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Sunday, February 17, 2008
dosjamons
Parcela
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I need advice from people who know the Spanish better than I do.
My wife and I had a lovely and loving Yorkshire Terrier for 16 years until she died of old age just before Christmas. As a way to get over this loss, we took the opportunity to go to Spain for two months, as it had been many years since we could have a holiday without leaving our dog behind.
We rented a place on the beach near Nerja and have been here for two weeks. So have six weeks left.
In the only other occupied apartments in this block are a Spanish couple and their dog. The couple are in their late thirties or early forties.
Their balcony is adjacent to ours and one floor above.
They appear to have jobs as they are out from early in the morning until late at night. We've only seen them once in two weeks, in passing.
Their dog is left locked out on the balcony all the time they are out, with no apparent food, water, shelter or basket to sit in and although it goes in the apartment
overnight, it never seems to get taken for walks or go out with it's owners as it sits on the balcony constantly wailing, seemingly broken hearted.
We don't go out a lot, preferring a quiet life, so we see the dog from our garden every day and when it sees us it's tail wags and it desperately tries to get to us through the one inch gap in the balcony. It's not a guard dog of any sort, just an adorable little fluffy thing.
What should we do?
We were going to leave them a note asking if they would consider us looking after the mite while they are out or maybe take it for the occasional walk.
Then we thought :
a) Is it a good idea to give the poor creature any hope - as we do have to go home and chances are it will go back to imprisonment with a heavier heart?
b) Do the Spanish care? We could end up alienating the only other people in the block and/or have them take it out on the dog?
We could get up at dawn or stay up very late and approach the couple but our Spanish is very limited and we may come across as moaning English over sentimental idiots.
We've tried to ignore it, but it is hard to wake up to the shallow wail of what looks like a very personable and loving animal.
Any ideas, particularly if you're Spanish or know the Spanish well enough?
Thanks in advance
Mr. P
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17 Feb 2008 12:18 PM
orda
Apartamento
I'm in Manilva Heights
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I have just found this on the website of Ciudadanos Europeos which is an association set up in 1992 to protect the interests of European citizens in Spain.
http://c-euro.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=92&Itemid=31
| Written by Per Svensson |
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When buying a property in Spain, you are in most cases becoming a member of a Community of Owners. Do not mistake this for an association. It is something more than that, regulated by its own law, the Law on Horizontal Ownership.
Many foreigners become presidents or members of the board in a Community. It is necessary that they know the law and the rules.
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Are dogs permitted in a Community?
There is not general prohibition against dogs in the Law on Horizontal Ownership. But it is possible for a Community to include such a prohibition in the Statutes or the Interior Rules. But then it should be done from the very beginning, and all buyers be properly informed. It is not possible to take a decision to prohibit dogs in a Community when there are already owners with dogs.
But if an owner has a dog making noise at all hours of the day, molesting the other owners, the Community may demand that the dog-owner limit the noise or get rid of the dog.
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17 Feb 2008 12:21 PM
orda
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I've answered my own questions I hope it helps others. There are 42 pages to the fact sheet so happy reading.
This message was last edited by orda on 2/17/2008.
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17 Feb 2008 12:54 PM
semijubilada
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Unfortunately this happens quite a lot in Spain, the best thing to do is to harden your heart.
If you trawl through the posts you will find that this subject comes up quite a bit.
A young couple moved into our street last year and they got a dog. The house was a terraced one with a small garden front and back. When the puppy was smaller it was kept in the front and when it could scale the wall it was put out in the back after they had made that wall higher.
The dog was not allowed inside the house and would whine and bark through boredom, the couple worked and when they were home the dog would be worse as it wanted to be with them inside.
On my last visit to Spain I found that the dog had been given to a rescue place. They had bought another dog (female) to keep it company! but it made the situation worse. The dogs had to be separated and finally after many complaints from the president the dogs were returned to a rescue centre.
Another resident further down the street has a Rottweiler in the front garden and he has built the wall up with wood. We went down to see someone who has had replacement shutters fitted to his house. After talking to the owner we were warned about this dog and went we walked past in the middle of the road we were surprised to see the dogs head appear over the top of the 7' fence.
Be interesting to see if the dog is still there when we return next month.
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17 Feb 2008 5:47 PM
morerosado
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It is very hard though to harden your heart, isn't it ? If animals are left like this, it makes you wonder why people keep them. We used to live next door to a very young couple who kept on getting tiny pups but tired of them as soon as they were fully grown. Their last dog was a Lassie type, totally gorgeous & wonderful temperament. But they used to go away most weekends & left it in the garage with the back door of the garage open. It would eat all its food as soon as they went & had nothing except some water (maybe .. if it didn't drink it all up) till they returned. My OH always wanted a dog but we both worked full time & were sensible enough to realise that a dog craves company so it wasn't fair for us to have one.
