Through my passion for greyhounds/galgos and subsequent involvement in publicising the plight of the galgos in Spain, I was introduced to the Podenco, used in Spain and the Spanish Islands for hunting rabbit. Whilst they are not abandoned each year in such huge numbers as the galgos, the life of a podenco runs parallel in many ways and they too suffer indescribable cruelty at the hands of the unforgiving hunters.
Through Galgo News I have met a couple of British volunteers who live on Lanzarote and are very involved with the SARA Lanzarote animal shelter and raising awareness of the problems faced by the podencos there. What you will read here also applies to the life of a podenco on mainland Spain too.
Over the past few years, I have been lucky enough to foster and rehome some delightful podencas, and have also adopted one of my own. Like the greyhound/galgo, they make wonderful pets.
There are several types of podenco, the best known being the Ibizan Hound or Podenco Ibicenco, found on the island of Ibiza. From there we go to the Podenco Andaluz, Podenco Manchengo, my own miniature Podenco Andaluz, and the Podenco Canario.
Jacky, a volunteer with the SARA shelter on the Canary Island of Lanzarote, describes the Podenco Canario.
Podenco Canario is the breed name of the Canarian rabbit hunting dog. They spend their lives either kept on very short chains or in dark sheds, only released from their toturously boring and hungry lives during the hunting season – which runs from August to December. They are then expected to hunt all day long in often burning temperatures to flush out rabbits for their master's table. This they do without complaint, because they are desperate to please him, they crave his attention and would do anything for just one pat and a kind word.
Unfortunately for the majority, these kind words and acts of affection never arrive. After a hard day's hunting, they are roughly loaded back into a small cage on the back of their master's truck and taken home to be put back into that dark shed or tied up again on a very short chain, hungry, thirsty and tired, until the next hunt.
Many of these dogs get separated from the rest of the pack and find themselves all alone, with no idea where they are. The hunter will not waste his time looking for a dog who doesn't return; they are two-a-penny and he can replace them easily. If a dog is not a particularly good hunter, or he is past his best, he will simply be driven out to a remote part of the Island, far from home, and left to fend for himself. Others are abandoned at the end of the hunting season, because their owner doesn't want to bother with them for the rest of the year, he will get another one next hunting season.
The dogs are kept hungry because the hunters believe the dogs will hunt better if they are hungry. There are some instances of hanging, but these are becoming much less. A bigger problem here is poisoning. As so many of the dogs are lost or abandoned during the hunting season, the farmers who do not want stray dogs around put down a mix of either bread or 'Gofio' (maize flour) and insecticides and, in some cases, strychnine. It takes little imagination to comprehend the terrible death of a dog eating this.
Here's an example of the Spanish attitude which has to be overcome. Jacky has a friend who found a small podenco puppy under a rubbish bin. He's called Kellogs because he is the colour of a cornflake! He's now 4 months old, and responding to his obedience training. Jacky's friend had called into a local cafe bar with an outside seating area where she and her daughter sat with Kellogs whilst they ate lunch. 5 local men were also having lunch in the bar and they were all very interested in the puppy. Unbeknown to them, her daughter could understand every word they said. They were discussing the puppy. They said it could not be a true Podenco because they cannot be trained to sit and behave in such a manner. They said that Podenco's are stupid dogs and cannot be trained. They also said 'what are 2 women doing with a Podenco – they are a man's dog'.
Jacky says, 'this is what we are up against – but it seems that we are getting them talking so it's a start. Freda, my podenca, is still too nervous of Spanish men to take her into a bar but given more time she will get there and we will begin to change the minds of these ignorant men who just do not know what an intelligent, loving and wonderful animal thay have on the end of a chain'.
SARA Lanzarote have over 100 podencos at their shelter on Lanzarote, waiting to be adopted. Some have found forever homes in Germany, where the breed is popular, so contact SARA direct if you can offer a home to one of these adorable dogs; the fact that you do not live in the Canary Islands is not a problem!