On board as we head towards the UK are five dogs from Spain. They’re a great bunch of playful, friendly characters who all love their walks.
Rocco
In the port town of Tarifa — a mecca for sand surfers — we met up with Franciska, who arrived the night before from Morocco with lovely little Rocco, who she rescued from the streets. Franciska was working in Morocco when she found herself adopted by Rocco, and couldn’t leave her behind. It’s quite complicated transporting dogs from Morocco, and they’d had to wait a while for Rocco’s travel documents to come through.
The view as you drive into Tarifa — huge paintings on the sides of apartment buildings
The biggest tile in the world!
It was a beautifully sunny day in Tarifa
Picturesque anchors
No northern Spanish port would be complete without a fort
We could just make out the African coastline across the water
Franciska making sure Rocco is settled in for the trip
Rocco on the beach when we stopped near Valencia. She was initially a bit fazed by the sea, but soon got the hang of it.
Scooby and Oli
We travelled to Estepona to collect Labrador Scooby and Terrier Oli, who belong to Mike and his family. The dogs been staying with sitters as the family went on ahead to the UK.
It took a little while to persuade the two dogs to pose for their photo
Finally, partial success!
Resident Labrador Sammy was on hand to say goodbye to his chums
These great mates are sharing one of the big bedrooms in our van
Tara
Lovely young Labrador Tara has been staying with Louis in Torrox, in the Malaga area. Now she’s on her way to rejoin her family in Scotland.
Tara ready for the off
We stopped off in Nerja to say hi to Oscar, a handsome chocolate Labrador who travelled with us as a pup and belongs to courier M’s uncle and aunt
Zara
In Almeria we called in on Joan, who we first met in 2005. She offers a safe haven for dogs in need of care and respite. She currently has seven indoor dogs and five in garden kennels. We collected Zara from her, a Doberman who was kicked out by her breeder because he couldn’t breed from her any more. Poor thing has a docked tail and clipped ears (illegal to do in the UK) which makes her look rather fierce, but in fact she’s a total softie.
Devoted Joan with Zara
At the beach in Valencia Zara couldn’t get her head around all that moving water, so settled for a cuddle on courier M’s lap instead
Golf ball fun
The great thing about Labradors is that you can watch them reverting to puppies when there’s something to retrieve. We walked them by a golf range, and both Scooby and Tara proved really adept at nosing them out of the undergrowth.
Here’s Scooby with one of his finds
The full trove of golf ball treasure
Oli really couldn’t work out what all the fuss was about
Tara had a slightly experimental approach, tossing them in the air and catching them again, before dropping them at our feet
On the way back to our van, Tara spotted water and food bowls behind another dog walker’s car, so decided to help herself! Fortunately the owner was very understanding — and reassured us he had plenty more food for his own dog. Tara left a golf ball as a ‘thank you’ for her snack!
Fascinating and the photos are gorgeous.
Glad you enjoyed them.
What a wonderful group of “big dogs”. Sadly most Dobermans are docked like that back here. Mom refused to do that to her’s and people wouldn’t believe she was purebred but I believe she was a much happier pup.
They are biggish dogs but all very well behaved on their walks. It’s a dreadful thing to do to dogs, people are automatically scared of them as they have a fierce look 🙁 And it must be so painful! Well done Mum.
love the buildings and the big ears of Rocco. and we love Zara… how sad that she had to live with humans once who treated her so badly… fortunately Joan was there to help her…I think the kennel clubs should ban such “breeders” who walk over bodies&souls just for the moneeh…
Yes, Rocco does have wonderful ears! Zara’s on the other hand are rather sad. Joan is wonderful, so many animals have found solace with/through her. Breeders can do terrible things.
One of my MOST favorite posts of all time from you!
The pictures are amazing, and of course I loved all of the dogs…God bless Joan and all those who take care of these precious creatures.
Safe travels to you at all times….
Glad to hear that! Joan is a wonderful woman.
More beautiful passengers and such wonderful places you visit! Thank goodness there are people like Joan. I am glad she was able to take in poor Zara.
Yes, Tarifa was so much more than we expected. People like Joan do wonderful work.
They’re all gorgeous, Annie. Good to hear that there are still good people, like Miss Joan in this world. Extra Pawkiss for that 🙂 <3
We need more people like Joan!
They’re all lovely. I don’t know why humans think it’s okay to change ears and tails – the ears look a particularly painful process.
It is the most barbaric practice. Terribly painful and for what purpose?!
This was a very interesting read! Totally happened upon the blog and happy to see the work you’re doing <3 Safe travels!
Thanks for dropping by!
Such a picturesque place!! I love your golfball collection… every golf course should have a labrador! Safe travels everyone.
You’d never have lost balls if you had a resident labrador!