Founded in 1997, SOS (Spay Our Strays) is a dog shelter in the Costa del Sol, gaining charitable status in 1999. Our mission was simple – to find loving homes for the dogs in our care and to provide each animal with a safe and nurturing environment and a secure home with us forever if needed. Over the years, we have saved the lives of many hundreds of Spanish strays and found homes for many in Sweden, the UK, Spain and other European countries.
New Premises
Our shelter was on the same premises for many years but, at the beginning of 2019, our landlord sold up and returned to the UK. At around the same time, our founders retired.
SOS has continued by downsizing to new premises where we continue to provide sanctuary for our long-term residents, some of whom have been with us for years. We never put to sleep any of our animals unless it is absolutely necessary and then only on veterinary advice.
We continue to help dogs to find loving homes by helping several local shelters with whom we have long-standing relationships. These shelters often have too many dogs and limited re-homing opportunities. SOS provides an adoption channel to countries where we have wonderful homes lined up. Please visit our Dogs for Adoption page to find out more.
Our small team of dedicated volunteers in Spain takes care of the physical and emotional needs of our resident dogs. They also rehabilitate and provide basic and environmental training to prepare dogs in our care for future home life.
How You Can Help Us
- Adopt an animal—and help two dogs! The one you have been kind enough to give a home to, and the one that we will take into the refuge because of the vacated kennel.
- Make a financial donation—click here to find how.
- Could you contribute something towards the cost of building our new shelter? Wherever possible, we are dismantling and re-using materials from our old site. Our costs, however, are likely to run into the thousands. Every little really helps.
- We also bear the costs of transporting our dogs to the vets or airport, and we keep our administrative costs to an absolute minimum. This means your donation will go directly to the care of our dogs.
- Support a ‘lifer’ – for €50 a year, you can help with the ongoing upkeep of our long-term residents.
- Volunteer—we are a small band of volunteers in Spain supplemented by the help of young volunteers from Sweden. We welcome with open arms anyone prepared to help walk dogs, play with puppies, give dogs a cuddle and help with lead and other training. You can also get involved on a more practical level by helping to keep our gardens tidy or helping to keep our pens in good repair.
Thank you for visiting our website. Please follow us on our Facebook page SOS Animals Spain where you can follow our day-to-day updates and activities.