wabbiiiiiiit!

Me Luka loves wabbit. Me brotha Guido, he loves wabbit too. And yesterday we was lucky, we found a wabbit, and we didn't even have to chase it. Wabbit was berrie berrie dead. Me snatchsnatched it and took a foot, Guido snatched the whole lot - wow! I was about to cheer 'way to go, brotha, now we have an understanding' - but then the Main Servant said 'Guido, no! Let go!' And guess what... that stupid git let go! 
I still had the wabbit footsie so I ran for it, a good thing that by now I have trained ma Main Servant to give up on trying to get anything from Luka's mouth, so I allowed maself to be on the leash but no way I was giving up my wabbit footsie. Chewchew, crunchcrunch, yummie that was GOOD! Guido kept sniffing me and kept nagging me all afternoon on the couch so I breathed in his face, there you go you daft git, who lets go of a tasty wabbit? He was not amused and tried to hide behind his paws. 

Today we was on the same field and I knew Main Servant was going to be watchful and on my case about da wabbit - but actually I totally forgot about it for a short moment 'cuz Sid was on my case taunting me and running around and annoying me so I had to put him in his place - and before I knew whot happened me and Guido was on the leash again :(....
Main Servant walked onto the field and yes there was the wabbit! 
Me looked at Guido and told him here was his chance to make up for that cock-up yesterday, so we both pulled the leash with all our might and yesss! We got da wabbit!! I tore and tore and Guido was tearing the other half, I growled at him to 'damn it let's split even' -  and then it slipped from ma mouth and that Guido weasel tried to run for it taking it all for himself... which he could have, but he was still on the leash, just like me, and there was Main Servant again going 'let GO!'  ..... and the idiot obeyed. 
I was weallyweallyweally pissed off, we were both dragged away from da tasty wabbit, Gaia was just following Main Servant as usual so I tried to get Sid or Nancy to take it for us, but they couldn't be bothered... berrie clear no hunting blood in there!  So now all I have is the smell and the taste, tomorrow if we is going to walk there again, I swear I will take a run for it and go snatchysnatch yummie wabbit and both Main Servant and Guido can chase me to the moon! 

(of course as I am telling you this Guido is on the floor, I cannot stand him on the couch with me, letting go of a wabbit TWICE - that's so daft it should be illegal. Growl.)

meeeeeeeeeeee!

sometimes pictures speak clearer than words.... so here are some pictures of meeeeeeee!

In the spotlight: Grey2KUSA.org

hello dear two-legged friends, ebbery now and then me Luka la Loca wants to share with you some of the wonderful two-leggers that get thaselves organised and do greyt things for my brothas and sistas in Espagna... this week:

http://www.grey2kusa.org/

A National Voice for Greyhounds

Formed in March of 2001, GREY2K USA is a national non-profit organization dedicated to passing stronger greyhound protection laws and ending the cruelty of dog racing. To this end, we work nationwide to fight for greyhounds in state legislatures, at the ballot box, and in the courts.

Ending the Cruelty of Dog Racing

Greyhound racing is cruel and inhumane, and should be prohibited. GREY2K USA was the first organization to successfully outlaw dog racing using the ballot initiative process. In November 2008, the citizens of Massachusetts chose compassion over cruelty and voted 56%-44% to close down Raynham and Wonderland Greyhound Parks. Since our formation, twenty-five dog tracks have closed for live racing all across the country, and the number of states with dog racing has been cut in half.

"Greyhound racing has remained a legal activity in some states partly because no single group has existed to consistently and persistently expose on a national level the abuses inherent in the industry and to fight its expansion. GREY2K USA's emergence is the best news greyhounds have had in decades."
    - Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States

Passing Stronger Greyhound
Protection Laws

In recent years, GREY2K USA has been instrumental in fighting for stronger laws to protect racing greyhounds. In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, we successfully passed laws requiring that these states inform the public on the number of greyhounds injured while racing, and report on the ultimate fate of racing dogs. Also in Massachusetts, we helped pass the first state-funded greyhound adoption trust fund in United States history. In Florida and New Hampshire, we passed legislation to restore greyhounds to the protections of anti-cruelty laws

Defeating Attempts to Subsidize Dog Tracks

GREY2K USA works to defeat attempts to prop up the cruelty of dog racing and has successfully repealed direct subsidies, tax breaks and other special legislative favors once awarded to dog track owners.

