Our future
The future of Hope for Podencos.
Every foundation should have a dream and a vision. For us this has changed over the years we have grown and met existing goals, suffered losses and picked ourselves back up. We could not have continued without the support of our incredible community and network, but we don’t just want to continue, we want to fight for change and save as many podencos as we can.
So what does the future hold for Hope for Podencos, how can keep growing and saving the pods in need?
Growing our Spanish network.
We want to keep rescuing podencos, without a centre in Spain this is a challenge in itself! But we are growing our Spanish network of fosters, private kennels and partner charities. This requires visits to Spain to meet our network and build relationships so we can get moving, we will then continue to visit every few months to ensure we can get to know our pods and ensure the health and care provided meets the high standards our adopters have come to expect from us!
Growing our partnerships.
We have loved discovering like minded, ethical brands who’s passion for animal welfare aligns so closely with our own. All of our partners donate equipment or proceeds of their sales to the foundation (and other charities) which all helps the pods in need. Its about lifting each other up and sharing that space, the love and the joy!
We always try and give something back when fundraising so that our incredible community can get a little something in return for their kindness and generosity. Every partnership should be of value to our adopters and supporters - collars, harness’s and leads for safety, jumpers and t-shirts for comfort.
Growing our global RBU.
We have so many requests for pods to be adopted outside of UK and Europe, something Irene spearheaded that was really important to her - a pod in every country!
With all the changes in the last few years this is something we had to scale back - rescue back up is crucial for any adoption, life can bring changes nobody expected. But we are getting back on our feet and we are looking to grow our global network.
What does it mean to provide RBU? It means you work with us in your region for any pods that require re-home, home-checks, foster, training and behaviour and generally supporting the pods and their adopters!
Setting up our UK centre.
This is a biggie, but its why we continue to fundraise, request sponsorships, sell merchandise and accept every kind generous donation received from our incredible community. We have run a rescue in Spain and we can run one here, on a much smaller scale but still very much needed.
There will always be pods that need that little extra help before going into a home, or where we are asked to help a pod where RBU from another charity is not in place. We cant solely rely on our foster network and we cant keep dogs forever in kennels in Spain.
So lets bring them here, lets get a small UK centre with a mix of kennels and home space to cover every need!
Advocating for Podencos.
As any adopter will tell you, walking with a pod means being stopped and asked about your pod(s)! We want to spread the word and share the love!
We will march, we will run events, we will promote, we will work with influencers. And if we can reach the ultimate dream of our own UK centre we will educate - this means the pods past, their present and their future!
We pride ourselves on our support for anyone with a podenco - to rehome, to train, to temporary foster. Lets turn that knowledge into power and use the skills of the team to rescue all the podencos we can!
And there is more, there will always be so much more...
Irene and Steve have always dreamed so big - such huge hearts and an abundance of energy for the podencos in need. We will keep Hope for Podencos going for as long as we can, the team are dedicated and committed to rescue and taking every learning from our founders to grow and change as we move forward in the rescue world.
We want to bring about change and we want to do this with others, the bigger the team the bigger the dream. We cannot continue just rescuing the pods, we already know this is not enough, as every year more and more keep coming into the overcrowded rescues. We need to educate, not just in Spain but in the UK - dogs are valid, dogs are beings, they need a voice. We want to be it.