Dogs in Spain

Spain is a wonderful country to live in or to spend some time.... Here you will also find many kinds of animals! As in the Netherlands, and many other countries, quite a few dogs are kept at home. This is often done in a house with a garden or just in their apartment in the city, all can be done here with all those parks!

Many people have an apartment in the city and a bigger house with a garden in a village. In this village they usually live in the summer or on weekends and holidays. If they have a dog it often lives in the village. Also many people just have a dog in their apartment. These are usually smaller companion dogs. And they can stay just fine in an apartment, which is perfectly normal in Spain. They are let out in one of the many Spanish parks.
When you are on vacation in Spain, you can easily take your dog with you too! You bring it to a part-time or full-time dog hotel. So when you want to go shopping or to the beach for a day without your dog, you can bring it to the dog hotel. This also applies when you live in Spain with your dog. Many foreigners who have settled in Spain, but also (rich) Spaniards themselves regularly bring their dogs to the shelter.

In Spain it also happens that people do not take good care of their dogs and there are quite a few stray dogs that end up in the shelter. What is unfortunate is that many of these shelters in Spain are already overcrowded. This is of course not nice for the dogs at all! As a Dutchman you have many opportunities to adopt a Spanish dog and give them a better life.

Many things are written about animal welfare in Spain. There are many different opinions, negative and positive. I can only write from my own experience and it is positive. Fortunately, I have never noticed anything strange! When I walk down the street or along the water here in Spain, or run through the park on weekends, I see many people walking and playing with their dogs. There are even true meeting places where people get together with their dogs!