Since 2002, we have helped defeat attempts to subsidize dog races with slot machine profits in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Oregon. Dog track owners in Colorado, Kansas and Oregon decided to close their facilities as a result.

see their website:  http://www.grey2kusa.org/ for more information!

Luka lets the Main Servant share some thoughts...

Okay, here's something that has been bothering both my houndie and me. I have no children of my own. Not by choice, but because mother nature has provided me with malfunctioning ovaries and I seem to be unable to reproduce. Miracles could still happen but the ole biological clock is tick-tick-tocking faster every year on this side of fourty so for now I console myself being a happy dogsmother. In a way, having a pack of dogs has had the same impact on my life on an emotional, financial and social level as would be the case having a horde of kids. Either way, I cannot do as I please since I have 5 lives depending on me (not mentioning our 4 feline kids), there's the medical expenses and all the joy and grief that goes with sharing your life with loved ones, since it hurts either way when they die, be it the two-legged or four-legged kind. 

Surprisingly, kids and dogs have more in common that one might think. All around me I often see people happily procreating, getting one kid after another, but the kids are then all too often confined to their rooms, their toys have to be stashed away in a playing room and once they're old enough they spend most of their spare time in the streets, hanging out totally unsupervised, being taught nothing but streetwise bluff. Upon entering some of their so called homes, it is sometimes hard to see any of their presence there. Maybe a drawing on the fridge, or their coats at the hanger. But downstairs, everything looks like something straigth out of an interior design guide. No toys, no handicrafted items, just everything need and tidy. The only bit of the house that has some playfullness is the child's own bedroom, which often in these cases is either way depressingly sparsely fitted or depressingly overcrowded and messy, filled with cheap pacifying toys. With these kind of folks, it is often the same story when they have dogs. They keep their pets confined in a kennel all day, or outside in a doghouse. No feeding bowls in the kitchen, sometimes not even a dog bed... They want the child, they want the dog, because it is part of the picture perfect of the suburban house with the picket fence and the neatly clipped lawn, but dog forbid their presence is shown.

Their kids and dogs are supposed to adapt, adapt, adapt, just sit there and be still and nice and don't bother the parents. To achieve this goal, the parents can resort to a range of craftily designed tools, made to ensure the child is totally silent but with a side effect of lasting damage to thinking abilities and creative thinking, a side effect often overlooked by the parents and only discovered after the damage has been done. With their dogs it is more a matter of closing the door or getting the dog tied up somewhere in a back room.

How totally different it is, fortunately, with most of my friends. A big cupboard in the living room holding their children's toys, proudly displaced handicrafted flowerpots and play-doh constructions made for mothers' day, an assortment of little boots, coats and bags on the stairs and on the pegs in the hall, loads of little scribbled attempts to portray mum and dad pasted on the fridge, and also dog beds, feeding bowls, and an assortment of tug-a-war ropes, balls and rubber animals that go squeek when bitten by happy dog mouths (or stepped on by hapless visitors). Kids tumbling around their back yard or engaging in fairy-tale roleplaying, building things of lego blocks or reading stories to each other. Dogs knowing their place in the pack order, but also happily engaging in play with the kids or the guests if they want to. Parents who don't throw a fit upon discovering muddy foot- or pawprints on the floor, but shrug and say hey, that's why someone invented the mop and bucket. The children in those families grow up being happy and loved, and so do the dogs. Every dog, every child deserves a life like that!

Luka snuggles up for wintertime

What's wrong with da weather, Luka wants to know. It supposed to be Summer but outside it's raining and wet and yikes. Luka cannot even have a good belly-up lie in the hay, coz all in the garden is wet. Humans from these cold wet parts don't understand, us galgos we used to nice temperatures. Nice sunny and warm with little things that go buzz around  be snacked even when ya lying upside down... and to make it worse, Luka saw a dead wabbit!! And Main Servant wouldn't let her go there - saying somesing about cars. Luka don't see no cars juss lovely squashed wabbit... Luka has new goal in life: get to wabbit. Soon! In the meantime, the nice warm soft couch is da place to be ...

this is why Main Servant and Luka want you to help them in helping the dogs of Spain

these images speak more than words. this, dear people who wonder why we bother taking these dogs out of Spain, is why we do it. This is how the majority of galgos are kept in Spain; totally emaciated, covered in mange,living in dark damp sheds with only their own excrement as floor covering.Stop the limitless breeding of galgos, stop the hunt!

photo's are coming up - weren't able to copy them from website, will update later... anyway those pics were of the raid on a dude named Antonio who kept too many dogs in incredible filthy conditions and in a terrible state - Luka cannot grasp some of her brothas and sistas have to live like THAT. But she is very grateful there are people who care about them, taking them out of that mess, giving them care and love and a forever home if possible... and who are not afraid to go after the evil humans treating dogs like shite, making sure they get to answer for their actions in a court of law and making sure the whole wide world knows what they were doing...Big kudos to those wonderful humans!

