Bebe is my miniature Podenca Andaluz. Here is her story.
Bebe was found, traumatised with fear, starving and dumped on a Seville autoroute. She had been badly injured by a vehicle and her left hind leg damaged to such an extent that she could not walk on it. She was rescued by a volunteer from an animal refuge and taken to her home. The following day, a vet at the refuge clinic diagnosed a badly dislocated hip and other wounds to her body from the accident. Her age was put at between 3-6 years old.
Bebe would need a lot of convalescent care after the necessary operation, and there was no room in the refuge for this, nor could the volunteer keep her, as her work often took her away from home. An appeal was launched on the Internet, which came through to Galgo News, and I decided to take the little dog. After 2 months she was brought out of Spain to my home in France. She had an operation on her hip, and her recovery is nothing short of a miracle.
She loves walking in the meadows with my other dogs, she runs at great speed on 4 legs and the only time she is unable to use her leg fully is to go down stairs, or to try and stand on her hind legs to look out of a window.
She had a big adventure one day. She managed to escape through a small gap in the fencing in our courtyard and headed off up the road. At the top of the lane is a small fishing lake, with ducks and geese living around the banks. Bebe spotted a goose, immediately chased it; it flew onto the pond; Bebe jumped in. So the goose was swimming majestically around the lake with Bebe in hot pursuit, gradually losing ground, as the goose was much faster than her. Eventually the goose came ashore, followed by Bebe. I managed to grab her and put her on the lead, but she was still full of energy and wanting to ‘get that goose’!
Bebe’s favourite spot in winter is tucked up in her little padded bed at the side of the woodburner, ‘snug as a bug in bed’ as we British say!
I would add here that not all podencos are such hunters. There are many who have been rescued as puppies, have never hunted and can be walked off the lead as with other breeds of dogs.