Fireworks and New Years Eve

Here are a couple of tips to make your furry friend feel safer: make sure your pooch has somewhere to hide. This could be under a bed, under the stairs, or in an indoor kennel, but don't lock your dog into one room, - he needs to feel free to move around and not feel trapped. It also helps to turn on the TV ( I quite like wildlife documentaries) or radio in the room he feels safe in.

I'm ready for my schedule to be interrupted on New Years Day, and for Nikki and Richard to be a bit less keen to take me out for a walk until later in the morning. I'm also expecting them to look a bit 'ruff'.

Hasta luego mis amigos. Have a very Wooftastic New Year...!

Morning digging session with my furry amigos

New Agility Courses in the South - Open Day 8th of January

After the mammoth Christmas eating session, why not do some fun excercise with your doggie and here is just the thing..........

New agility courses have started up in La Caldera Del Rey, San Eugenio. To check it out go to their first public open day on  January 8th from 3'0'clock , or ring this number 649556620 to reserve your place on the next training course.

The courses are run by Shelly Stevens, Claire McIntrye Cook and Glenn Story . Who between them have many years of experience, to find out more go to their website www.southtenerifeagilityring.com

The directions to the agility course - Come off the TF1 at exit 29 then take 3rd exit at the roundabout (straight ahead for Aqualand). After about 60 metres turn right on to Avenida Europa. This road has a few curves but always uphill. Soon you will see a wall on the right, the top half white with large yellow rectangles. Take next right after this wall. This will bring you to the top road where on the other side you can see all the banana plantations. Continue in the same direction, at the end of this road are concrete barriers but there you will see a small road on the left leading down to the farm.

I think I will check it out, sounds fun..!

Christmas Day

Me on Christmas day after I unwrapped some of my presents

Feliz Navidad - Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to y'all and big woofs to the hardworking rescue shelters. Good wishes for the New Year.

Beam of light Shines on Soldier's Dog

Check out this video here. An American soldier tragically losing his life in Iraq. The Family of the soldier decide to fly back the pup that was photographed in the last picture taken of their son.

If Only..!

Some things us pooches can't do, so be a responsible owner and castrate or spay your dog

Regular column in Island Connections

The nice people at Island Connections have asked me to write a regular column to give the pooch perspective on things. It's a real honour to be the first dog to write for them (or any other newspaper ?), so I'll be trying my best to get my paw on the pulse of everything funky in the canine world.
read the bi-weekly issue here and go to page 44

Accion-del-sol and Tenerife's Association for disabled people

Accion Del Sol was very honoured last week to welcome visitors from Amisur in San Miguel.  Amisur is one of the south of Tenerifes Associations for disabled people. A group of adults and there carers paid there first visit to the refuge and it was a huge success. There response to the dogs and puppies was amazing, it was great to see so many happy smiling faces. The dogs and puppies were extremely well behaved. We look forward to welcoming more people from Amisur next year, we firmly believe that animals really do help people with disabilities.

                                                                     
 Our Educational Roadshow ended with having spoken to almost 3000 school children in Arico, Granadilla and Arona, many of the children have since been to the refuge with there parents and we have even found a few new homes for some of the many dogs at the refuge. We plan next year to visit more schools here in the south of Tenerife with our Educational Roadshow. We really work hard and we are very committed to educate children as well as castrating / sterilising every dog that comes into the refuge to make a difference to animal welfare here in Tenerife.

 In January after all the festivities are over we plan to start a " Puppy and Pony club " once a month at the refuge. This will be held on a Saturday morning, the first one being the 28th of January 10.30 - 13.00 and will be open to children aged 5 upwards. We plan to have a fun but educational morning teaching the children basic animal care and the chance for them to play with the puppies and small dogs as well as pony rides . The cost for the club is 5e which will all go to Accion Del Sol towards there many escalating costs for the dogs in there care. Please call 687905511 for more information and toreserve your child's place. Parents are welcome to join in or maybe you would to walk one of the many refuge dogs whilst your child is participating at the club.                                                                        
       

Baron and Nikita

We have so many gorgeous dogs at the refuge all looking for new homes, we work very hard to try and adopt as many dogs as possible here in Tenerife or in Germany, last week 12 lucky dogs have been adopted with another 6 dogs safely flown to Germany to start there new lives, but almost every day more and more dogs are being brought into the refuge from the streets of Granadilla, Guia De isora and Arona.
      
We would like to thank every single person over the last year that in one way or another has helped Accion Del Sol with there plight here in Tenerife to help stray and abandoned dogs and to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

 Accion Del Sol will be open there normal hours Monday - Friday 3-6pm over the festive season.   The refuge is situated at Poligono De Industrial Estate, Granadilla, Exit 51 on the TF1, directly next to ITER the  Parque Eolica where the windmills are.  The refuge has seen a large increase in dogs over the last few months so if you are looking for a dog to adopt then please do pay the refuge a visit or call Accion Del Sol on 922778630              

 

                                                                    Bertie

Siruis Canaries - Sponsor a puppy

Siruis Canaries are inviting people to sponsor a puppy. Only 10 euros a month will get the puppy you have chosen care and attention with treatment he needs - external parasite (fleas and ticks), internal (worms and other intestinal worms), preventive heartworm disease and vaccinations.

The procedure to be a sponsor is very simple: just send an email to correo@siriuscanarias.com with your personal details (name, address, ID and phone), bank account number and name of the puppy you have chosen. Do not forget to provide us with an email address where we can send information, photos, anecdotes, updates, etc,

To find out more about Siruis Canaries click here

Laser from K9 needs a home..

Introducing Laser she is about 3-4 months old , with long hair.

