'I Am Francis. And I Am Still Alive…'

Emirates 24/7 ^ | Saturday, August 22, 2015 | Majorie van Leijen

[KGeorge]

Dogs are surely a gift from God.

I don’t know about anyone else, but people who abuse animals of any breed (Sighthounds are one especially close to my heart) make me want to start a little ‘’jihad’’ of my own.

Great website! Thanks.

[Salamander]

Yeah, me too.

If they ever give me six months to live...well, it won’t be wasted.

/Ibizan Hound/Portuguese Podengo Medio mom

[KGeorge]

Isn’t it the truth?

(Mini-me’s for the Ibizans? They’re adorable! A few years back, someone had a Longcoat Dachshund that matched their Silken- both Brindles & so beautiful.)

[Salamander]

Sorta-kinda.

They're a Portuguese variant of the ubiquitous Podengo/Podenco family, especially created to flush game out of rough brush, either to catch them themselves or run them into the eagerly awaiting jaws of the larger Podenco Grandes.

This is my beloved little horror show, Gypsy, aka "The Velociraptor"

Dobermanns be damned, it is *she* who rules the pack.

When they're outside, she comes in low and strafing, runs Odin to ground and them 'playfully' tries to either hamstring him or deal a killing bite to his neck, from above. :D

Poor Odin was "raised" by her and he very confused about his breed predilections.

Rather than coming up from below and grabbing the under-throat, he has learned the Sighthound "death bite" of hitting from above.

He has become...versatile? LOL

[Salamander]

LOL..I forgot I had this.

Notice Odin running for his life as The Velociraptor closes in...

[Salamander]

Two on one and she is not cowed.

[Salamander]

The beautiful badassery of the Grandes, hunting wild boar.

These are the magnificent hounds the hunters torture to death. :(

[KGeorge]

She’s GORGEOUS! LOL You can see her attitude. Alpha females usually get their way.

[KGeorge]

:-D She looks like she’s ready to play & so does he, really. These are great pics, Sal! (brrrr snow My Eskies got to see snow- very light snow, once. They weren’t impressed. lol Wimps)

[KGeorge]

They’re so pretty. Wow, you have a full house. :-D & a full heart, I know.

[Salamander]

Thanks!

She has a wild story behind her, too.

In Merced CA, a Portguese hunter dumped her and her sister Darby in the desert, to either starve or be eaten by coyotes.

They were about 6 months old.

A kill shelter managed to catch them but they were still in danger as the Ibizan Hound parent club did not rescue ‘breed variants’.

*However*, a member of the club drove *8 hours* to snag the sisters, on her own dime and took them to no-kill shelter in southern Cali.

Long story short, I started a benefit auction, donating my own artwork, to gather the $1500 necessary to get them out and in forever homes.
Soon, others donated artwork and other items and I had enough.

It took almost 2 months, but “Tangerine and Marmelade” were soon on a plane, destined one for me in Maryland and the other, to a dear friend/dog rescuer in Omaha NE.

Gypsy had severe, congestive double pneumonia and for two weeks, I was not sure that I wouldn’t lose her.

But she lived, much to my ever-lasting joy.

Until I bought Seven, the Dobe, Gypsy was my “most expensive” dog, ever, 99% of the rest being “normal rescues”.

She still has psychological scars from her time in the desert, dodging coyotes.

If she’s sitting somewhere and I nudge her with my foot or she feels as if I’m “intimidating” her, somehow, she goes all Wolfen. LOL

I cut her the break.

Poor little pup has gone through an awful lot.

[KGeorge]

That is remarkable. (Holy crap, hogs are MEAN! If those were my dogs, that would have scared me to death.)

It just kills me. They are made for us & yet, some sub human filth betrays that. There’s a special place in hell, but it’s not consolation enough. I guess it should be, but it’s not.

Thanks for sharing these wonderful pictures. Your pack is just beautiful. (I know they’re a lot of fun, but I bet, sometimes, they wear you out. My guys are smaller, but the boys are Always. On. Crazy. & they’re gettin older)

[Salamander]

I only have one Ibizan Hound left, Djinni, out of the 8 I have rescued.

The problem with rescue dogs is that, sometimes, so much damage has occurred before you get them, that they have issues later on that take them from you, too soon. :(

Here are Gypsy and Darby in the kill shelter...just babies.

