipment would have to be purchased. We have worked with Arca de Noe for many years. They help large numbers of dogs, and some cats, every year, including the galgos. It is less stressful for the rescued dogs to undergo necessary veterinary work at the shelter rather than have to travel back and forth to the clinic in the town. We fund the veterinary costs for their galgos who are homed in France, Italy, Germany, Slovenia and Switzerland, and were pleased to be able to offer funding for this project. Leigh, our vet Trustee, was able to source some of the veterinary equipment. When we last met Sole and her team we discussed the need to improve the paddock areas for the galgos. During the winter these areas flood and the water does not drain away very quickly so it is not good for the dogs and limits the areas they can be allowed in. Also the covered areas were in need of repair and we have been able to fund the building of 6 new “houses” in the paddocks. Four houses have been completed and two will be finished before the winter. Education Update Carmen of the Arca de Noe shelter continues with the education programme at the schools in and around the Albacete area. She visited one school recently, in an area where many galgos are bred, and she was pleasantly surprised at how kind the children were to Lena, a galga from the shelter, who Carmen took along to meet them. The children enjoyed Niko’s story and they enjoyed taking part in the drawing competition to win a T-Shirt. Carmen has also had a busy summer attending many summer camps reaching more children, each summer school has an average of 100/120 students. In our last newsletter we mentioned that we were looking at setting up an education website, linked to our main website, which would be accessible to teachers and pupils allowing them access to certain areas of the site and the ability to use and print off material as and when needed. Work is almost complete on this new site and we are all looking forward to this becoming active in the next couple of months. The site will have some animated characters like Spike and Rosa and we hope that the children will enjoy using the site and playing the games whilst learning more about the galgos.

RECAL, Almendralejo

When we visited Mada earlier this year we discussed the need to provide more shading in the exercise paddocks. The original idea of planting trees wasn’t too successful as the dogs had their own ideas about that ! We were able to offer funding to RECAL to provide shaded areas in each paddock together with funding for some additional fencing in the paddocks and some repair work that was needed to ensure security for the dogs. Mada helps many dogs each year but also manages to continue promoting the education programme in her area. She arranges visits to the local schools as well as organising visits to the shelter where the children can meet the dogs. We also help with some of the transport costs for these visits.

Galgos del Sol, Murcia