Who let the dogs out?!

I thought the title might grab your attention, more of that later! We are currently being very patient waiting for the rain to move on and away – we have a day or so of it to look forward to, and it’s very welcome. Not always so welcome for holidaymakers though, they need to find other distractions if it’s too wet and a bit on the chilly side. Happily we should be back to normal sunshine and blue skies in a matter of hours, although we have really needed some rain after a very dry and hot few months.

Speaking of holidaymakers, one of the difficulties of moving to another country is leaving family and friends behind, and the feeling is multiplied by squillions when we have children and grandchildren elsewhere.

My daughter and children are over on holiday with us at the minute and our normally quiet and peaceful house is now filled with the laughter and chatter of tiny wee voices, usually all at once! The children have been so excited about coming here again, they have spent almost every waking hour in the pool having a great time, and, as always, it is an utter joy to have them with us.

Spot the difference in the two photos, no prizes for guessing how excited they were to get here to us and the pool!

However, I now feel the strongest pull towards home, to spend far more time with them. That’s why we are lucky to be able to plan ahead to eventually sell this big house and buy two smaller ones, in Spain and in Northern Ireland, so we can hop back and forth as the notion takes us. If you’re thinking of emigrating, be aware that the pull home is strongest when little people are concerned!

We have a rather lovely celebration coming up, it’s our wedding anniversary on 4th September. Since the grandchildren are here they are going to help make a big cake for everyone to share, multi-coloured and with lemon drizzle icing – well that’s their choice!

Our wedding was in Gibraltar, far less paperwork required than holding it in Spain. Our two best friends in Spain were unable to come to be our witnesses, due to illness. We were a bit stuck, and didn’t want to just arrange for people on the street to come in case they forgot – we’d have missed our slot and would have had to start again! So… as I used to write a page for the Local Women monthly magazine I thought the best idea might be to ask fellow writers for help. I emailed the Gibraltar Chronicle, their daily newspaper, explaining our dilemma and asking for suggestions. One of their top journalists volunteered, along with the paper’s award-winning photographer, who kindly provided all our wedding photographs free! What a result, and how lucky were we! We had a lovely lunch at the marina, all in all a few great days away.

After all of that, and the great photos we were given, my favourite is this one, taken by Peter, of the new Mr and Mrs Kopczynski. It was great fun, and now we’re lucky enough to be celebrating our anniversary with Laurie and the children, and a multi-coloured lemon drizzle cake!

Okay, so back to “Who let the dogs out?!” One of the more difficult things about living in Spain is their attitude towards animals, and dogs in particular. You can divide this approach into two main areas – dogs kept as pets, and dogs for hunting and guarding. It is a continual complaint from non-Spanish (and by that I mean mainly English speaking people) that dogs are all too often left alone for long periods, or chained up, or left to bark incessantly. Well I have bad news for all you dog lovers out there, all of the above is true. It is mainly in the campo, or countryside, that you will see dogs mistreated like this. Near us is someone who keeps 11 dogs, yes, ELEVEN. We’re not sure why he thinks he needs so many, but most are let out to run around between the house and the front gates. However, two German Shepherds are chained to a long rope running up a very steep slope of about 30 metres, and they are never, ever let loose. They all also bark at all times of the night, all through the night, setting off every other dog within a 5km radius – thank goodness for efficient double-glazing! One other dog near us is kept in a large cage, permanently, which hangs off the side of the hill. In the almost 5 years we’ve been here that dog has never been out of the cage. Absolutely awful. The government is now bringing in legislation to help protect animals like this, and will be “live” from the end of September. There will be a lot of requirements for the owners, such as neutering, insurance cover etc, so it might mean a glimmer of hope for the dogs. Or, being Spain, it might not. I also simply can’t understand how people can let their dogs bark all through the night without ever going out to see what they’re barking for, and how on earth do they sleep through that racket?! The main offenders are a couple of hundred metres away from us and still manage to wake us!

It’s actually not too dissimilar with dogs kept as pets. So many people seem happy to let their dogs run wild, chew everything in sight, both inside and outside the house, jump up on you and so on. We always had dogs at home, gun dogs and pets, and were always very well trained. Not so here in Spain in many cases! Why they don’t bother to train them properly is anybody’s guess, laziness, perhaps, or a general “don’t care” attitude. I’ve not even touched on the people running the dog rescues – they help out when dogs are abandoned by their owners, but it takes, time, human hours, and a lot of money to keep these places running. It really is a bit of a problem and we’re glad to see the law will now be making owners far more responsible for their animals who have often been condemned to a miserable life.

In spite of it all Spain is a very good place to be and we’re stil glad we’re here!