Podenco Post

Susannah Stacey - saving the Gran Canaria podencos

Some 4 years ago I was contacted by a vet in the UK who had come across podencos and wanted to buy a copy of my book From Pyramid to Perrera to learn more. Her name was Susannah Stacey and she became hooked on podencos and helping them, especially the Gran Canaria pods. She set up a page Saving the Gran Canaria podencos and worked with rescuers on the Island and Irene & Steve Allen of Hope for Podencos. She died suddenly last week. Here's what Irene writes.

'SUZANNAH STACEY ...... what can I say that many of you have not already said .The podencos have lost one of their shining stars . I became friends with Suzannah in 2015 when she adopted Lucy. Then in 2016 she asked me if I could foster any podencos from Gran Canaria and we said no as at the time we didn't really have the space. But watching the group that Suzannah had started,Saving the Gran Canaria Podenco, I then could see the despair of these dozens of pods in the kill shelter, so I decided to help with taking two at a time.

In a short time I flew to GC to see for myself and Suzannah and I chatted and we decided together we would get as many out as we could.

Dogs and bones

For many years I gave large raw marrow bones to my dogs as being good for their teeth and gums, until one day my Swedish Valhund managed to break off a piece small enough to get stuck in her throat. This necessitated an operation and vet fees.

I always clean up poop from my dogs, every time they go out and do one. Can't say I've ever notice white bits in it, apart from once a foster galga arrived from Spain who supposedly had been wormed...but definitely hadn't! However, I thought you might be interested to read this article.

Malaga & Granada - stolen podencos & galgos

Hard to believe that, with the mass overbreeding of podencos and galgos and the mass abandonment of them and dumping in perreras, that people steal them. Often it is the gitanos, who would sell them back to hunters.

This link takes you to the story of two such sets of dogs which the Guardia Civile have seized and would like to return to their owners...sadly probably hunters, if they are found.

Portuguese Podengo Saruga looking for a forever home

If you love Podencos but haven't room for a big one, how about little Podengo Saruga with Dogs of Portugal. All her details are on this link, together with more photos and a video. A sweet little soul hoping she soon has her own couch to sleep on in a forever home.

March in Cologne, Germany, 25thJanuary 2018

For all podenco and galgo fosterers, adoptants and those who simply love them. Please join in the march if you can.

Podenco boys in Spain hoping for forever homes

How many of you holiday in Malaga and haven't visited the Axarquaia Animal Rescue? It is one of the many in Spain whose volunteers deal with the never ending problem of abandoned dogs and cats. Some of the stories are heartbreaking but many of them have happy endings. Here are two gorgeous podencos with the association, hoping there are people out there who could offer them perfect forever homes. And Tico is already learning the agility equipment. Could you continue his training and compete with him? Contact Axarquaia Animal Rescue direct.

This is Tico.

Holiday in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands? Accommodation filling up!

A few days ago I published the story of David Tomlinson who retired to Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, to renovate a finca. Instead he rescues and cares for podencos. This is the reality of Fuerteventura and the other Canary Islands...Gran Canaria, Tenerife...what the holidaymakers don't see.

These photos are from the perrera on Fuerteventura. Puppies, starving dogs, sick dogs...food thrown through the bars of the cage which is their prison. Most of these dogs will be killed...their only hope is for an association on mainland Europe to get them out. This is what Lucy Andemecraig writes.

'Fuertevetura Perrera 12th January 2018. We have to empty cages! They are filled and the dogs are in danger! URGENT! If you do not adopt, share, to save the lives of these poor furries. All these beautiful podencos and puppies from other races are in the pound and are Fill the cages! they are in danger of being killed before their lives have begun.! 😢 HELP ME.

Introducing a 2nd or 3rd dog to your home

Read the full article here.

Dumped in a plastic bag in a trash bin....Podenco Friends to the rescue

What a start to the New Year for Bev and Warren of Podenco Friends; 4 newborn pups dumped in a bag in rubbish, needing feeding every few hours! The pressure of abandoned pups and dogs in Spain never gets any less. Here's the story of the pups.

'Four new born Podenco pups discovered in the garbage tied up in a plastic bag a couple of days before Christmas. Sounds shocking, how could anybody do something like this to leave such defenceless babies to die a horrible death either from suffocation, hypothermia or starvation. Here in Spain it's not an isolated incident but a regular occurrence. Podencos usually give birth to large litters 10 or more and it's not uncommon to hear that the owners want to reduce numbers. Sometimes they will take new born pups to a vet to euthanise and often the vets will contact a rescue and ask for their help. Or the alternative, they throw them in the rubbish/ their life has so little value. Four male pups who don’t command as good a price has females, that was their fate.

To crate or not to crate a dog?

Read the article here, which I published a few days ago on my Galgo News blog.