Helena´s blog (Hope For Podencos suporter)

We are so blessed to have people write about Hope For Podencos and want to share their experiences with us and the rescue world. But we are truly humbled when someone so young champions their voice to be a part of the cause. Helena you are a star in the making!

Many thanks, HFP team xxx

“soldier” a rescued warrior

Hello, my name is Helena and I am 12 years old, Since I can remember my mother has had the best of the hobbies, to have and help animals, specifically dogs; to rescue, help them and take care of them was always something important for her, and she teach me the value of life thru this. We had always have dogs, birds, fishes and other animals at home, since we usually have lived in the country, sometimes we had orphan lambs or goats to bottle-feed, stray dogs to care for, horses, hens and rabbits, and this is the kind of environment I have being raised. 

A couple of years ago we had to sell the country house and we moved closer to the city, making it harder to have so much animals, but we still have dogs, two hens, a rooster and 3 parakeets. 

So I love animals and I want to continue doing something good for them, so, together with my mother, we collaborate with a canine rescue center, where they save hundreds of hunting dogs, discarded by hunters. This are “podencos”, less known than galgos, but so mistreated as they are. I love the look of the podencos, the have huge ears and they are sweet and affectionate. 

We want to be a foster home for them, specially for pregnant mums or mums with puppies, orphan puppies… we know how to bottle feed, we know to wake up 5 to 10 times at night to feed and clean them (well, my mom does this mostly) and we love to play with them and show them there is nothing to fear of the human when you find the right human, and they learn to love and enjoy the “life on a sofa” style really fast. Dogs have feelings, and they need be loved and cared for, just like us. 

We recently were doing food collection in a mall in Albacete, I really liked that many people donated food for the shelter, it was a very nice experience. Now, with the coronavirus pandemic, we can just stay home, but we will be doing all we can for the dogs, now and forever.