Luka's friends are looking for a couch of their own!

Luka is a bit sad. While me is laying here on the couch and getting lots of walks, bones, yummie food and hugs, over 200 of my brothas and sistas are now waiting at the Scooby shelter for special people who give them a place on their couch...

They do have something like a living room at Scooby now, but that is only for the dogs living in the garden. So many of us are coming in every week, some of them with bad, bad stories to tell, it would make us all so happy if they could find humans who are kind and loving and caring... 

and if you don't have enough room in your home to take in one of my brothas and sistas, you can also adopt one virtually. 

Here's more to find out read here : http://www.scoobymedina.org/news/2011/05/05-1-en.html 

thank you on behalf of my brothas and sistas in Spain!

another greyt day at the water!

I was right! We were going to do something great, we went to the Geffense Plas again and there I met lots of friends from Spain. But the ones that were most special to me were Nona, one of the puppies Main Servant and the other humans at scooby called 'the seven dwarfs' and of course Eden's sweet, beautiful daughter Isis who looked so great and so happy Main Servant was almost in tears. For those of you who don't know the story: Isis, her mother Eden and 3 other dogs had been thrown into a deserted well by a very evil human (Main Servant refers to him only as 'that hijoputa') to die and rot away, they were rescued by the Scooby team with assistance from a great brave man from the fire department and now Isis has a wonderful home and she's happy and safe again. It was great seeing her again! I couldn't stop wagging my tail. But of course that was also because all the humans there had lots of great cookies, too...

Luka is anxious...

Whot's goin'on? Main Servant is making all kinds of things on her purring machine and the house is littered with pieces of fabric, clothes... and she keeps talking about going somewhere nice - I bet we have a great trip coming up very soon! Luka can't wait... where are we going? Will it be a long drive? Can Luka go and play there? Sounds like a yes.... looking forward to another greyt day out !

a greyt day out!

Save Lennox!

Luka is a little bit upset. Main Servant told us about this poor little doggie http://ctechwebhosting.co.uk/savelennox/wordpress/?p=865 that was taken away from his loving family because some people think he looks like a dangerous dog. He never hurt anyone! Luka just cannot understand why people would condemn any dog who happens to look like a dog who might have hurt someone, sometime. Main Servant says in some parts of Germanyland they think us galgos are dangerous dogs because 1 frightened galgo has once bitten a small child and hurt that kid - let me tell you I am sure that it was the parents fault! So often those little two leggers come up to Luka and try and pull Luka ears, me don't like that at all, Luka says snaaarrrrl. Then the nasty big uns say 'she is a naugthy dog'. And Main Servant says no, you kid is the naughty one, I just told you please be careful Luka don't like being jumped at... but they just don't get it. Luka feels sad for all the doggies that are getting killed because stupid people think they look dangerous. Hell, if they would apply that rule to two leggers then Midas would have had every man wearing baseball cap killed. Midas hated men wearing baseball caps. But having them all killed would be stupid cuz some might have cookies. Luka just don't get two leggers sometimes...

my cat-o-matic

There's something stirring in the hallway. Ears pricking up. The door is ajar. An Opportunity!! I tiptoe around the corner, carefully avoiding to make too much noise with my nails on the floor, and poke my nose into the opening of the cat-o-matic.

Woosh.Woosh.Scratchscratchscratchscratch. Woosh. The crunchy stuff inside the cat-o-matic is flying in my nostrils. Yuk. Luka looking at what's inside. It's Loeder, doing her business. She is a berrie quirky cat. Puts the crunchy stuff everywhere, exept on the snack she puts there for Luka, unlike the others who always cover their goodies. Berrie good. Luka don't like the crunchy stuff, tastes funny. Wooshwooshwoosh. Scratch.Sound of cat's head hitting cat-o-matic roof. "Luka?" Alert. Luka with question mark. Sound is coming from the kitchen. She doesn't know yet where I am. I've still got time. Loeder is wobbling out now. Luka's head needs to go in, now, quick, hurry hurry. Snap. Yummie, this one's still warm, smile!  "Luka!" Oopsie. Exlamation mark. Red Alert. Right behind me. Damn, how do these humans get to move around so quickly? How did she know I was here? Bump. Luka's head hitting cat-o-matic. "Whát are you doing?" Nuffing. Bits of crunchy stuff on lip. Damn. Double damn.Crunchy stuff got in me mouth. Yukkedeeyuk. Look innocent, quick. Wag tail. Meeee? Doing nuffing, ma'am. "Are you eating cat's kaka again? That's nasty!" Hand grips me snout. She's sniffing me out."I can smell it! You smell like cat shit from your mouth. YUK!" Hand quickly unwrapping Luka snout. 

