This is the story of how someone who had never heard of podencos is now the proud adoptant of 2! Jude tells the story.
We adopted Lucas, our Podenco Maneto, in 2012 through Podenco SOS. We’d made the decision to get a dog a while before and wanted to adopt a rescue dog rather than buy from a breeder or a pet shop. We’d been in a lot of contact with the RSPCA and the Dogs Trust but they weren’t able to rehome any of the dogs in their care with us and we ended up on a waiting list.
My wife, Seiko, found out about podencos and the wonderful rescue organisations online. I’d never heard of podencos before! We enquired with Podenco SOS about a few of the dogs that they’d put on their facebook page but they’d all just been found homes. They suggested we visit Lucas, a Podenco Maneto, who was with a foster family in Surrey, a short drive from our home in Brighton.
We met Lucas, took him for a walk with the foster family and I was back a week later having done all the paper work, home check etc to pick him up and take him to his new home with us. His passport has him as born in 2009, making him 3 years old when he came to live with us but some online investigation threw up some photos from when he was rescued and we think he’s a year or two older than his passport states.
It took Lucas only a couple of weeks or so to settle. He’d been through a lot before being rescued by a wonderful woman called Brisa in Cadiz. When she rescued him (or rather, when he turned up out of the blue at her home - an unofficial dog rescue home), he was malnourished, very poorly and had been in some kind of fight with bloody scratches on his face and snout. He also has a twisted front leg and we wonder if this is why he was cast out by the hunter in Cadiz.
Before long, he’d found his favourite spot on our sofa, found his lungs (he’s a loud barker - like a rottweiler!) and he’s been king in our home ever since. He’s still very nervous of men he doesn’t know (though he’s fine with women), he hates loud noises and hates water (other than for drinking). He’s a wonderful, friendly character. He loves a cuddle and is very affectionate. He disappears sometimes when we’re out in the countryside, usually it’s because he’s looking for rabbits in the bushes, but he always comes back when called. He’s kept his independent spirit!
Last year, we thought it’d be nice for Lucas (and us) to have a younger dog in the family. Lucas likes the ladies so we started contacting rescue organisations and looking online to see if there was a young bitch that we could adopt. We very quickly came across 6 sibling Podenco Ibicencos that had been rescued from a rubbish bin in Zaragoza. We arranged to adopt one of the bitches and Amy came to our home to begin her new life with us in September 2016, aged about 6 months.
We have a couple of friends called Amy so decided, as she is so young, we would rename our new family member, Maya. In the months since then, 2 friends have called their new baby daughters Maya, so we now know several Mayas.
Maya is simply great fun. She’s the friendliest of characters and just wants to play with everyone and every dog that she meets. She’s consequently very well known by all dog owners in our part of the world. She has a few problems when we’ve had to go out and leave the dogs at home for short times and we’ve lost several pairs of shoes, items of post and even some of my music LPs to her teeth. It’s hard to be cross with her though.
Lucas and Maya get on very well. Maya adores Lucas and always wants to be with him. She tries to goad him into playing with her all the time and sometimes he chases her (her favourite game) and on other occasions he tells her in no uncertain terms to leave him alone. She loves to tease him at these times.
Since we adopted Maya, my wife Seiko has given birth to our son, Tomio, so we’re now a happy family of 5. Both dogs are very good with Tomio. Lucas leaves him alone on the whole and sticks to his spot on the sofa. Maya likes to bring Tomio her favourite toys - it’s so sweet.
Thank you Jude for sharing your story with us, and welcome to the world of Podenco lovers. They come with a health warning - you can never have only 1 podenco!
Thank you for sharing this lovely story. Your dogs are gorgeous and they are very lucky hounds. What a cutie the podenco maneto is! I really do have a soft spot for the maneto, they are such lovely looking dogs, proper characters.
Posted by: Kathryn | 14 August 2017 at 07:56 PM