If you are interested in adopting Laser please ring Hazel on 667 638 468 or email info@k9tenerife.com

Tug at your heart strings story, from Russia.

A dog waits at the side of the road where his doggie companion died. A couple of onlookers take the dog home but he escapes to return to where his friend died. A plan has been made to build a shelter for the dog next to the place where his companion died.

Lost Dog in Buzanada..!

This dog has now been found, wonderful news :)

Santa Claus arrives at Accion-del-sol

Santa turned up in his four wheel drive at Accion-del-Sol's Christmas event on Sunday, as it's only fair to give the reindeer a rest occasionally. But the TF1 must of been busy as he was a little late.

 Here's Santa arriving at accion-del-sol

Get a move on Santa, the children at Accion-Del-Sol are waiting !

 Think Santa might need a leg up Karen !

 Come on Santa you can do !

 Be careful Santa you don't want to hurt yourself !

Well done Santa..!

Mo needs a home..!

Introducing Mo a young male. He is friendly and gets on with other dogs.
If you are interested in adopting Mo please contact Hazel at the K9 Kennels on 667 638 468
www.k9tenerife.eu

Gizmo's 12 Christmas Rules for Dogs

My Twelve Rules of Christmas for Dogs:

1. Best not to pee on the tree that the humans bring into the house. It's a very strange thing to do I know: bringing a tree into the house ! I mean, what's that all about ? but  apparently it's an important ritual for the humans.

2. Don't chew the cord that's plugged into the wall and runs around the tree. It's not much fun having a few hundred volts of electricity shooting through your tail - really plays havoc with your fur-cut !

3. Don't tear open any of the nicely wrapped boxes that they put around the tree, even if it has your name on it and what's inside smells really tasty.

4. Don't get annoyed when your owner puts a stoopid paper hat on your head. Apparently humans get a big kick out of this. Dog-God knows why. Be nice - its only for one day a year after all (any more than that and you should seek help for them).

5. Be nice to any strangers that visit over the Christmas holidays. Best not to smother them with wet sloppery kisses, because apparently some humans don't like this (allegedly).

6. Don't get annoyed when a visitor sits on your favourite bit of the sofa. Just fart loudly and smelly - that should get rid of them pretty quickly !

7. Don't grab food from the table (even if it smells a lot better than the stuff that they normally feed you).

8. Important rule: chocolate is very bad for dogs. Don't be tempted to have a chew from an open box lying on the floor, it could make you extremely sick or worse - very fat ... then that cute poodle next door won't fancy you any more.

9. Don't drink out of glasses that are left hanging around, unless you want to have a major mucho headache (humans call this a 'hangover'). It's not pleasant, and can lead to a lot of mess on the tiles.

10. Be very patient with your female human around his time of year - it can be a very stressful time for her: wrapping up all those presents, cooking all that food etc. So it won't help her mood if you break any of the other rules (eating the turkey, destroying the presents, peeing on the tree, getting a hangover and being sick on the carpet etc).

11. Be nice to the children: only eat one at a time ! (only joking of course :-)

12. Don't bite the Big Guy who appears in the living room in the middle of the night. You can't miss him: he has a white beard, and is dressed in red. I know what you mutts are thinking: "this is really stoopid ... if some stranger comes down the chimney any other time of year, my owner would want me to bark like crazy, and scare the sh*t out of the intruder". But this is another of their weird seasonal rituals. Where do they get these crazy ideas from ? I mean, can you imagine some big fat pooch with a beard coming down the chimney to bring you a load of dog biscuits ? On second thoughts - bring it on !

Handsome pooch needs a home

This handsome dog is looking for a home the pooch is currently staying at Accion-del-sol. If you are interested in finding out more about this doggie please ring on 922 77 86 30. Muchas gracias :)

"A Rescue Dog's Christmas Poem"

Tis the night before Christmas and all through the town,
every shelter is full - we are lost, but not found,
Our numbers are hung on our kennels so bare,
we hope every minute that someone will care,
They'll come to adopt us and give us the call,
"Come here, Max and Sparkie - come fetch your new ball!!
But now we sit here and think of the days
we were treated so fondly - we had cute  baby ways,

Once we were little, then we grew and we grew
now we're no longer young and we're no longer new.
So out the back door we were thrown like the trash,
they reacted so quickly - why were they so rash?
We "jump on the children:, "didn't come when they called",
we "bark when they leave us", climb over the wall.
We should have been neutered, we should have been spayed,
now we suffer the consequence of the errors THEY made.

If only they'd trained us, if only we knew...
we'd have done what they asked us and worshiped them too.
We were left in the backyard, or worse -let to roam-
now we're tired and lonely and out of a home.
They dropped us off here and they kissed us good-bye...
"Maybe someone else will give you a try."
So now here we are, all confused and alone...
in a shelter with others who long for a home.

The kind workers come through with a meal and a pat,
with so many to care for, they can't stay to chat,
They move to the next kennel, giving each of us cheer...
we know that they wonder how long we'll be here.
We lay down to sleep and sweet dreams fill our heads...
of a home filled with love and our own cozy beds.
Then we wake to see sad eyes, brimming with tears -
our friends filled with emptiness, worry, and fear.

If you can't adopt us and there's no room at the Inn -
could you help with the bills and fill our food bin?
We count on your kindness each day of the year -
can you give more than hope to everyone here?
Please make a donation to pay for the heat...
and help get us something special to eat.
The shelter that cares for us wants us to live,
and more of us will, if more people will give.

--Author Unknown

If you would like to make a donation to any of the Dog rescue shelters on Tenerife you will find their website links on the right hand side of this blog. Muchias Gracias and Woof Woof xx

Partido Animalista

Here is an important Spanish website to know about if you see an animal or animals being maltreated .

click here