Anyway this couple went off, as per the norm, Friday night till Sunday night & we decided to borrow a collar & lead from people nearby who felt bad about this dog as well & we walked "Lassie" then took it to visit the local pub  It just sat quietly after its walk & everyone loved the experience. When the neighbours came home we went round & said what we'd done, expecting them to say "oh, anytime" but they laid into us for daring to do such a terrible thing with THEIR dog, it WASN'T ours !!!
We called the RSPCA who checked on it the next weekend but said they couldn't interfere as the dog, when they checked, was ok for water. Anyway we kept fussing it over the fence & had it into our home many times & just never said as it needed company & we couldn't stand it pining as it did.
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I'm back from almost a month in Spain.
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17 Feb 2008 6:02 PM
dosjamons
Parcela
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Every time we come to Spain we hear more n more sad animal stories. We met one lady a few years back who rescued cats dumped in the local bins, I think she was up to around 15 cats by the time we met her!
We met a girl another time who acquired her dog the same way & was forever finding puppies n kittens dumped in plastic bags in the hot sun. She told us that the Spanish believe that animals have no souls. So what? Soul or no soul animals deserve a decent life while they are here.
Me n my husband have been veggies for over 26 years and were involved with animal rights when younger. Yes, it is so hard to harden your heart!.
There is so much to love about Spain & the Spanish but this is a huge issue for us & it's kind of putting us off moving here as we intended to do in the future.
Sad really.
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17 Feb 2008 6:30 PM
semijubilada
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Things like this happen everywhere and in every country.
I watch Animal Planet on cable and I cannot believe how people neglect their animals yet proclaim that they are very attached to them. On a recent programme a German Shepherd was removed from a home and it's nails were so long they were curling up like the ones on chinese ladies. This was on a RSPCA programme.
When I said to harden your heart it was because you won't be able to do any good because you're only a visitor, hopefully when you settle somewhere you may be able to do something if the same thing happens. If you get to know your neighbours then your offer of help may be accepted in the spirit it is given. There will only be so much you can do or you will find you can easly collect a a menagerie. You could also voluntear at a local sanctuary either there or fostering animals.
Not all the animals are ill treated but you will find that some are there for a purpose and not as a pet. Worse cases are houses in the Campo where the dogs are left purely as guard dogs.
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17 Feb 2008 6:53 PM
dosjamons
Parcela
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I know what you mean Semi - we come from West Yorks, apparently the worst place for animal cruelty in the whole of the UK.
There have been many incidents of unimaginable cruelty recently back home.
Regarding the little dog - we have decided that, as we are only visitors we will just have to grit out teeth & do nothing.
Don't wanna give the dog a false sense of hope!
If we do move over to Spain I definitely will start volunteering my services in some way to help out animals.
Lisa
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17 Feb 2008 8:06 PM
semijubilada
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I think that's a wise decision.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday, it's getting colder here!
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18 Feb 2008 12:31 PM
orda
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I think there should be a return to people being forced to pay for a licence for their animals they may think twice about not caring for their dog, or cat, and allowing it to annoy people if they could be prosecuted, fined and/or jailed. Also, have you noticed how they treat their birds? I have seen some fairly large birds kept in cages so small that they can't move or even turn around It's disgraceful.
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18 Feb 2008 5:09 PM
Roberto
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Sad, so sad. I hate these threads, makes me want to go out and commit murder.
I came across a new pet shop near us the other day. It was closed for siesta, but looking through the window, I could see it basically just sells pet food and other sundries, but in the middle of the shop floor there was a solitary cage, about a cubic foot in size, no more, with a small water bowl (empty) and a cat litter tray in it. In the litter tray were two tiny black and white moggie kittens, cuddled up together, for warmth and comfort. Nothing else, no blanket, not even newspapers.
The condition that these poor creatures were being kept in was nothing short of scandalous. Normally pet shops here only stock pedigrees, usually popular breeds like Persians. These babies were unlikely pet shop stock, since anyone who wants such a kitten can easily get one just by searching the local dumping grounds for unwanted animals, or of course one of the many refuges. And it made me wonder also, did the shopkeeper do precisely that? Even if they are selling them for €5 or €10 each, you could soon amass a fortune collecting strays and flogging them.
How come owners of shops like this are not prosecuted? They disgust me. 
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