Of the 210 dogs that are in the facilities of the association called Friends of the Carballo Dogs located in Bértoa, the vast majority of them are hunting.
The founder of the entity Araceli Vila affirms in a comment “At the moment when these types of dogs are no longer useful for hunters, many of them are abandoned“And it is that no matter where we look, in the headquarters of the friends of the dogs there are many dogs of this type and of different breeds.
The founder Vila tells us that through some hunting tests that after a year or a year and a half if there is nothing to do, people leave them to their fate in the mountains.
In addition to this, he ensures that men who have these dogs keep them scared, while women do not and for a reason this will happen. This is a practice that has become very extensive among a few and, luckily, the vast majority of hunters do maintain respect for their animals.
In addition to this, not only hunting dogs are not the only ones who are abandoned, Araceli tells us that he receives an approximate of 10 to 15 calls per day of the people who have been able to find an animal that is unprotected, many of them in places like the beaches, but sometimes they do not have enough space, he says in his comments.
Around a hundred adoptions can be carried out throughout the year, but he wonders if? matter if people keep abandoning them?
For the person responsible for this identity, people are not aware of what it means to ignore an animal in this way. José Manuel works with her in the association, which started collaborating as a volunteer a couple of months ago and affirms about the work he does that psychologically it gives him a lot and gives him a lot of love.
Despite the short time he has been in the entity, he has been able to know practically all the names of the 210 dogs that are there, although sometimes you forget some but try to remember them.
The moment José Manuel opens one of the gates to let a dog out, the barking of all his canine companions begins to be heard, even some of the dogs that are here have been here for over ten yearsAraceli comments. One of them is called Pico, he came to the shelter when he was just a puppy and they have not found a family that wants to adopt him.
In general, it is more difficult to get people to take old dogs, Araceli points out, because many people tend to ignore animals that are older. Instead of no longer taking care of them they should give them a dignified retirement.
Some of the association's dogs have stories that are very harsh. Antón was one of the dogs that arrived 5 years ago and they found him with his neck cut off by a rope: it was placed around its neck, it was tied to a tree and the animal, trying to free itself, opened its skin.
In the Friends of Dogs association there are 18 partners and thanks to the monetary contributions, some adoptions and the markets they do, they can have their financial support, although sometimes it is difficult to cover all the expenses. To adopt a dog it is necessary to sign a contract and make a payment of 60 euros to cover expenses of the microchip and vaccines, an amount that in many cases is insufficient and the rest is covered by them.
They also do not have the service of a veterinarian who can attend the facilities of the place. They are the ones who have to take the animals to A Laracha or Caraballo if an emergency occurs, even so, this association is delighted with what it does.