Snort. Humans, pfff. No taste. Stretch on couch,savour da flavour. I love my cat-o-matic!

oops I did it again

moufff full so short update.... boy wazzz me lucky today, got off the leash in the woods, hoorray! In the middle of the woods was a huge house, main servant was talking about the poor refugees living there and she and servant 2 were admiring the building - typically humans no eye for whot really matters. But Luka hazzz! And now Luka hazzz loot, nice juicy bones and try and get them from me moufff, hah! Luka is berrie berrie fast especially with prize meat in jawz. Main servant in a state running after me howhowhow so pathetic, she should KNOW by now Luka only comes when nice tasty bonezzz is safe in me moufff. No way Luka is liffening then! Think they should skip this nonsense of no glorious food on Sundays, anyway!

uh-oh, busted!

food, glorious food.... there I was, dreaming away while gently slobbering delicious buttery stuff out of a cup I managed to snitch from the kitchen counter. Awww glorious feeling of butter sliding down Luka throat... but it was quite a brick in me stomach, I tell you. I decided to take a break and guard my treasure - mine mine all mine! - for later indulgement. Then of course Main Servant came in and looked right through my snarl and took it away. She was laughing her ass off and calling us scoundrels, as Gaia quickly jumped into her seat pretending she never saw that buttercup lid before in her life, honest!

Guido just looked like a kid who got passed getting sweets - again heheheheh. Main Servant put my delicious buttercup high up on the fridge so I'll have to make a deal with one of the pointy-eared monsters to chuck it off.Wish me luck :D !

food, glorious food.....

Just something more light-hearted to let you have a peek in my dinner bowl: this week's menu.

Monday: kibble and bread, fish oil and a bit of leftover veggies. Scored an apple for snacktime.

Tuesday: kibble and meat (Main Servant always gets those yummie big sausage-like things that are divided up among the five of us) and a dash of oil.

Wednesday: just kibble and bread, not very satisfying. Snack score: nill, they put all the good stuff high up on the fridge again and my the pointy-eareds where not around to hand a helping paw.

Thursday: kibble and leftover pasta, yummie there were some scraps of meat in it! Loved it. No dessert, but still had a chewy from earlier that day. Unfortunately stupid little brother nicked it (uh, Main Servant says, he's axsjually older brother, well he's stupid anyway :P ) Midnight surprise snack: some very good fruits, very soft and nice nice nice with a nice crunchy thing in the middle, the peel was yuk though. Haven't seen much of them here, peel was very dry with little prickly thingies. Went off okay, though.

Friday (tonight): yes!yes!yes! She went out with Sid and came back with a large bag of kibble and a large bag with more of the yummie sausage thingies. Tried to nick one from the kitchen counter but hurt my teeth, damn what did she do to my food? It was muy muy muy frijo!! Yuk. Hope it will be warm when served later tonight. Going to bug Main Servant now, staring her into giving Luka food. Glorious food....

a sad month for spanish galgos...

dear friends, me brother Guido is always a little gloomy around this time of the year. Traditionally, the end of January means also the end of the hunting season in Spain. 
So, the time of the year the galgueros choose which dogs are allowed to stay and which have to go, or worse still, which ones are going to die. The ways in which those hunters dispose of their unwanted dogs are horrifying, Main Servant can tell you many stories about the fear and pain a lot of my brothers and sisters had to suffer at the hands of their owners, or from just people passing by in the street who didn't care if they lived or died and who would hurt already injured dogs even more. Sometimes when I was in Spain with her, Main Servant spent a lot of time talking about the things she'd seen and saying how she wanted to kick those people's asses all across Spain. 

