Give food and water to dogs at a volunteer shelter in Spain

Hi! My name’s Nahuel and I’m a 10 year-old labrador mix from Seville, Spain. I’d like to share my story with you.

When I was little, my humans moved away, leaving my sister and me behind at our house. The neighbors adopted my sister, but left me to fend for myself. That’s how I wound up all alone, searching for food, when a pack of dogs attacked me. They chewed up my ear and bit me all over.

I was in a lot of pain — not just from the attack. I also had a tumor on my neck the size of a baseball, and I was battling Leishmaniasis, a brutal disease that I got from a sandfly bite. With nowhere to turn, I finally had a stroke of good luck.

Volunteers from a local animal shelter, ARCA, took me in. They raised money to remove my tumor and gave me medicine to help with my illness.

Even though ARCA has no paid staff and is well outside of Seville, their team of volunteers drove 40 minutes one-way every day to care for my friends and me. (No one can stay at the shelter around the clock, which means we are sometimes forced to go long stretches alone in a cage.) On days when the shelter’s water supply dwindled, the volunteers poured us water from their own bottles.

Here are some of my friends.

Living at the shelter was tough, especially during the summer months, when Seville is hit by the hot, arid winds of the Sahara Desert and the average temperature lingers around 100°F. All the dogs and cats at the shelter live in outdoor kennels, which don’t offer much relief.

Here I am in my old kennel.

My life hasn’t been easy, but I consider myself a lucky dog. After two years of living at ARCA, at the ripe age of nine, I got a forever home. My parents Katie and Matt have shown me all kinds of new things, like walks, treats, swimming, and bedtime cuddles. I love every minute of it.

But sometimes, while I’m having fun, I can’t help but think about my friends back at the shelter. Many of them, like my old roommate Selva, have lived there for years, dreaming of the day when they get their forever homes. Many more need urgent medical aid, like I once did. Anytime one of my ARCA buddies needs medical attention, the shelter has to raise the money from scratch.

We shelter pups are lucky to get by on the good will of the people around us. Today, I’m asking you to share some of that good will by making a donation to ARCA. Your help — no matter how little — will go a long way toward keeping my shelter friends healthy this summer when the heat is at its strongest.

Every dollar donated to this fundraiser will help ARCA pay for my friends' basic needs, such as food, water, and medical aid.

Thanks so much for your support.

Your friend,

Nahuel