Darby

And Gyp.

[Salamander]

They are my life and my loves.

:)

[KGeorge]

:-) Wow. What a story. Sometimes, I wish they could talk & then sometimes, I’m so grateful they can’t. What perfect names.

They can go million dollar dog pretty quick, but it is sooo worth it. It’s so painful when all the money in the world couldn’t fix what they need.

[Salamander]

When I had *7* Ibizans bouncing off the walls at one time, yeah, they wore me out but it was happy exhaustion. :)

Djinni is soon to be 10 and somewhat settled down, Gypsy’s devilishness is confined to chewing things that ought not be chewed and the Dobes are, as always, perfectly civil.

:)

They say our beloved pets will be waiting for us in the afterlife, and will shower us with their love and joy.

I can only hope the *other* people have merciless Hell Hounds waiting for *them*, with sharp fangs and raging fury.

Fair is fair.

[Salamander]

I know that sorrow.

Most FReepers remember the tragedy of my ‘Halla.

I have pet insurance on them and there is *no* payout limit and the company pre-pays in case of massive expenses.

*If* there is any way to save them, I will do my best to make it happen.

The issues the other dogs had [degenerative myelopathy and severe immune system issues, for example] no amount could cure.

If love could have saved them, they never would have died.

[Salamander]

Yeah, hogs *are* mean but appearances are deceiving.

All the doe-eyed, dainty, elegant sight hounds are merciless, efficient, determined and fearless killers.

Few looking at their sweet Greyhound or Whippet, wrapped in their binkie on the sofa would ever imagine it, but it so.

A pack of them is a formidable terror.

People often laughed at my spindly-legged pack of elegance but I laughed in reply “Oh? You need a *gun* to get your supper? How quaint.”

:)

[KGeorge]

God Love them. Mojo didn’t look too bad (expression-wise, but he had almost no hair), but Murphy (who isn’t an Eskie, but totally unknown) had a look like that. Another rescuer was begging for someone to please pull him & we couldn’t resist. We drove up to Dallas & got him. He’s a character. He’s come back from 2 different adoptions for snapping at one & ‘’guarding’’ at another, but he’s always been Mr Congeniality with us, the vets, & everyone else he’s ever met*. lol We think he did it on purpose. (* well, except Mojo. I still have to keep them apart)

I know. :-( The worst part is not knowing exactly how old they are. Not that it would ‘’help’’ all that much. There is no ‘’easier’’ way to lose a pup. And we will never have them long enough, no matter what.

[Salamander]

My first Ibizan, Minny, was in the shelter for 3 weeks, which is 2 weeks ‘past the day’...

A worker there kept talking them out of killing her because she had a Saluki and knew Minny was ‘some kind of sight hound’, even though they called her a “whippet”.

I found her 10 minutes before they closed, on the last day of her life, as the supervisor simply couldn’t hold her, anymore.

For all that time, Minny hung out with the worker who had the Saluki but ‘went invisible’ every time anyone went by her kennel.
She’d ball up on her filthy blanket and present her back to everyone, not responding, at all.
I walked in, knelt down, poked my fingers through the chain link, said “hey, girl” and Minny got up off her cold blanket, walked over and *bit* me.
[What TOOK you SO long to get here, mom?] LOL

The two ladies started crying.

I was her last chance.

So I looked up at them and said “Get my dog outta this damn cage.”

They flipped out.

Much rejoicing and tears of joy.

Minny swaggered out to the counter and stood up, beside me as I signed her adoption papers and then went out the door, *and walked straight to my car*.

It was as if she had been waiting for *me*, all those weeks and intentionally made herself invisible to anyone else.

Later, I found out she had once belonged to my mother’s friend, who skipped town with her boy-toy and all her poor husband’s money, leaving Minny [then Marnie] loose in the yard.

Marnie/Minny had run away but stayed in the general area for weeks before the SPCA captured her.

Meanwhile, the husband had found her collar and tags, *still buckled*, along RT 40 and assumed she was dead.

*I* think she knew that was the way she had to take, to “find” me.

I was meant to have that dog.

Too many coincidences.

She was also the dog who stopped my ex from killing me, the last night he was here.

I had saved her and so she saved me.

Best dog, ever.

And nope, I do not care who thinks I’m crazy.

:D