When you meet people who take their dogs for a walk, it often happens that people start conversations, mostly about the dogs. You get to know where their animals come from, their age and special habits. More and more frequently I find that people like to stress that their dogs are pedigreed, as if their race made them somehow superior. I often wondered why this phenomenon, which in human social context may appear racist, is valued when it comes to animals.
However, when you visit animal shelters you can find the result of these sorts of attitudes: Millions and billions of unwanted cats & dogs, which – in high-kill-shelters – are even getting killed after several days. Others wait nearly their whole life to finally get adopted. Given these circumstances it has always been clear to us that once we would get an own dog, he/she would have to be one these poor creatures. So, in September 2016, after month of communication with a Spanish shelter, I flew to Madrid to pick up “our” dog, Hermes. The Spanish shelter told us that Hermes (approx. 4 years old) had been found on the streets, nearly starved. In the shelter he was extremely afraid and was bullied by some of the others dogs. As he was found by the dogcatcher at the end of the Spanish hunting season, the shelter-team assumed that Hermes had been used as a hunting dog, but – maybe due to misperforming – was abandoned.
Since the contact to the Spanish shelter was brought to life by a german rescue-dog-organisation, I did not only take Hermes home, but also two other dogs (and old-lady-Jack-Russel-Mix and a deaf Dalmatian-Mix), whose new “parents” waited at the german airport to pick them up. The dogs had to travel in dog-boxes and were slightly sedated in order to weather the journey by plane. When we (after a very turbulent flight) arrived at our destiny-airport, I first of all had to wait for the transport-boxes to be delivered. All three dogs were doing fine, although they were apparently frightened.
When I first saw Hermes in Madrid, I understood why the shelter described him as a sensitive soul – he was crouching at the back of the transport box and looked – understandably – desperate. When we drove home with him, we stroked his neck to calm him, and he reacted in a manner that is hard to describe. He immediately ‘petrified’, but in a way that my husband and I did not feel to be an expression of fear, but rather of surprise. It was clear to us that this dog had hardly ever before been caressed.
The first days and weeks were such a wonderful time. Although Hermes at first was afraid of nearly everything – lamps, the noise of the coffeemachine, garbage cans on the streets. The first days he also insisted on sleeping on the bare ground, although we offered him a dog cushion and pillows. We knew from the shelter that basically none of these were house-trained, but Hermes learned this with two days. By everything he did you could easily see how he was trying to please us.
After just one week we spontaneously decided to make a one-day-tour to the sea (at the western-coast of the neatherlands). Since he came from the Spanish mainland, it was likely that he never saw the sea before. It’s impossible to find word for the joy he had at the sea!
It’s also good to see that the multiple violations in his fur and skin have vanished. Hermes by the way lives as a veggie-dog, he gets special vegetarian food from a german company and has excellent blood values, as confirmed by his vet.
When we are out for a walk, we often meet other dogs. From the dog we had in my childhood I was trained to fear these encounters, since our old family-dog (a Terrier) was rather nuts and always aggressive towards other dogs. Hermes however is friendly to any dog we have met since then, and it’s a pleasure to take him out. After six month we tried to let him go off leash and he behaved perfectly (although we never – shame on us – went to dog-school with him). Hermes has so much fun with other dogs, it’s wonderful to watch him play!
After more than a year many formerly frightening things have normalized for Hermes; I sometimes take him to work, where my colleges like to pet him.
In retrospect I can only say that adopting a shelter-dog was by far the best decision we could possibly make. If you give a rescue-dog time to develope, he will thank you by being the best possible buddy. From time to time we pay a visit to the internet-page of the Spanish shelter Hermes came from. It’s in a way devastating to see how many wonderful dogs – many of them in terrible condition when they were found – waiting for a family. So if you ever consider getting a dog, we can only recommend to adopt one – they will be endlessly grateful!
