Very cute photo of Gizmo

Photo of me settling down for a snooze - well its hard going trying to keep up with my level cuteness, a dog needs his beauty sleep !

Much loved pooch 'Pochi' lost in the Costa Del Silenco area

Pochi has been found !

If you see  'Pochi' a male dog please phone Raquel on 618.93.08.41 or email raquelafonsor@gmail.com

HOT, hot, hot - watch out pooches keep cool !

Its really important especially in Tenerife to make sure your pooch does not get overheated. Dogs Trust has compiled three essential tips for owners to help their dogs beat the heat:

* Walk your dog in the morning and evening when the weather is cooler and make sure shady spots and drinking water are available.
* Clip the fur of particularly hairy hounds (like me) and apply canine sun cream to areas most likely to burn: ears, nose, and belly. Human suncream can be toxic so buy a special pet version from your local pet shop.
* Be extra vigilant with older and overweight dogs as they are more prone to overheat. In a real emergency wet your dog thoroughly and use a household fan to blow cool air over their head and body. Seek urgent veterinary attention.


If your dog shows signs of distress – such as excessive panting, blueness of the tongue or collapse contact your local vet immediately.

So please watch out for us pooches in the heat..!

The Little Dog's Home

Nikki recently rescued a stray. Fortunately Nikki has contacts with some wooftastic people who helped her to look after the doggie, Poochie Pet Hotel and The Little Dogs Hotel.

The Little Dog's Home has only been set up fairly recently by Chris and Barbara. The refuge is in the Chafiras area, South Tenerife. Nikki visited the refuge with Alison (Poochie Pet Hotel) when they took the stray pooch.

Chris explained" We only take a maximum of thirty dogs at a time, as this way each dog can get the proper care he/she deserves, hence the name 'Little Dog's Home"

The dogs are taken for walks every day and have kennels which have enough space and are cleaned everyday. They even have a couple of sofas to snooze on (see photos).

Chris and Barbara raise money for the refuge via their market stall . So if you want to support 'The Little Dog's home' go on along and visit Barbara and Chris's stall on Saturday at Torviscas and Sunday at Los Cristanios.

These two woofers below were rescued by Barbara and Chris from owners who abandoned them and got on a flight. The poor doggies were left in a terrible state, and covered in tics and fleas. They are much better now, thanks to the care and attention given by Chris and Babs.

Checking out the sofa

Join The Little dog's home facebook page and Poochie Pet Hotel facebook

Life According to Gizmo (It's a Dog's Life):

( Printed in Island connections....)

Hola mis amigos, and welcome to my column. This will probably be the last one for a while as I've got a lot on my plate at the moment (and I don't mean my dog bowl). As the spokes-mutt for Nikki's website: Tenerifedogs.com, I certainly earn my dog biscuits !

The other reason for giving my column a bit of a rest is that I don't want to bore y'all by repeating myself. I've written plenty about the things that matter to us woofers (dogs off leads, what you should think about before getting a dog, my "Out-of-Botty" experience at the vet,  problems for the older pooch etc), but if there are any more doggie issues you'd like me to discuss (or you just miss me :-) then send me an e-mail and persuade me to change my mind !

April 13th was a very important day for us pooches in the Canary Islands. It was the first time that a case of animal abuse was prosecuted in court (what took them so long eh ?). Hopefully this landmark case should set a precedent, and be the start of justice for animals who are victims of human cruelty here.

Addanca Candaleria, an animal welfare organisation brought the case to court, and are looking after the unfortunate dog: 'Vela' who had been beaten, nearly starved to death, and has scars from abrasive liquid poured over her. The alleged perpetrator of this abuse is an eighty-year-old man who denies the charges. Updates about this case can be found on Addanca Candaleria's Facebook page.

On the subject of animal abuse, hoarding animals can also be a form of cruelty. A hoarder is someone who collects far too many domestic pets (usually cats and dogs) without the ability or resources to care for them properly. The hoarder may not actually be beating the animals, but not looking after their basic needs (feeding them, keeping them in hygienic conditions) is still, in the end, a form of abuse, as the animals are certainly suffering. Often the person has a mental health problem and doesn't understand that what he or she is doing is wrong ! Whether or not the hoarder has psychological problems, or is just negligent, it doesn't really make much difference to the poor innocent cats or dogs who often suffer terribly.

Anyway, moving on ... I'd like to tell y'all about a rather strange e-mail that I recently received from an African chap called Nadu Totow Savimbi. It's a very sad tale of how despite inheriting a lot of money, he's been unable to access his bank account, due to the overthrow of the goverment in his country. Nadu explains that he has 20 wives, 78 children, and 10 grandmothers to support, and that he desperately needs my bank account details, passport etc so that he'll then be able to transfer his late father's 37 million dollar estate into my account. Of course he'll bung me a few million just for letting him use my account and helping him with his extended family.

Woof-bloody-tastic, no ? Sorry, but does Nadu really think I was born yesterday ? and doesn't he understand I'm a dog and unlikely to need a bank account ? Honestly, I've said it before and I'll say it again - some humans must have fur for brains !

I mean, why don't I ever get an e-mail from someone who says they're going to transfer two tons of dog biscuits to my bowl, just so that their dog can access it, as his own has been frozen. Now that would be talking my language, but realistically I suppose it's unlikely to happen ... a dog can dream though !

So, there you go. As I mentioned, I'll be taking some time off from writing my column before it all goes stale (which reminds me - must go and dig up that bone that I buried last month - should be nice and wiffy by now). But I won't be stopping this writing malarky. Far from it, I've got a taste for it now and so I've decided to write a book.

It's going to be a wooftastic 'tail' about a loveable ex-pat pooch living in Tenerife (funnily enough). He writes, from a dog's point of view of course, about settling down in a new country, how he copes with the cultural differences and learning the language (although woof-speak is universal, mas o menos, there are still some differences which need to be understood, otherwise a dog can have muchos problemas with his furry Latin amigos).

So the book will be a kind of doggie version of '"Walking over Lemons" ("Bouncing over Bones" ?) or perhaps "More Saliva than Salsa" ? It will have some wonderful illustrations by my amiga Annie Chapman and is all set to be a wooftastic best seller (that's if I can find time to finish it in between my naps ... phew, it's a dog's life and all that).

I hope you've enjoyed reading my columns (ps they can all be downloaded via the Island Connections website). Join me on Snr Giz Facebook page, keep checking  out Tenerifedogs.com. and send me an e-mail me on gizmo@tenerifedogs.com if there's anything else that you'd like me to write about. Until then, it's hasta luego y 'chow-for-now' mis furry amigos.

Printed in Island Connections -

Couple of cuties that need a home...

These two cuties were in a terrible state when they were brought into the Little Dog's Home - but are now feeling better after being in the capable hands of Barbara and Chris. If you would like to adopt either pooch or both contact number is 672917193