Aanifeira’s More Problematic Dogs

The legacy of a no-kill shelter such as Aanifeira is that after a large number of animals have been adopted, sadly only the difficult natured ones are left over.  In 2006 close to 800 dogs lived within the Aanifeira shelter and today through a lot of hard work the number is below the 400 mark.

Being a non-profit shelter there isn’t a huge amount of money to be spent on trying to hire someone from outside to help socialize these animals and volunteers trained in this field are almost unheard of.  

There are currently four dogs housed at Aanifeira that we feel come under into this field.  Two, Bobby and Yodi (both medium sized senior dogs), have lived at Aanifeira for many years and the other two, Bob and Marley (small young adults), were abandoned in 2010 together with a large group of 12 animals at our front door.  The group that Bob and Marley were left with have all been adopted and have lovely natures so it confirms that sadly these two animals were badly mistreated by humans.   

They are all fearful of humans and their response can be unsettling as they will sometimes try to bite out in defense.  Staff and volunteers take special care when trying to approach these animals but it is not always an easy task.  Our wish is to ensure that they get exercise and have physical check-ups but a difficult nature only inhibits them from having a better life. 

Aanifeira has always held up its policy of a ‘no-kill’ shelter and our work is undeniably to fight putting down a healthy animal and for this reason these animals remain with us in these circumstances today.

It is very disheartening for us to see these four animals in this state but we keep our fingers crossed that one day special people will be willing to take on the task of adopting a more difficult animal and be prepared to work with them in helping them move to a better life.  If anyone would like further details of these four beautiful animals please contact us at international@aanifeira.pt   We are sure that they would make wonderful pets given the right conditions and circumstances and now we await adoptees!

Marley – small male dog

Bob – small male

Yodi adult male dog

Bobby – adult male dog