2016-2017

The story of Maniua begins many years ago, with my childhood dreams of creating a positive impact in the world. The project began when I went to live and care for my grandfather Enrique in 2016 in Montroy, Valencia, who by that time already had several dogs and cats in his house, who were kept separate out of fear of conflicts, and in the case of the dogs, caged and never allowed leave the house’s grounds. Seeing their poor living conditions, I was moved to act and decided to rehabilitate them, focusing mainly on the most disturbed of the two dogs that were there, Ringo, an American boxer with hyperactivity and aggression problems. After three months of activities in nature, cycling, and a lot of psychological work and patience, a new Ringo emerged: balanced and patient. This in turn opened up the possibility for me to take in Soni, a Pointer mix, who along with Luna would be the seed and inspiration for the project, which at that time was just a dream: to create a rehabilitation center capable of recovering difficult cases in a pack and in direct contact with nature. After managing to make cats and dogs live together in the same home and announcing myself online as a service and space to care for private dogs, an intense and active period began where, thanks to my other passion, audiovisual production, I quickly gained an audience on Facebook. In its early years, this project grew and reached a fairly rapid pace in the dog world in Valencia, nearby towns, and although with lesser impact, also nationwide through digital means. My work resulted in a good reputation within the sector, and within a year I had become fully dedicated to this work with my pack growing to include many dogs at the same time naturally and rehabilitating difficult cases. It's surprising to see how, sometimes, life spontaneously shows us our hidden passions.

2018

In just one year of activity, I began to make a living from my work with dogs, putting my whole soul into it. My work with Espe marked a turning point in my career as a rehabilitator. Esperanza had been locked up for over two years on a balcony in Torrente. She was living in poor conditions without food, surrounded by her urine and feces, and had a reputation for biting dogs and people when walked around the neighborhood. The video of her rehabilitation helped me connect with more associations and rescuers, leading to new, more complex cases and simultaneously increasing the number of clients for the dog-sitting service. This was also aided, in part, by the large number of videos I was producing, where people could see the daily life of the pack and the walks in nature, and by the articles and posts where I showed the progress and coexistence of all types of dogs in a balanced, pack-based environment.

The methodology for rehabilitating the dogs revolves around pack experience and nature walks. Exposure to stimuli, elements, and connection with the environment in a process that fosters the natural inertia of the dog as a follower. In this way, we tune into an innate part of the dog, which releases incredible amounts of energy that help them find balance between their mind and body.

2019

After months of searching, we found what seemed to be an ideal place, away from urban areas, with 10,000m2 of land and nature. Moving from a fully established home like my grandfather’s, where I only had to focus on the dogs and walk with them, to a small rural house with only 40m2 of shared space for all of us to live together. It was a challenge that, even to this day, is hard to put into words. Dogs, like people, need stability and routine to stay balanced and avoid conflict with each other. Upon moving to this property, we had to share the living room with the entire pack, humans and dogs, in a completely communal experience. The truth is, it was a very intense period on all levels, where we had to juggle constant fencing work with the fact that we didn’t have any personal space where we could disconnect from the constant hustle. Looking back, I am still amazed at all that I was able to endure, which I now see in a different light.

2020

2020 became the year I finally resumed a passion I had completely put aside for a long time: photography. This is an important field in the dog world, as it is the visual portal through which we can reach people and, therefore, achieve adoptions and/or fostering.

2021

2021 became the year we took on cases of extreme fear that had not progressed in their respective foster homes. These are very complex cases that represent a new learning curve for the project and reveal a new need: the existence of a space entirely dedicated to them, compatible with senior dogs, that allows the rehabilitation of these types of cases: The butterfly enclosure.

2022

In 2022, a new parallel project was born alongside Maniua: a photography studio that aimed to collaborate with associations and shelters to help create quality content around the adoption of rescued dogs with behavioral problems.

I began working again with dogs that had serious aggression problems towards humans and other dogs, achieving very good results integrating them with the pack.

Two such examples were Bella and Hella. Bella came to us after severely biting her owner's father and attacking anyone who tried to handle her, except for the people she knew. After two months, Bella integrated perfectly into the pack, forming a beautiful bond with me. Hela was a nearly blind rescued pitbull who attacked all dogs, and who, after three months, became fully adapted and social within the pack.

We also put alot of work this year into conditioning the space with fences that allowed us to better control the dogs and make more efficient use of the land, creating the possibility to start projecting garden areas in certain areas of the property.

Vital needs arose, such as the necessary expansion of the main house to fully and optimally separate the canine and human spaces for both groups.

2023

This is the year we established ourselves as an Environmental Association. It also marks a major change in the project, where the problems of recent years slowly began to be resolved thanks to the addition of a new house that allowed us to start receiving volunteers and a plot of land where we have projected the future rehabilitation center to be.

Thanks to the volunteers, we began dividing the dogs into smaller packs throughout the year, massively improving the quality of life for both the dogs and humans.

The volunteer house marks the beginning of a new phase where the project begins to explore permaculture, construction, and communal living, with up to 15 volunteers continuously involved in the project.

2024

In 2024, Maniua continued to grow in many ways:

We have opened up some new social media projects around communal living. A carpentry workshop has been created to develop the project. We carried out various solidarity actions in local animal projects. We began implementing permaculture and gardening practices into the project and harvested our first crops. We have also continued to grow as a community, at times with over 20 people living together.

It is a year of many lessons about communal living, and the collective enrichment is enormous. Maniua has established itself as a broad, integrative project, where dogs are no longer the only focus, and the care of people and the environment have finally been integrated into the activities.

On October 29th the DANA storm occurred which wreaked havoc in Valencia and led to a new activity that would become a very important part of the project. We decided shortly after the events of that day to begin using the manpower we possess to help the affected in Valencia. We called these days solidarity days and this became a central part of the project and gave rise to other initiatives as a way of aiding those affected by what happened.