Gloria - Tailends 11th June 2005 - 27th February 2009

Gloria was an elderly Galgo bitch who was found nearly frozen to death on the streets of Andujar in Spain in the winter of 2004. Gloria had suffered unspeakable horrors in Spain and had spent the previous year scavenging and evading capture and rescue by a lady called Laura, who was aware of her plight and wanted to help her. Eventually Laura found her huddled up by the side of the road and immediately thought that she was dead as she was very cold and the temperature was below freezing. However Gloria was revived and cared for at the shelter in Andujar, which is run by a group of dedicated people who care about the plight of the Galgos and try to do what they can to help them.

Thankfully she was rescued by Greyhounds in Need and was brought to the UK in December 2004 where she had to stay in quarantine for 6 months along with other younger Galgos who had also been rescued by the charity. Gloria was a sweet old lady with a very grey face. Her black coat was in poor condition and she was pitifully thin. We had been worried that she would not cope with quarantine but she had a strong survival instinct and came through it. Her life has been very hard and she has had to struggle to find enough food to keep herself alive while living rough as a stray and avoiding being caught and tortured by the gypsies. Her Spanish rescuer thought she was dead when she found her curled up and icy cold.

She arrived at Tailends on Saturday 11th June 2005, brought by Mandy (of Northants Greyhound Rescue) who had collected her from the quarantine kennels the previous day. Mandy had been involved with the decision to bring Gloria back to the UK when she was in Spain helping with a documentary about the suffering of galgos.

Gloria was pathetically thin and her coat was coarse and full of scurf. Gloria loved her life at Tailends. She had chosen an armchair by the window where she could look out and watch the rabbits running about on the sand-dunes. She was so excited when she went on her first walk and could hardly contain her delight when she found herself on the beach with so much space. She just stood looking at the expanse of sand and sea in front of her. It was so lovely to see her happy at last. She loved her food and very soon lost that emaciated look. She weighed 16.8kg when she arrived but by the end of July she weighed a more normal 24kg and her coat was shiny and soft.

Gloria was soon a very different girl to the one who arrived here in June 2005. She was highly intelligent and seemed to understand everything. She put on weight very quickly and was soon a healthy lively lady who tried hard to speak English - but if all else failed she would put her front paw up and poke you in the leg to get your attention.

She had a very posh winter coat, an indoor coat and a raincoat for wet summer days. Judy made her a lovely coat in a patterned beige material which was very warm but made her look like the cleaner – especially when Mark pushed a duster under her belt! She then became known as Mrs. Overall! Gloria was always very concerned when one of the dogs was poorly or had surgery and hovered over them like Florence Nightingale. I am sure she would have liked a nurse’s uniform too! She has more recently been given a lovely warm coat made by the TRPD project (wonderful Alison). It has stars and moons on it so she was then known as Gloria Potter! She was also sent a lovely rainbow coloured snood by Jan to keep her neck and ears warm on cold winter days. Her fame spread to the USA and a red velvet collar was sent over for her which she absolutely adored.

Gloria was trusted to be off lead on all her walks over the dunes and beach. She stayed on the lead for the first six months but then I gradually let her off for short periods. I soon realised that she could be totally trusted to stay within earshot and loved her home so much that she would never get lost. She was very clever and knew exactly where she lived and often ran on ahead to the back gate (especially when it was raining). Some of our oldies are not too bright and would be completely confused if let off the lead. After her walks she climbed onto my bed and curled up with a nice duvet over her. Judy made her a lovely warm snood for cold winter days and she looked very smart running around with her red coat and matching snood keeping her ears warm.

One day, in the dunes, Gloria came across a rabbit who was sick with Myxomatosis. Now Gloria would enjoy chasing rabbits up and down until they disappeared down their holes and the game was over, but when faced with the sight of an ill creature in front of her who did not run, she just stopped and looked, but did not attempt to harm it. She was never cruel and never wanted to hurt another living creature. It was just not in her nature.

Last May (2008), when Amos suddenly became so very ill, it was Gloria who stood over him when he collapsed in the garden. She sat with him while I went to phone for the vet to come. Quietly she laid a paw gently on his back while I brought a duvet to make him comfortable. She never left his side until his spirit had passed from his worn out body and he was carried from the garden.

We were worried that Gloria might be suffering from Leishmaniasis as it is so common in Spain and she did have a few suspicious skin lesions. She also became very lethargic. However the result was negative, though we know that the test is not always conclusive, as our experience with Dopey proved. However she soon recovered and was back to normal so I concluded she just had a viral infection.

We are haunted by the thought of how many Galgos are continually suffering in a European country which many British people seem to find so attractive as a holiday destination. Once off the usual tourist trail there are the traditions of horrific cruelty which really should shame a “civilized” country!

Tailends must have been like heaven to Gloria with every comfort and her favourite foods. She had quite good teeth and so could enjoy hide chews, tripe sticks and other treats. We did have to be careful though as sometimes imported chews with lots of additives and colourings can affect their tummies. We therefore only give good quality treats to those who are allowed to have them and can cope with eating them. Gloria loved to go rummaging around to see if anybody had dropped a hide stick and forgotten about it. She would then take it into the bedroom and sit on the bed eating her spoils like the Queen of Sheba! It is hard to remember that just a short time ago she was hours from death – a frozen bundle curled up by the side of a Spanish road.

