A puppies' tale - un petit conte de fées

Click on any photos you'd like to make larger.

Cliquez sur les photos que vous souhaitez agrandir.

Two tiny, 5-week old puppies, covered with glue and left to starve in a pine woods at the edge of a nearby town. That's all we knew about the puppies we were asked to foster in late October 2018.

Deux petits chiots de 5 semaines, couverts de colle et abandonnés à mourir de faim près de Lézignan.

Three days after telling the SPA in Lézignan that we'd like to foster a dog, I had a call asking if we could take these two puppies of indeterminate origin (Pointer, Beagle, Jack Russell?) that the shelter had named Oumpi (the male) and Oumpa (the female).

On m'a contacté pour me demander si nous pouvions les prendre en accueil.  La SPA à Lézignan les avait nommés Oumpi (le mâle) et Oumpa (sa soeur).












They weren't in the least afraid of us or our two not very welcoming terriers, Ratty and Badger and they loved being held.

Ils n'avaient pas peur ni de nous ni de nos deux petits terriers, Ratty et Badger.  Ils aimaient être tenus dans nos bras.

Both had voracious appetites.  The problem was knowing how much to feed them, because the amount of food puppies are given is determined by the size they'll be when they're grown and no one had any idea.  We were afraid to make them sick by feeding them too much, but soon realized that we had to increase the amount (we weigh the food that we give ours).

Ils avaient toujours faim et il a été difficile de savoir combien de nourriture leur donner, mais enfin, nous avons réussi à leur fair manger à leur faim.




(Note - The videos are best in full screen - click on arrow, then on symbol at lower right.

Les vidéos sont mieux visionnées en mode plein écran - utilisez le symbole en bas à droite après avoir cliqué sur la flèche.)

The house filled with their squeals of play, astounding Ratty and Badger and even drowning them out at times.

Ratty et Badger ont été étonnés par le bruit qu'ils ont fait en jouant.

Anything absent-mindedly left within reach was fair game.

Tout ce qu'on a laissé sur le sol était juste jeu pour eux.

Both were happy to snuggle into my bathrobe.

Ils étaient contents de se blottir dans mon peignoir.

,

To keep them warm, we ran a small space heater close to their bed, day and night.

Pour les garder au chaud, nous avons placé un petit appareil de chauffage à côté de leur lit.

They slept a lot.

Ils dormaient beaucoup.

And then they played again.

Et ensuite, ils recommenceraient à jouer.

Both puppies were quickly adopted via internet (on the national SPA site), Oumpa by a couple in Paris, Oumpi by a family in Lyon but, happily for us, they were still too young to leave.  The wonderful staff at the Lézignan SPA were very careful about choosing the best families for both puppies.

Les deux chiots ont été vite adoptés via internet (sur le site national de la SPA), Oumpa par un couple à Paris, Oumpi par une famille à Lyon.  Heureusement pour nous, ils étaient encore trop jeunes pour nous quitter.  Les merveilleux bénévoles de la SPA de Lézignan ont été très attentifs au choix des meilleures familles pour les deux chiots.

Tim made a laptop support so that first Ratty, then Badger could sleep on my lap while I was using my Mac.  Oumpi often poked his head up to remind me he was there.

Oumpi aimait dormir au-dessous du support pour mon Mac que Tim m'avait fait pour Ratty et ensuite Badger quand ils étaient petits.  Oumpi s'est rassuré que j'étais encore là de temps en temps.







House-training them involved reinforcing the gates separating the two sides of our ground floor. Determined chewing and scratching meant frequently having to repair and replace the cardboard.

Pour les former à la maison, il nous a fallu renforcer les barrières séparant les deux côtés de notre rez-de-chaussée.  Nous avons été obligés fréquemment à réparer et à remplacer le carton.

Ratty and Badger were willing to share space with the puppies.  Sometimes.

Parfois, Ratty et Badger ont accepté de partager le canapé - et nous.

Then it was time for Oumpi to go and, though I knew he was going to a caring, loving family, I found it SO hard.  Didier came by train to get him and we drove them to the station in Narbonne for their trip home to Lyon.

Trop tôt, il était temps de dire au revoir à Oumpi.  Même si je savais qu'il allait dans une maison aimante, je me sentais très triste.  Voici Didier et Oumpi à la gare à Narbonne pour leur rentrée chez eux à Lyon.

Oumpa/Cuba (explanation later) was with us for another three days.  She whimpered a little the first night, then was fine for the rest of her stay with us.

Oumpa/Cuba (explication ci-dessous) est restée chez nous encore trois jours.  Elle a gémi un peu la première nuit, puis tout s'est bien passé pour le reste de son séjour chez nous.  

She did her best to make friends with Ratty and Badger, who eventually fell under her charm.  Sort of...

Elle a fait de son mieux pour se faire des amis avec Ratty et Badger - et a réussi, jusqu'à un certain point.

Opportunities for mischief increased without Oumpi to keep her occupied.

Sans Oumpi pour jouer avec et curieuse par nature, elle fourra son nez dans tout ce qu'elle pouvait voir.

Oumpa beside me on the sofa, her very last night with us.  I love all the photos of the puppies, but this one is especially endearing.

Oumpa à mon côté sur le canapé, sa dernière soirée avec nous.  J'aime toutes les photos des chiots, mais je trouve celle-ci la plus attachante.

