Podenco Post

From a life in chains on Gran Canaria to running free on the beach - Podenca Hinga

From Bev Farmer of Podenco Friends.

'“Vivir con miedo es vivir a media.” It means roughly, “To live with fear is to live a life half-lived.. That was Hingas life

To understand why Podencos arrive so fearful you have to see first hand how they live. For Hinga years of chained to a wall in a darken building left her with no trust in people and really had no reason to trust people.

She struggled with a different life and couldn't overcome her fears and many times I wondered would Hinga be locked in the prison of her mind for eternity . Over the months she made a little progress and only when I took her away from the finca for her walks did I get to see a different Hinga. Here was not the place for her to heal and Dave Bennett and Heather Bennett fostered her for almost a year and this was a stepping stone to her new life.

Podenco Dapper - a failed foster

From Ann Marie Payne of Ann's Canine Care

'Dapper my little Mr sunshine dog - My first failed foster. This is his story.

Coming up to Christmas in 2013 Jacqui Ross Last Chance Animal Rescue was trying to get as many dogs out of the pound before Christmas. It was my first introduction to fostering and it was a harrowing time because many dogs were dying of distemper. In one pen Eleanor and Dapper were together, and Eleanor had produced 6 pups. And we think that Dapper was the father. I was fostering Eleanor and the pups and had prepared a bed for them in my bedroom, it was actually my bed as the whole thing lifted up to provide storage underneath. I had adapted the bed so that it would stay up and put a carpet in there and some extra bedding.

So getting back to the pound. We were loading Eleanor and the pups into my car and Dapper started crying, he was so upset. Dapper was going into foster with someone else but we decided that it would be best if he came with me, Eleanor and the pups.
They settled in the bedroom, and the pups were everywhere, they were climbing out of the base of the bed and causing havoc, like puppies do.

Pedro the Podenco - a Happy Ending

Read the lovely story about Pedro the Podenco from Spanish Stray Dogs.

Update on Podenca Carley

From Bev Farmer at Podenco Friends.

'One year ago Carley arrived at the finca with PJ .. Sandra Inglis and Dave Inglis had come over to give me some help and I don't think it was their intention to adopt another podenco but they fell in love with Carley the moment they met her.. Then camw the terrible news she was very ill many mammary tumours which were all malignant. she went through two very major and invasive surgeries then chemo but she came through and after nearly 10 months she boarded the transport to her new home.

Carley is such a special Podenca. She took galgo PJ who was not her pup under her care and whilst on the streets she kept him alive. He was so thin he couldn't maintain his body temperature and she would wrap herself around him to keep him warm. Carly showed more love and compassion for this wee waif than most humans are capable of. Their obvious love for one another was a joy to see and she was generous enough to allow him to spend time with me. I had no intention of adopting another dog, it wasn't the right time in my life but he wrapped his paws around my heart so I had decided he would stay. Sadly it was not meant to be and he had a condition so severe it was not treatable and he gained his wings a few weeks later.

Tribute to Podenco Gil and Galga Carmela

Last week I had to say farewell to another of my galgos. Carmela came to us as a foster at 4 years old, rescued from a perrera and with behaviour problems. It was a good 2 years before she had the trust and confidence of a 'normal' dog, by which time of course she became a failed foster and joined our canine family. Dementia took hold 18 months ago but with medication we had more time to share with her and at 15 years old, she finally gave up and crossed the rainbow bridge to join Sahara, Karmel and Floyd under the oak trees in a quiet corner of the garden.

I recently heard from a reader who had to say farewell to his podenco. Here's the story of Gil. 'My Ibizan, Gil, came to me at four years old, nervous, horribly underweight and hysterical whenever he met another dog. He used to rear up on his hind legs and vocalise...a terrifying sight as he was a big dog. Most other dogs fled. After a year or so, he had calmed down considerably, but he was never really comfortable around other dogs. With people, he grew into the gentlest and sweetest dog I have ever known.'

It's never easy to lost a friend but we can rest happy knowing that we gave our rescued hounds all the love and comfort they would never have known at the hands of the Spanish galgueros.

RIP Carmela and Gil.

From Lanzarote to Canada - Podenco Martino finally found his forever

Happy rehoming story from Bev Farmer of Podenco Friends.

'Martino . 3 years ago this photo just grabbed at my heart a Podenco that was in the perrera on Lanzarote .. This was the 2nd time he found himself in the pound the first time a hunter took him and them when no longer wanted handed him back . Laura Johnson got him out and to safety and when he was ready he flew over to the finca.

Then Valerie Petterson fell in love with him and he made the flight to Canada . He was 8 years old when he was dumped in the perrera .. 8 years being a loyal servant to his masters. He was the most loving and gentle of souls yet that counted for nothing. All that is the past and he has the most amazing life in Canada. He waited many years but finally found his true family and is very much loved.'

Black podencos - do you have one?

Some years ago I wrote about an Argentinian who bred Podenco Andaluz...I haven't managed to find the post here to link to it. But I recently received an email from a lady who adopted a dog in Argentina which is very much a black podenco type. So Valentin would like to introduce you to Raimondo and if any of you have a black podenco, maybe you would like to message her in the comments.

'The story of how I got Raimundo is very standard: I saw a puppy at a vet store and asked the owner where he got it, who then directed me to this place where an old couple lived. There was the mother with two puppies left, one of them was Raimundo. The mother didn't look like Raimundo at all except for the color: she was a very common looking dog, black, medium size, chubby, like a small lab. She didn't have Raimundo's ears or his slenderness. She got pregnant one time she ran away (or so her owners claimed) and they never saw the male dog that fathered Raimundo. Also, Raimundo was originally the name of the owner of the doggies, a man in his old age. I thought the name was hilarious and so I kept it for my Rai.

I love my Rai, he is such a crazy but loving dog, and he is gorgeous. Every single week someone stops me in the street to tell me how peculiar, or elegant, or Egyptian, or cute he is.

Podencas Nancy & Poppy - happy in their forever home

I always love to get stories about rescued podencos who have found their forever home. Here's a lovely one from Cliff who has adopted two of these fabulous hounds.

'It all began around the spring of 2017, I had spent the past seven years refurbishing my home and creating a garden from almost nothing. Then following the death of my mother I had become very insular and unsocial, burying myself in the work and not going out very much.

Basically I was a grumpy, sad, lonely old fart. I was divorced from my second wife and alienated from my two children. I had no one close to love except my brother and sister-in-law who live just three miles away and I only wanted to see them on special occasions.

From Lanzarote to Alderney - with help from TheKennelKlub and Podenco Friends

At the end of May podenco Cuthbert arrived at his new home in the Channel Islands, it was a complex journey due to his destination and we had a hiccup at the final stage. A road trip from Spain to the UK then a ferry crossing to Guernsey ( the Channels Islands) where he arrived friday lunchtime… But due to fog no flights were taking off to for the final leg of his journey. Thankfully a very kind person came forward on Guernsey and took Cuthbert home until he could fly to Alderney this morning.

We have to thank Katy Orton his new mum who was determined to get him home and it was worth all the effort today he had his first walk on the beach. He took the trip in his stride and made friends along the way even the captain on the plane helped him into the cabin.

Remember Podenco Rene? Happy in his forever home

Remember our poor podenco boy Rene whose adoption offers kept falling through one after the other by pure bad luck, and how just when he was getting pretty sad and feeling totally invisible he fell on his paws with forever Mum Deborah Ashton back in December?

Well here's a little album of our cheeky Spaniard's first months in the UK for all his fans to enjoy and to see how happy he is: zooming round the garden, out on field walks, hobnobbing at doggy day care and getting busy with the ironing - or is that practising surfing for his holidays!! And I have to include his and Deborah's first-meeting photo again as last but not least as it says it all: these two just love each other. Greetings from Rene to all his friends and in particular his special people, godparents and kennels Mums. As ever it was a team effort to keep him safe all that time from when we first rescued him from the pound.