Gloria suffered from arthritis in her spine as she got older and by May 2008 she could no longer manage to race around the beach as she had done previously. She soon adapted to going for shorter walks and accompanied the frailer dogs on their walks over the fields – off lead and really as an extra helper for me than anything (so she said). At the end of January she was increasingly lame on her front right leg and I took her to have a consultation with Simon who is the Charter Group expert on such things. I was devastated by his diagnosis that Gloria was suffering from a tumour on her leg and it would gradually get worse and more painful. Her time at Tailends was now limited. I was about to lose my amazing intelligent friend. I was with her day and night and monitored her condition and her demeanor, making sure she was comfortable, enjoying her food and able to go outside to greet visitors and for pleasure – not just for calls of nature. I hid her tablets in her favourite ice cream and gave her special meals including salmon and Suzie’s bacon-topped special biscuits.

On 27th February Gloria looked at me and I knew by her expression that she was ready to go. She had fought bravely against the disease which affected her, but now she realized that it was worsening and life was becoming too difficult. She was intelligent enough to know that the time had come and I understood. I rang for a vet to come and help her. Gloria passed quietly from this world, without any fuss or complaint, at 7pm. Tom, a vet from the Charter Group who we had not met before, was so kind and compassionate and I could not have wished for a better way for her to leave. She is now painfree and running with all the many friends she made here over the many months we knew her. Her legs now healthy and with the spring sunshine warming her back as she runs joyously – just as she used to through the fields here. I am left with the agony of her loss and the thought of coping without her quiet strength and knowing presence during all the problems and difficulties which occur when doing this work. I have to believe that we will be together again one day. Life without you dear Gloria is so unthinkable but somehow I must continue to help those other souls who you will never know. I cannot bear to realize that I will never again see your beautiful face with those ears pricked in attention to what I am saying and your eyes telling me that you understand exactly what I am saying to you. Never again will that incredibly long tail swish back and forth almost touching the ground and demonstrating your pleasure with everything around you. Goodbye for now my dear sweet friend. You will be in my heart every day until I can also pass from this life and we can be together again forever. Your spirit will continue to bring strength to Tailends where your image is forever present.

THE PLIGHT OF THE GALGOS

Galgos are Spanish bred greyhounds used widely by hunters in the rural areas of Spain for coursing the hare with betting. The season is only four months, after which time they are abandoned or brutally killed. Tens of thousands of galgos are abandoned, thrown down wells or brutally killed (traditionally by hanging) every year in Spain when the hunting season ends. Horrific brutality is inflicted on these innocent dogs. Their tails are often hacked off as a “punishment” or they are hung close to the ground where they take hours to die. The story of Gloria’s life has been written to pay tribute not only to her, but to raise awareness of the suffering of these amazing noble dogs. If you have been moved by it please do one small thing to help stop this cruelty.

PRINCESS GLORIA (from the Tailends Brochure)

Gloria came to Tailends as a thin pathetic little old lady. She had been rescued from her life of misery in Spain by Greyhounds In Need. She was found half frozen and minutes from death on the side of a road by a lady called Laura. However she would now like it to be known that she was really always a very special princess who was carried off by the gypsies from her real home in a castle in Spain. Gloria is extremely elegant and delicate. She is appalled at the “provincial” ways of the ordinary greyhounds and other dogs here at Tailends. Gloria eats her food very daintily and would never gobble it down like some she could mention. All the other dogs love sausages, but Gloria spits them out half way across the room in absolute disgust saying that English sausages are rubbish! She also thinks that Dog Beds (however comfortable they may be) are not quite the thing for a lady like herself. She therefore prefers to sit in a nice armchair with her head on the arm or stretch out on her mum’s bed with her head positioned carefully on the pillow. (She has tried to change the television programme when she finds the remote control, in the hope that she can find something a little more suitable for a princess to watch than Coronation Street. Maybe something about the National Trust would be more appropriate.) Occasionally all the chairs are full and she cannot get onto the bed and then the ultimate degradation as she stamps around the rooms before eventually resigning herself to the best dog bed she can find where she will sit bolt upright staring at the humans in disgust! Gloria moves around very gracefully and never bundles around like Charlie who she thinks is disgraceful and lacking in any social graces. She insists on having her lovely posh indoor coat (kindly donated by TRPD Project) put on after her afternoon walk so that she can show everyone how smart she looks (whether it is cold or not). She has a warm waterproof red coat and matching snood for her outdoor jaunts in winter. She obviously does not wear a harness like the others, as Gloria is never put on a lead when out on the dunes and beach. She is far too refined for such things and being so highly intelligent she knows never to wander far from the “more common hounds” in case they get lost and she has to guide them all home. What responsibility Gloria has! She knows the humans are present too but they are only there to tend to her every need. She is very fond of grapes (as princesses often are) though she has recently also developed a rather worrying taste for black pudding! (?) Gloria has the longest tail you have ever seen and how it does not brush along the ground when she walks is very surprising. (She says that only princesses have very long tails but then Gloria comes out with all sorts of tales.)