Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Alan the Galgo

Alan is a Galgo living in Spain. Most greyhound lovers know about the plight of the Spanish Greyhound. They are bred for hunting and coursing, but when the hunting season is over thousands of unwanted galgos are left on the streets or worse. Many are thrown down wells, buried alive, or hung from trees. The suffering these hounds endure is horrific.
Alan was found hanging from a tree along with four other galgos. He and a puppy were rescued in time and taken to an animal shelter.  Unfortunately, he was attacked by another dog and sustained serious injuries. Thankfully, he was then saved by The Association Galgoleku and adopted soon after by Isabel.
Alan was only about a year old when he was pulled down from the tree so you can imagine he was very frightened. But with love and patience, he has gained his confidence and has even learned to do agility.
This video makes me cry everytime I see it.  First, you see Alan doing agility when he was still very fearful and in need of a lot of encouragement. And then a year later you see the tremendous progress he has made!  It is very touching.
I have been meaning to post this for probably a year now. I tried to touch base with Isabel to see if she had any updates, but I did not hear back.  Hopefully she will see this and know that I did not completely forget.