X Podenco Snoopy – beating the odds in Spain

This delightul cutie pie is Snoopy, a x podenco puppy, now living happily with the Scott family, between the UK and Spain. Ivor Scott tells the story.

‘Well,, my wife & I had a Border Collie called Jess,she was a special girl, very clever,, each year we came to Spain for 6 months, sadly last year Jess died from cancer aged 13 years,, we were devastated.

When we returned to Spain in November 2011, life was so empty, there was a huge void. We had decided not to get another dog, so we made contact with Pat Coleman, the founder of F-A-M-A animal rescue in Fuengirola, Andalucia. We offered our time to go dog walking.

After a few weeks one of the girls asked if we had seen the puppy that had just arrived. Naturally I went to see “SNOOPY”, as he had been named. This lovely little Podenco lad was in a creche with other puppies. My wife would not be tempted, but the next week we took him for a walk. He was a very docile boy for a pup,,, the following week he was with the older dogs getting picked on daily.

Deep down I wanted this dog for the right reason, but as my wife said ‘it’s tying with the travelling we do.

Some weeks later we all went out for a meal. Pat asked my wife if we wanted to take Snoopy home for the week end… after a bottle of wine it was all arrangedW We collected Snoopy on the Saturday, he seemed very tired but we put this down to stress. He also had a bowel infection with blood in his poo. We met Pat at the Vets who gave him a good examination – whereupon she found that he had a problem with his heart – he had an irregular heartbeat & his heart was enlarged..He had an X-Ray & an EC and this was sent to a Cardiologist for his report. We were so sad that this little chap may not be fit to travel to the UK.

Eventually we got word that the result had arrived at the Vets…he was happy for Snoopy to travel & he did not need any medication at the moment,, his bowel problem cleared up fine, his cough went,, and he bounced into life!

We did not know what hit us,,,, he became what a 6 month old pup should be like full of bounce! Great fun!

May 2012 arrived and time for us to set off back to England, a long drive for a little lad who had never seen a car…he was so good ,not a murmur from him, he was so good when we stopped in the hotels too

We are home in the UK now and he has settled in well ,, we live on a marina next to the canal,. there are rabbits all over, he has so much fun… no matter what happens regarding his heart, we intend to make sure he enjoys life to the full!
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So we must say a big thanks to Pat Coleman and all the helpers at F-A-M-A.’ (On the video, look out for the pink-nosed podencos waiting for forever homes)Thank you for sharing Snoopy’s story, what a lucky little pod. Wishing him a long and healthy life with you.

And don’t forget, if you go on holiday abroad, look out a local dog shelter, they are always looking out for people to walk the dogs, they never have enough volunteers.