When you meet people who take their dogs for a walk, it often happens that people start conversations, mostly about the dogs. You get to know where their animals come from, their age and special habits. More and more frequently I find that people like to stress that their dogs are pedigreed, as if their race made them somehow superior. I often wondered why this phenomenon, which in human social context may appear racist, is valued when it comes to animals. However, when you visit animal shelters you can find the result of these sorts of attitudes: Millions and billions of unwanted cats & dogs, which – in high-kill-shelters – are even getting killed after several days. Others wait nearly their whole life to finally get adopted. Given these circumstances it has always been clear to us that once we would get an own dog, he/she would have to be one these poor creatures. So, in September 2016, after month of communication with a Spanish shelter, I flew to Madrid to pick up “our” dog, Hermes. The Spanish shelter told us that Hermes (approx. 4 years old) had been found on the streets, nearly starved. In the shelter he was extremely afraid and was bullied by some of the others dogs. As he was found by the dogcatcher at the end of the Spanish hunting season, the shelter-team assumed that Hermes had been used as a hunting dog, but – maybe due to misperforming – was abandoned.
Here’s a video from the shelter in Almendralejo (Spain):
Since the contact to the Spanish shelter was brought to life by a german rescue-dog-organisation, I did not only take Hermes home, but also two other dogs (and old-lady-Jack-Russel-Mix and a deaf Dalmatian-Mix), whose new “parents” waited at the german airport to pick them up. The dogs had to travel in dog-boxes and were slightly sedated in order to weather the journey by plane. When we (after a very turbulent flight) arrived at our destiny-airport, I first of all had to wait for the transport-boxes to be delivered. All three dogs were doing fine, although they were apparently frightened.
When I first saw Hermes in Madrid, I understood why the shelter described him as a sensitive soul – he was crouching at the back of the transport box and looked – understandably – desperate. When we drove home with him, we stroked his neck to calm him, and he reacted in a manner that is hard to describe. He immediately ‘petrified’, but in a way that my husband and I did not feel to be an expression of fear, but rather of surprise. It was clear to us that this dog had hardly ever before been caressed. The first days and weeks were such a wonderful time. Although Hermes at first was afraid of nearly everything – lamps, the noise of the coffeemachine, garbage cans on the streets. The first days he also insisted on sleeping on the bare ground, although we offered him a dog cushion and pillows. We knew from the shelter that basically none of these were house-trained, but Hermes learned this with two days. By everything he did you could easily see how he was trying to please us.
After just one week we spontaneously decided to make a one-day-tour to the sea (at the western-coast of the neatherlands). Since he came from the Spanish mainland, it was likely that he never saw the sea before. It’s impossible to find word for the joy he had at the sea!
It’s also good to see that the multiple violations in his fur and skin have vanished. Hermes by the way lives as a veggie-dog, he gets special vegetarian food from a german company and has excellent blood values, as confirmed by his vet. Here you see his skin/fur right after his arrival.
When we are out for a walk, we often meet other dogs. From the dog we had in my childhood I was trained to fear these encounters, since our old family-dog (a Terrier) was rather nuts and always aggressive towards other dogs. Hermes however is friendly to any dog we have met since then, and it’s a pleasure to take him out. After six month we tried to let him go off leash and he behaved perfectly (although we never – shame on us – went to dog-school with him). Hermes has so much fun with other dogs, it’s wonderful to watch him play!
After more than a year many formerly frightening things have normalized for Hermes; I sometimes take him to work, where my colleges like to pet him.
In retrospect I can only say that adopting a shelter-dog was by far the best decision we could possibly make. If you give a rescue-dog time to develope, he will thank you by being the best possible buddy. From time to time we pay a visit to the internet-page of the Spanish shelter Hermes came from. It’s in a way devastating to see how many wonderful dogs – many of them in terrible condition when they were found – waiting for a family. So if you ever consider getting a dog, we can only recommend to adopt one – they will be endlessly grateful!
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