But it's not just hearsay, I tell you. I saw things with my own two eyes. Like once while we were roaching in the pillows in Main Servant's cosy van, a man came with a car. He stopped in front of the Scooby gate, and then he opened the trunk. I pricked me ears in disbelief. Did he really put his dogs in there? Yeps, he did. Two of them, looking very scared and very skinny. Guido started barking at them. Then he turned away and buried his head in the pillows. I think his galguero put him in the trunk, too. The man then handed over the two scared galgos to Big Boss and had to go into the office, then he went away and the two galgos were put in one of the kennels up front, next to our van. One of them was whimpering all the time, he just wouldn't stop. Main Servant went over and gave them some food and water. When she got back in the van, she was talking about kicking asses again. She also told us that those two were the lucky ones. 
I thought, lucky?? What's so lucky about being locked up in a trunk when it's so hot outside? But she said, at now they at least had a chance to have a better life. Like Guido and Gaia and me. They could have been worse off, much worse. I thinks she was thinking about the dead dog we saw at an illegal garbage dump near scooby, years ago. Or the dogs that come in so often that had been hit by a car and left in the streets to die. I didn't want to think of it anymore so I gave Main Servant a snuggle. We had a group hug, she gave us all a kiss on the head and told us to be good, she had more work to do and would see us later. 
At least we can be sure she will be back, there will be food and more group hugs, kisses and long walks and sleep-ins on Main Servant's bed. If only all the doggies at Scooby could have that kind of life from now on...

Dream on, Luka... Well, let's help them one at a time, as Main Servant says. It may make little difference with the huge numbers of dogs being abandoned every year, but for that one dog it makes all the difference in the world. Just look at those faces at the adoption page. Surely one or two can steal your heart? And if you have no time or space, try the virtual adoption. Main Servant adopted a big mastin girl and two donkeys, imagine the donkeys roaming around in our living room! But thanks to the virtual adoption, they can have a good and safe place at Scooby. Can you help them, too?


paws up, Luka

Not guilty :3

Okay, we need to work on the details for the next heist. We should have used the maximum space underneath that cupboard and tuck the empty boxes neatly under there, rather than shuffle them halfway. They gave us away. Sure I drank enough water to wash the scent away in my mouth. The stuff made me very thirsty anyway. If only they hadn't found those damn boxes, they never would have understood what happened. Like it all just vanished into thin air. Stupid Guido with his ideas. 'Let's lick them clean so they look like new. They'll think they fell of a shelf. There's so much stuff in their kitchen, how will they ever notice the difference?'

Well brotha, they did.  Exlamations of disbelief from the Servant Two. "They ate all of it!!!All!!!" He even made a point of it, informing Main Servant who was upstairs still in bed by explaining what he thought had happened. I thought: 'Guess a nice sleep-in is out of the question now...' My mouth was sniffed at and Main Servant gave me that 'Luka, nooo?' look. Gaia pointed out that since Sid and Nancy were in their benches all night and the pointy ears were upstairs, we were the only suspects. 

I maintained innocence. It was quite a challenge, trying to look genuinely surprised and appalled at the mere idea of stealing something out of the kitchen. Not for Guido, it's his natural look. He always looks at everybody with an expression of wonder and disbelief. Actually, I felt very pleased about the feast I had arranged for all of us. Gaia demonstratively bumped into a chair, just to make her point that an old blind dog never ever could have committed the crime. Rat. She had no reservations about that when we were clearing those boxes last night. 

So I just looked at them with the best innocent expression I could muster. Guido started whimpering, and pulling his halfwit act. I don't think they bought it, though. Talking about locks and bolts, don't know never had those for dinner but sounds interesting. Have a hunch that next time they have Chinese takeaway, they will put it in their food vault. Damn. Going to work on how to scavenge the fruit bowl. Saw some yummie looking apples up there.
Paws up, Luka

coaties for my brothas and sistas in Spain!

Hi all,

just a short scribble to let ya know that a really sweet lady came up with a brilliant idea - main servants and other two-leggers can donate a small amount for which she makes coats for our brothers and sisters at Scooby. The sun is out again here and the snow is gone, but at Scooby it is still very, very cold and the dogs need a coatie so please, all help !

http://hondenkleden.web-log.nl/hondenkleden/sponsorjasjes-voor-spaans.html 

thanx and paws up,

big nose-nudgie from Luka

Happy new year everybody!

to all my two-legged friends and four-legged friends I wish a very happy new year with many many bones, great food, hugs, great holes to dig and a nice warm couch for every doggy still in a shelter! 
Paws up, LuKa