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It certainly wasn’t how we expected Friday morning to start.
Almost everyone at Cortijo Fruitful Hills was unexpectedly woken at 6 am by a chorus of local dogs barking and howling and the cries of what turned out to be two adorable puppies.
They were outside Andrew’s door, crying for their mum. Eventually, she appeared – Andrew thought she was a Podenco breed.
Then one of the puppies managed to get into the swimming pool – which Andrew needed to rescue.
As Property Manager and Host at Cortijo Fruitful Hills, we can now add puppy lifeguard to his CV.
The next day, I heard desperate puppy cries. I investigated and found a third puppy trapped on another property.
Bless her little heart, despite being frightened and having an injured leg, she determinedly made her way towards me and let me to pick her up. She had clearly allowed me to help her and immediately settled into my chest.
It was a touching moment – so much courage from a being so tiny and young.
Andrew and I reunited her with her siblings, and they all had a good rest.
They looked a bit domesticated, so initially we hoped someone was looking for them.
Unfortunately, no humans turned up, and Mum didn’t return.
Perhaps she had other puppies to attend to, or perhaps there is another part of the story that we haven’t discovered yet.
Either way, the three little girls ended up staying at Cortijo Fruitful Hills, while Andrew got to work straight away looking for solutions – including reaching out to rescue charities.
A knowledgeable neighbour gave us some advice and a homoeopathic remedy for the injured puppy’s leg, which worked remarkably well.
Andrew continued contacting local rescue organisations to see who might be able to help. As is so often the case, many were already completely full.
He got in touch with Almas de 4 Patas, an animal rescue organisation in Alhaurín el Grande, which offered to take the puppies once they had been checked by a vet, had their first vaccinations, and we had made sure they were healthy over the following week.
Andrew took them to the vet, and while he was there, he had to choose names for their vaccination cards.
We now have the saintly-inspired names:
Lola
Lucia
& Leticia
I think he made a good choice.
We haven’t decided which is which.
From sleepy puppies to little tornadoes
The first day I thought, this will be fairly easy.
They were so sleepy and placid. Food, warmth and TLC, and they seemed perfectly content to curl up and sleep.
That didn’t last long, and they were soon absolutely full of the joys of life and could win awards for energy and enthusiasm.
They appear to have made me Mum, and apart from when they are sleeping, or I am unavailable, they follow me everywhere.
They have also now reached the chewing stage.
Unfortunately, this includes my ankles.
This means my barefoot walking around the estate has temporarily been suspended, and I am now wearing my winter riding boots whenever I go outside.
The puppies, meanwhile, are having a wonderful time, including them helping and hindering! My gardening today.
Happily, there is already interest
One of our guests has already been in contact with Almas de 4 Patas to enquire about adopting one of them, which is a lovely development.
I will be sorry to see them go. I love them deeply, and they have certainly made themselves at home here.
But Cortijo Fruitful Hills has to remain practical, and three rapidly growing puppies are quite a commitment which we cannot fulfil long-term.
The important thing to us is that they get the chance to find good, responsible homes.
A very familiar story around here
If you’re new to this part of Andalucía, you will probably soon become familiar with some of the less pleasant stories that come with living here.
People find abandoned puppies and kittens, and sometimes whole litters turn up dumped by bins or left in plastic bags. There are also some genuinely horrific stories of animal cruelty.
At the same time, there are an enormous number of local people doing what they can to help.
Sometimes that means taking in an animal they found, feeding strays, paying vet bills, fostering a litter or trying to find homes for animals that have suddenly appeared.
And oftentimes, despite the best intentions, animal-loving people end up with far more animals than they ever intended to have.
I remember a lady not far from here who eventually ended up with around 85 cats. What may have started with one or two animals needing help became an enormous strain for her to maintain.
It’s one of those things you discover when you live in the campo – there is a whole informal network of people helping animals, often alongside the established rescue organisations.
As mentioned, Almas de 4 Patas is one of them.
They rescue abandoned animals, arrange veterinary care, provide accommodation and foster support, and work to find permanent homes. They also promote sterilisation and responsible ownership.
Then there’s Last Chance Animal Rescue, focused specifically on strays here in the Coín and Guadalhorce valley – they run a small dog shelter and cattery, and have repeatedly faced enormous challenges of their own, yet they keep going.
For anyone moving to the area, it won’t be long before you start discovering the local animal-welfare community for yourself. And if you’re anything like us, you may find that you become involved rather more quickly than you expected.
Supporting the local animal community
There are lots of ways to support the people already doing this work. People fundraise, and there are plenty of local Facebook groups where lost and found animals – and those looking for homes – get shared around the community.
There are also the charity shops, and this part of the Guadalhorce valley has a surprising number of them.
CHAIN Charity Shop at La Trocha in Coín is only about 10 minutes from Cortijo Fruitful Hills. It’s one of those places where you can pop in for a browse, have a chat and quite possibly come out with something you didn’t know you needed. I particularly enjoy going there, and they’ve been genuinely helpful when I’ve gone in looking for things for creative projects.
Arca Noah, also at La Trocha, is run by the charity of the same name – started by Christel, who moved to Alhaurín from Belgium some twenty years ago and began helping the local strays. Mostly dogs and cats pass through their hands on the way to new homes.
Last Chance Animal Rescue has its own shop in Coín too, next to The Olive Tree restaurant/café. One customer summed it up better than I could: “quite literally my favourite place ever!!! I come here every two weeks to buy clothes and goshhh I love it here, everyone is so kind and helpful :)) love you guys so much”
SOS Charity Shop, also in Coín, stocks a proper mixed bag – furniture, clothing, books, DVDs, bric-a-brac – the kind of place worth a wander if you’re after something specific and don’t yet know what it is.
In Alhaurín el Grande, ARCH Horse Rescue Spain has its own charity shop supporting its work with rescued horses, ponies and donkeys. There are also occasional tack sales and other local fundraising events onsite at ARCH, which is just down the road from Cortijo Fruitful Hills.
And Last Chance has a second outpost, the AID Furniture Store, with more furniture, clothing, books, DVDs and bric-a-brac. Another place with real community spirit behind the till.
And for Lola, Lucia and Leticia…
For now, they have one more week at Cortijo Fruitful Hills.
They have food and water (but not the swimming pool!), warmth, lots of space to run around, plenty of attention from us and guests and, judging by my ankles, great sets of teeth!
Then it’s time for the life ahead of them.
Hopefully each of these three little girls will soon have a loving home of her own.
And I suspect Cortijo Fruitful Hills will feel a little different when they have gone.
