As many of you, we had barely heard of the drama from friends, but it sounded like something happening very far away. Then we met little Fuco and realized it was very real. And then we moved on with the chaos of our lives and forgot about it…

But an uncomfortable feeling had grown in our hearts and never went away. And our lives got a bit less chaotic. And then we remembered Fuco and launched a google search. And we found the picture that was gonna change our lives forever.

You may be expecting a description of horror, blood and open wounds; a vivid image of human cruelty way over any reason. And we found many pictures of that, but terrible as they were it wasn’t the anger and the rage that were gonna light the spark for us.

It was a rather small picture at the bottom right side of a non flashy website. On it, there was a face with the deepest caramel eyes we had ever seen; and behind it, a human leg in a green vet uniform. The white coat had a black mask above the nose highlighting the expression in his look: so wise, so innocent, so gone to hell and back.

We fell in love with that look and made it our obsession to get some bright of happiness back into those sweet eyes; to show that poor soul that there was kindness in this world. The innocence in that look was not yet forever lost and we were on a mission to save it.

We were very lucky. Thanks to the pure hearts of volunteers separated by thousands of kilometers, we found ourselves in the airport only 1 month later living a moment we’ll never forget. And when some days after that we let him loose to run for the first time, he did it so fast and ecstatic that we thought we had for the first time watched pure joy; followed by the terrifying feeling that he may run away and we’d certainly loose him forever.

But he came back; like he’s always come back ever since. And even when he runs free, there seems to be this gravity field of love that turns his trajectory into an orbit around us.

It’d be impossible to explain how much happiness we’ve experienced by his side. Over the course of months, he learned a healthy routine including food, walks and cuddling. He learned not to be scared to death when a human approaches. And with the time, he even learned what he should have learned the day he was born: to play. ‘Cause yes, that’s how much these poor things suffer before they get a chance in life (if they do, that is). We try really hard to give him so much affection that there is not enough room in his little head to remember how horrible human beings can become.

We’d like to think he’s happy now; he certainly looks so. And when he checks on us every night when we go to bed and every morning that we oversleep, with his careful walk around both sides of the bed trying to reach us with his snout to kiss us, we sincerely wonder who brought the most joy to whom.

He sleeps at my feet while I finish these lines, breathing deeply despite the music and the movement in the room. He’s confident and happy. And I know in 5 minutes, when we call him for his evening walk, he’s gonna rapidly stand up and, after stretching front and rear legs, he’s gonna look at us shaking his tail. And we’ll know once again there is a brightness in those deep caramel eyes that wasn’t there when we found his picture. And the best wish we can make for you, our dear reader, is that you ever experience that kind of happiness in your heart.

If you’ve liked this article and wanna know more about helping Spanish galgos, the following list of sites can be a great place to start. Special thanks to the volunteers of Greyhounds Rescue Holland and Galgos del Sur: without you we’d have never known this kind of loving.

(NL) http://www.greyhoundsrescue.nl/about-us/

(US) http://www.galgorescue.org/spanish-galgo/

(ES) http://www.galgosdelsur.com/index.php/nosotros/presentacion

And from a little Dutch town, here is our drop in the ocean for contributing to the galgo cause:

We sell these cards for 4 euros each in Etsy, and all the benefits are donated to non profit organizations who rescue and search homes to thousands of mistreated dogs. It’s not a lot of money to pay for the amount of work and dedication volunteers put into helping these sweet creatures.

Spread the word! The world needs to know what’s going on with galgos every year. They’re counting on you! Can you say no to such beauties?

♥ Thanks for stopping by! Together we can do it! ♥