Regular readers will know that since moving from France to the UK at the beginning of 2021 we sadly lost our last 3 Spanish hounds, galgos Polar and Bracken, and my little pocket rocket Podenca Bebe. It was a shock to lose them so quickly - Polar with lymphoma, Bracken with a bleeding tumour on his lungs, and Bebe at 18 years old had never lived on her own and just gave up on life. We took 2 months out to grieve and visit family and friends in the UK but, having both of us grown up with at least 1 dog in the house, we missed having a canine companion.
Now our travelling days are over and this week Podenca Andaluz Rosely joined the family. She's bigger than little Bebe, about 12 kgs, and 6 years old. Unusually for a rescued Spanish hound, her Pet Passport shows she was chipped and vaccinated from birth. Of all the hundreds of galgos and podencos I have helped the French rescue association bring back to France for foster and rehoming, there has never been one with such a vaccination record!
She is originally from Malaga province, travelled through Madrid and Valladolid, arriving at her UK foster home on Bonfire Night and cheznous on 24/11. So many changes in a short period of time for a little podenca from Spain! Like most Spanish hounds, she's used to canine company so, besides arriving in yet another strange place, she is the only dog. Understandably she is very timid, probably wondering if things will change again soon, but with our years of experience dealing with nervous and traumatized Spanish hounds, I've no doubt she will soon become the lively and loving podenca of the videos.
She won't be the only canine for long, though, as next week her companion arrives - a blind white Podenco called Bo. This will be the first time since 1994 when Molly, my first greyhound, turned up at our Suffolk home, that we will have had neither a greyhound nor a galgo in our family.
More updates on our canine family after the arrival of Bo.
Rosely is the smaller tan one.
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