Saving Three Little Puppies

Once upon a time, I spoke to a lady that had rescued a female dog heavily pregnant. The young dog had been dumped but then taken in by a Spanish family. Unfortunately, they were unable to keep her but kindly handed her to a rescue center. It was there that she gave birth to 12 beautiful little puppies.

Rescue 1# Remy: Mastin Cross

Being very young herself, sadly only 7 of the puppies survived. When the puppies reached 4 weeks old, both me and Kirsty went to see them. We offered to help by homing 2 of these beautiful bundles of fluff. To give these 2, the best start, we decided to create a fundraiser and had an amazing response in support from local businesses, friends, family, and animal lovers near and far.

Then came the sad news. Our puppies were diagnosed with Parvovirus. Out of the 7 puppies, only 3 of them pulled through. We had lost our little girl, & our little boy was very poorly. We then found out that he was battling through other problems too, but being the strong little thing he was, he fought his way through!

We had always wanted to home two puppies so that they could grow up together here at Trex Andalucia. Luckily for the pups, the other two survivors had already been reserved. To continue with the plan of homing two puppies at the same time, I thought it best to source another puppy, as we had committed ourselves already! So online I went and I searched for ‘Pastor Aleman Almeria’. After having German shepherds for 23 years, we completely fell in love with them and knew that this would be a great companion for our little rescue.

To my surprise, only one post came up! A litter of six puppy German Shepherds. In my best Spanish, I sent the guy a message and he told me that there was one male available, only 40 days old.
My next question was whereabouts, was he? After all, Almeria is quite a big province. After some more questions & answers, I found that they were 500mts away from Trex Andalucia!!!! Literally walking distance!

Talk about meant to be! Believing in fate, I decided to go round and take a look. Although when I went to the home, the owner wasn’t there and by phone said come another day.

Rescue 2# Blu: Mastin / Border Collie Cross

While all of this was happening, our little pup was strong enough to come to us. So I and Kirsty went to pick him up from the rescue center, Pets Paradise. When we got there, there were two crates, one with our boy in and another with two beautiful puppies from another litter that had been abandoned in Sorbas Rambla.

“Wow what cute puppies,” Kirsty said. Kim Halliwell told us that one of the puppies was reserved and on her way to Valencia to her forever home. Which left a lonely little soul with no one to take him home. We quickly decided that he couldn’t possibly stay there on his own! With a puppy in each arm, we left the rescue center, having a conversation that went like this…

Me “I feel bad as I said I was interested in the German shepherd puppy (Not Pedigree).”
Kirsty” I’ve just asked Ryan if we can have a puppy!”
Me “Ok make your minds up and if the answer is yes, I will still take a look a the GS.”

It took one evening, they decided they would home a puppy, and called him Blu.

Rescue 3# Kobe: German Shepherd

After Kirsty and Ryan decided to home Blu, we made an appointment to take a look at the GS pup the following day. When we arrived, we saw 6 puppies quite frightened, only one was male. They were being kept in not very nice conditions, as you can see from the picture below.

They were all out in the sun with no water in sight, it was heartbreaking to see. He only had 1 male and 1 female left to re-home. So the choice was easy, as we wanted a boy. In all honesty, I couldn’t have said no to him if I had wanted to. I wanted to take all of them.

Some people may think that buying pure breeds is not a good thing to do. I wanted to touch base on this and compare the differences between rescuing and buying. I believe good rescues & good breeders both hold a place in helping us make good decisions when it comes to choosing the right dog.

To Buy or To Rescue?

I believe good rescues & good breeders both hold a place in helping us make good decisions when it comes to choosing the right dog. Good breeders do the proper health screenings, love their breed, and screen their adopters. They are committed to the dogs they’ve fallen in love with, and what’s the problem with that? We’ve all had favorite dogs, and for many of us, a certain breed will always hold a special place in our hearts. Certain breeds are needed for farmers, police, customs, therapy, etc. They use top-bred dogs and should have the option to find the dog they’re looking for.

I feel this really is a personal decision. While I now favor rescue animals myself, I can see why some people may want the (relative) security of a purebred dog or wish a specific breed badly enough that they wish to get one from a reputable breeder. In an ideal world, there would be no need for shelters and every pet would have a loving home. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

The bonus of adopting a rescue dog is, You are saving two lives. You’re saving the life of the dog that you adopt and the next dog that needs that space in the shelter or rescue by opening up a new kennel. The risk, especially with rescue puppies, is you know even less about their temperament or health issues than you do with a purebred.

This isn’t to say that rescues aren’t a good option. It’s also much less expensive to adopt than purchase from a breeder. The good news is that both options still get you to the same final place. You’ll have an amazing family member who will love you unconditionally for the rest of their life!

So for now, we and all that have supported us, have homed 3 bundles of pure joy! They will have the best lives possible. Their names are Remy, Kobe & Blu. Remy has still not had the all-clear, he recently had a bone X-ray on his joints, which aren’t quite right.

Kobe & Blu have had their first vaccinations, the second being due in a few weeks! Remy was back at the vets today ( 13th April ) now strong enough to have his 1st vaccination. After his X-ray, we have to keep a close eye on his joints. He has been put on an exclusive diet to suit his needs and to get him fighting fit.

If you would like to support us with a donation or would like to pay us a visit and meet our new members of the Trex family, please get in touch!