The Finca Dogs
Dillun and Floozie
One day, not long after Dillun had moved into the kennel, we were joined by Floozie who had followed Alex and Los as they jogged down from the village to the finca one morning. She wa s very much like a Springer Spaniel and in good condition. Despite asking around no-one claimed her and even though we tried to shoo her away she never left. She and Dillun became utt erly inseperable, with inevitable results, Ella es un bonna cacadora de conill. She had five puppies with Dillun, which she brought up in our barn. Three of them were given to a dog r escue, and two boys were kept as guard dogs. Unfortunately, after the puppies were 3-4 months old, she slipped her collar one night and got run over by a passing car. Dillun never got over her loss.
Dillun & Floozie's Pups
Puppies after they were born. Cachorros en els primer setmana
Puppies at 3 weeks
Cachorros despres tres setmanas
Puppies at 4 weeks
Cachorros despres quatre setmanas
2nd, 3rd and 4th months
5th, 6th and 7th Months
Boris
Introducing Boris. Another wild puppy found wandering outside our apartment in the village. A proper hunting dog, who most probably had a good pedigree behind him. He was never going to be a keeper, but it was lovely to be able to bring him up through his puppyhood into being a strong young dog. The call of the wild, or more likely a bitch in heat, lured him off one day and he never returned.
A handsome chap
And another wild thing that we found outside the holiday house of our Irish friends Richard and Mary. She was curled up on the roadside and watching plaintively as we welcomed our friends during one of their visits in April '10.
As she was still there the next day, we took her back to the finca, gave her a bath and fed her, before putting her in the dog pen with the others.She was very self assured and while fully humanised, was always running off for the night if she could. She was extremley feisty with Theo and would let him near the food when she was eating. After Theo's puppies were born, she did not like them getting near her and soon after the three we kept were put in the dog pen, she decided to move out for good.
Theo and Cleo
Theo is our original dog, Dillun's remaining son. He is medium sized and has one blue eye, while the other one is quite dark. After his brother. Dozer & Trotsky ran off in Spring '10, he was lonely for a while until Cleo came along and worked her girly charms on him. Now they live in the outside kennel on the side of the almacen, with daily rabbiting runs to keep them happy. Their three remaining daughters D'oli, Panda & Piglet, have the luxury of the dog pen and hunters hide to themselves when we are not around
House
So named because he will live with us in No. 11. He came from a litter of puppies at Restaurant Mario. He was about 8 weeks when we first saw him in July 2012. We took him back to live at our flat a couple of weeks later, so we could house train him and try to get some training embedded in him before he got set in his dog pack ways. He was quite dark as a puppy and was nearly called Jack as he had eyebrows just like Jack Nickelson. I spent his first two weeks with us sleeping on the sofa with my hand poking throuhg the mesh on his cage, so that he could lick my fingers for reasurance when he woke in the night. It was well worth the effort. He is now an exuberant, very friendly (even with cats) but undemanding dog. If we could just stop him losing sackfulls of fur around the house every week he would be perfect.A year later and he is much paler and even shaggier. He can't wait to get down to the finca in the morning to see if our other dogs are there and to have a run with them when they hunt for rabbits in the barranc. With his whiskers, he can look very Wookyish when the wind blows.
Akon
A special mention has to go to his best friend Akon. The only Spanish, Romanian, English Bulldog (well, at least in this village). They love to have sleepovers and chase each other around, or just watch the world go by. And bark at it.
Piglet, Panda and D'Oli
But not usually in that order. D'oli (the whitest one) is by far the biggest and the boss. She takes main defensive duties and has a great bark, as well as being prepared to investigate anything she thinks isa threat. Panda (the foxy brown one) is next biggest and employs a mean snarl when the others get near her food. She has inherited her grandmother Floozie's fur and needs a fair bit of grooming if she isn't to look scruffy all the time. Piglet (the mini doberman) was the runt of the litter. She all the time. Piglet (the mini doberman) was the runt of the litter. She complete wuss and only useful as a lap dog.
Cleo, Piglet & Wnn
Cleo & Piglet are the only dogs we have in the finca for most of 2013, until towards the end of the year, a dark mottled bitch turned up one day and decided to stay. For a long time we didn't name her (we thought she was pregnant and looking for somewhere to have her puppies), so she became The dog with no name". After we could see she wasn't pregnant, was very friendly and got on well with Cleo, Piglet & House, we made her welcome and shortened her name to Wnn As far as we can tell she has run away from a nearby shepherd deciding, that life with us is better than being shouted at by a shepherd. The other two dogs are certainly enjoying her extra furriness when they sleep together in the kennel and now they are a pack of three dogs, their tally of rabbits has jumped considerably.
