Help - White Dog at the Cruz de Lameiros near Ligonde

[josofia]

If you have recently walked from Portmarin to Palas dei Rei or if you will soon be walking there please send me news of the beautiful white dog who was sleeping and scavenging at the table next to the Cross at Lameiros...His face has been haunting me since we met him on the 22nd May in the afternoon just before we stopped at the Fuente del Pelegrino in Ligonde for some water.

He is about the size of a Border Collie, white all over, obviously intelligent and well trained. His coat was quite matted and he was hungry and thirsty. We think pilgrims had been feeding him scraps and that is why he was staying there.

I was walking with my 2 children in the heat with another woman and it had been a long day. I asked a woman who lived nearby and she told me that the dog had been there for about ten days and that she didn't know who owned him. I asked the Hospitallero at the Fuente del Peregrino to look out for him. In other circumstances I would have tried to rescue him.

Since I left Santiago I have been thinking that I should have taken the dog and tried to find a home for him or brought him back to Amsterdam to find a home here. We live in Australia so it's impossible to take him there. I have been trying to call the Albergue near by but can't get through. Please let me know if you see him or go past the place where he was.
josofiabronte@gmail.com

[Covey]

Sadly there an awful lot of dogs who have to scavenge for a living along the Camino routes. Peoples attitude to dogs varies throughout the world, and what we might regard as cruel and uncaring, is regarded as quite normal in other societies.

In Spanish cities, dogs are treated much the same way as in London, Paris or Sydney, but in the Spanish countryside, dogs are generally kept to guard and earn their keep and not kept as family pets, and when their usefulness comes to an end they are often just turned loose to fend for themselves.

They learn very quickly that pilgrims and bars equals food. There is a bar on the Meseta where the bar owner owns a terrier dog, who steals the food the pilgrims have just bought in the bar, and when the pilgrims complain to the bar owner, he suddenly does not speak any English and denies in voluble Spanish that the dog is his. The pilgrim then has to buy some more food or go hungry. Having seen the same dog four years running repeat the trick, the bar owner seems to be on to a good thing. That dog must love chiritso sausage, cos that is what it steals!!

The collie will be OK, cos these dogs are survivors, and he will be someone else's best friend by now.

Buen Camino!

[josofia]

Hi, I found the white dog and now I need to get the dog to Amsterdam. If there is anyone who is willing to pick up the dog close to Palas de Rei, bring it to Paris or Amsterdam please please let me know! Posting this on 13 June and need to know quickly as the dog is in temporary care. josofiabronte@gmail.com

[Covey]

You clearly are a Lady who does not get discouraged easily, however having read the Blog I can probably understand why!!

As Felipe's family come from Galecia could someone in the family not get hold of the dog and look after it whilst you find a way of getting it back to Amsterdam. That at least would take the time pressure off a bit.

Keep eating the Muesli!!

[josofia]

as reported in La Voz de Galicia, I returned to Lestedo near Ligonde, to the divine Casa Rectoral de Lestedo, to pick up the white dog, who we called BLANCA. The owners of the Casa Rectoral - Susana and Cesar - helped to rescue her and organise her vaccinations and papers. I tried to find her a home locally but didn't succeed so my daughter and I brought her back to Amsterdam where she has a good and loving home and the opportunity to go to the country in France occasionally...BLANCA is highly intelligent and adores people.

For those pilgrims who are getting close to Santiago and want a night of nurturing and serenity, the Casa Rectoral de Lestedo, http://www.casa-rectoral-lestedo.com/ is a perfect stop...we can't wait to return.

Josofia