a dog named manolo
This is a story about my dog, Manolo. The name is the spanish form of Manuel (It exists in the english as well as in the german language). He is my/our first dog.
Spain is the country where he was born in 2020 and grew up for approximately a year. He lived as a street dog, probably within a pack of other dogs without that many (positive) contact to humans. At least this is our explanation for his skepticism towards human strangers. Meeting dogs on the other hand, always fills him with joy. His excellent dog-to-dog-communication, comes in handy for us as first time dog owners. Its really impressive to see, how he manages nearly any situation with other dogs while freewheeling.
As Manolo comes from the street he very likely is a cross-breed. We would guess he is one half Vizsla and on the other half Podenco. Compared to other Vizslas he is rather small and not that bulky.
journey towards germany
Manolo was picked up from the streets in early 2021, from where he was brought to a spanish animal shelter. Here he was subject to multiple medical examinations and treatments. At the beginning of april, he as well as many other dogs were brought to germany by a transporter. The ride took around 24 hours. Manolo then was brought to a transfer station in North Rhine-Westfalia.
Not all of the dogs were dropped at the same station, but instead they are distributed over multiple ones. Typically the dogs live in these for a few days or weeks, until they find their new or first home. During Manolos stay at the transfers station he was visited by multiple people of which one was us.
From here everything went extremely fast. We visited him on saturday. On sunday a person from the animal organization showed up at our home to validate that it is dog-suitable. On Monday we be bought all the dog equipment like food, a bed or a leash and in the evening we picked Manolo up. We were totally flashed and happy.
our first trip to the beach
In July 2021 we booked a small apartment next to the north-sea and started our first trip to the beach with Manolo. The ride to the sea took us around 3 hours which is no problem at all for him, since he is used to ride for periods 8 times longer. For Manolo water seems to be an interesting element but he is not in love with it. That means seeing it, smelling all the different flavours of the sea and dipping his paws into it is great. Swimming on the other hand should be avoided.
Here you see an image of Manolo checking out the sea:
