Podenco Post

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.

Podenco Ruso - from hell at the hands of a hunter to heaven in a loving home

A heartwarming rehoming story from Vivien.

'I heard about the plight of the Podenco’s on Podenco Post in 2012. On it was a article about a Podenco called Ruso. He had been rescued from a hunter where he had been kept in a cage since he was a puppy. He was badly abused, starving and ill when he was found. He had been rejected as a hunting dog as he was no good at hunting so he was left to die.

When I saw Ruso on Podenco post I sent an email to a lady called Ainhoa who helps a wonderful lady in Seville called Inmaculada agomez Gonzalez who rescues Podencos and Galgos from a gipsy settlement.
Because she did not speak any English I was only contacted by Ainhoa who arranged Ruso’s transport to the UK with SOS podencos.

Sadly since having been brought back to health Ruso was still in kennels with no one showing any interest in him. We decided to foster him.

He arrived in the UK from his long journey from Spain, we first saw him being taken out of the van and he looked so frightened and cowered when placed on the ground.

Podenca pup left for dead at the side of the road

From Betty Morena on facebook.

A few days ago we got the notice of a dog next to the highway crawling from its back legs. After hours of search we were able to find her. She's barely 7-Months old, just a puppy that was run over a long time ago and has been without any kind of attention or food. We quickly took her to the clinic for our vet to examine. After doing different tests it has been possible to see that she has several injuries on the 2 legs that have healed badly. She has at the bottom of the femur a callused body due to a untreated breakage that will have to return to its natural place.

She must be operated as soon as possible to make a femur rectification by shortening a piece to return the articulation to the vertical angle and return the kneecap to its natural site. Trying to increase the mobility of the joint and avoiding the advanced wear in the leg or short or long term which might result in amputation.

Podenco Orito Foxy - happy in his forever motor home!

It's always great to publish a happy ending story for a lucky podenco...so many appeals for help and reports of cruelty cases...so enjoy reading the story of Foxy.

'My name is Linda and I travel around Spain and Portugal in my small motorhome. In 2017 in the summer a small (now I found out) Podenco Orito was clearly abandoned and was trying to survive on his own. He must have been on his own for a while as he was very skinny, scabs on his ears and nose and he was covered in over 40 ticks.

I don’t know why, but for some reason he picked me, he would come to me even though I did not even feed him. After about two days we became friends and he let me touch him and, with the help of a friend, we removed all the ticks. He was afraid to come inside my motorhome, but the moment I bought him a doggie bed, he was inside and claiming his space!

Podenco Spirit with Refugio La Candela

Two years ago this little podenco was rescued - shot in the mouth and without his lower jaw.

Update on Podenco Spirit 21 10 2018 - The journey THAT SAVED SPIRIT'S LIFE

Two years of struggle, of love, but above all of survival, Of making possible the impossible and of not admitting, even for a second, an ending other than this one.

A journey in which we traveled many kilometers to bring back our hearts full of love and compassion: full of gratitude for all your efforts, which made it possible for Spirit to be treated in the best hospital in Spain.

Today Spirit lives with Lucia in the Sanctuary where he has found his family: everything we had promised him and that finally, thanks to your help, we have been able to give him.

Podenco Ricardo - from a hard life in Spain to a comfortable home in Italy

Another moving story from the world of Podenco Friends. Bev Farmer tells the story of Ricardo.

'21 10 2017

Ricardo arrived yesterday and we took him to our vet. The first round of blood tests that have come in are good and we wait for more detailed lab reports which will be here next week... This just could be a case of neglect and Ricardo is suffering from the effects of malnutrition. He his 30% below his normal body weight. Under his coat he is skin and bone with a number of pressure sores. His lungs and heart sound good so the laboured breathing could be due to stress or he is just exhausted and his body is depleted.

Next week we will return to our vet with him for xrays and a ultrasound just to make sure there is no other reason for him been in such a terrible condition. He has had a bath as he smelt like rancid cheese and now smells a bit sweeter. His DOB declared in his passport is 5th September 2005 which makes him 12 years old but still he should not have ended his final days in a perrera. Ricardo is a real gentleman I bet he has some stories to tell.

Update 22 10 2018.

Podenco Rene finds his forever family

You may remember earlier in the year I posted an appeal for a forever home for Podenco Rene, who sounded the perfect hound. Well, good news, his forever home has been found. Here is the update from Polly Mathewson.

'Happy, happy, happy news for our sweet Rene podenco -

RENE HAS A FAMILY AT LONG LAST. It's been such a long wait for Rene to find his forever home with lots of false starts over several years since we saved this beautiful, cheeky, gentle soul from a terrifying fate in the pound in Spain: too often the tragic circumstances of this most abandoned and abused of breeds.

Happily Rene has been so well cared for and loved in his foster-kennels with Becky Reed and Allison Reid since then, all my heartfelt thanks to them for giving him such safety and fun with their other rescue dogs, and I know they will miss him a lot. But it is the best news that Rene will be moving to a family of his own this December when his forever Mum Deborah Ashton retires and she and Steve are going to give him the loveliest life imaginable: lots of walks in the Lake District, trips off in their new caravan (Rene fans know how he loves a road trip), a sofa to nestle on and a big garden, and above all so much love for this most affectionate of lads.