Then another parting, just as difficult.  Fernanda and Rodrigo flew to Toulouse and took the train to Lézignan, where we met in a local restaurant.  Oumpa settled down happily with both of them.   As they had to wait several hours for the first of three trains they were to take back to Paris, we brought them home with us for the afternoon.

Et ensuite une deuxième séparation, aussi difficile que la première.  Fernanda et Rodrigo avaient pris l'avion à Toulouse et puis le train à Lézignan.  Oumpa s'est attachée tout de suite à eux.  Ils sont venus chez nous pour passer les heures avant de prendre le premier des trois trains pour rentrer à Paris.

As we arrived at the train station, it came out that, when I'd asked both adopting families by email if they were going to keep or change the puppies' names, Fernanda and Rodrigo had said they'd keep the name because they thought I had chosen them.   Oumpa then became Cuba (pronounced à l'espagnol, KOO-bah).

En arrivant à la gare, ils m'ont admis qu'ils avaient gardé le nom Oumpa parce qu'ils pensaient que c'était moi qui avait choisi les noms.  Désormais, Oumpa s'appelle Cuba, prononcé à l'espagnol, KOU-ba.

Our last view of Cuba.  As with Oumpi, we knew this puppy was in the best hands possible.  BTW, Rodrigo and Fernanda are both veterinarians.

Notre dernière vue de Cuba.  Comme avec Oumpi, nous savions qu'elle était avec les meilleures personnes possible.   Par ailleurs, Rodrigo et Fernanda sont tous les deux vétérinaires.

Both families kept their promise and have been warming our hearts with photos and updates.

Les deux familles ont tenu leurs promesses et réchauffent nos cœurs avec des photos et des mises à jour.

Morgane training Oumpi who, at only 4 months, had already learned at least as much as Ratty and Badger.

Morgane en train de former Oumpi qui, à seulement 4 mois, avait déjà appris au moins autant que Ratty et Badger.

 

Oumpi, Marie Ange's Valentine

Marie Ange:  "Petit repas avec mon valentin"

What an amazingly rewarding, busy, entertaining and emotional month that was!  Though I'm hoping we'll foster more dogs, this was a magical, probably once-in-a-lifetime experience - and I'm very grateful to Marie Ange, Morgane, Fernanda and Rodrigo for keeping in touch with us.

Quel mois incroyablement enrichissant, chargé, divertissant et émotionnel ! Bien que j'espère que nous pourrons accueillir plus de chiens, c'était une expérience magique, probablement unique dans une vie - et je suis très reconnaissante à Marie Ange, Morgane, Fernanda et Rodrigo d'avoir resté en contact avec nous.

WILD WEST ROOTS

THE ORIGINAL "Wild West" - IN SOUTHERN SPAIN

Note:  all videos are very short - and they finally work!
You can enlarge any of the photos or videos.

Note Badger & Ratty and a bit of Tim on the right.

Of all the adventures we had on our 2016/17 two-month travels in Spain and Portugal (I've wanted to do this posting for more than a year), the most amazing one was a complete surprise.  From our campsite at the village of El Rocío in southern Spain, on the edge of Parque Doñana, one of Europe's most important nature reserves, we walked into a village that looked like a Hollywood western movie set, explained in part by many of the original settlers in the southwestern U.S. and Mexico having come from this part of Spain.

None of the streets were paved - they were all sand (as were the roads in the campsite) and there were horses and carriages everywhere.  As we walked along the main street with the dogs, we were  astonished and thrilled.  Ratty and Badger passed dozens of horses before finally becoming blasé.

It was the last weekend of January 2017 and this was a sort of rehearsal for the annual religious pilgrimage to the village of El Rocío (la Romería de El Rocío).  The Romería itself takes place in late May or early June, on the Thursday before Whit Sunday (21st of May in 2018), attracts about a million people and is unlike any of the other religious festivals in Andalucía.  (See the link at the bottom for photos and videos of the pilgrimage itself.)

The tradition of the Romería goes back centuries and is supported by about 120 brotherhoods (hermandades), the main one and organizer being the Hermandad de Almonte.  Most of the brotherhoods are from southern Spain, but some are from as far away as Brussels.  The oldest ones date back to the 17th century.  Each has its own house, the size and style determined by the status and membership of the individual hermandad:

Bars along the main street cater to their customers on horseback - no need to dismount for a copa de vino.

The horses themselves were equipped with traditional saddles and stirrups unlike any we'd ever seen:

There was evident pride among many of the women and men on horseback - note this elegantly dressed woman sitting sidesaddle and the fellow below just begging to be photographed:

A woman riding sidesaddle, behind her partner:

Most people ignored us tourists, but a few invited us to come closer and to participate.

Impromptu flamenco at one of the brotherhood houses in El Rocío:

The focus of the pilgrimage is the Catedral or Ermita, where the statue of the Virgen del Rocío is kept and brought out on the main day of the Romería:

From a café table, we and the dogs watched the lively paseo of beautifully groomed horses and decorated, belled carriages carrying exuberant families and friends - and tried to imagine what it must be like during the Romería itself, with a million people in traditional dress, no cars and far more horses and carriages participating in the pilgrimage and partying at their hermandades.

More information here on the Romería itself, though there are lots of other online details and photos:

https://rove.me/to/seville/el-rocio-pilgrimage

______________________________________________________________________________