Some podencos live happily with cats, so I would like to share with you these wonderful photos to illustrate this. BUT care should always be taken when introducing the two species. Thank you to Bev Farmer, Natalie van Noten and Flavia Schwarz-Greiter. (Please do not resuse pix without the permission of these ladies)
Comments
5 responses to “Podencos and cats”
I have a beautiful Pod-galgo and a 10 year old cat. I’m pretty sure my lovely dog (nearly 2yrs, I’ve only had for 6 months) would kill my lovely cat given the chance. Also my partner (who is also lovely) doesnt like my dog and I’m in the middle and I love them all!!! Any ideas how I can help them?
Have you chatted about the situation with the association from whom you adopted your dog? That is the place to start. Had your dog been cat tested before you adopted it? How does your dog behave with the cat? Will your cat put out its claws to the dog? As for your OH, how can anyone not like a Pod/galgo! You could also ask Bev Farmer about working with your dog and cat, email her at podencofriends@hotmail.co.uk. She may take a few days to reply as I know she is due to make a quick trip to the US and back with pods being adopted.
Lynne, here are two comments from experience podenco/galgo adoptants, the second lady is a dog behaviourist by profession. Hope you find them helpful.
1. It sounds like a very sad and stressful situation to be in. Whatever the rescue said about the dog’s cat-trainability, you can only be really sure once the two animals are living together. I suggest the owner contacts an animal behaviourist and asks for an honest assessment of the dog in its home environment. If it really is NOT cat-trainable and the partner doesn’t like the dog anyway, the owner should ask for help to rehome the dog. It’s one of those few circumstances when rehoming the dog really is best for the whole family. I wish your reader luck
2. My feeling is if the partner doesn’t like the dog, one or other has to go or the dog may well suffer – I’ve done behaviour cases where subtle mistreatment by a partner was the root of the behaviour problems. A behaviourist could assess whether the pod-glgo can be cat-trained and can advise on the best way to do this. But the partner problem to me is the big problem and unless the reasons for the partner’s dislike of the dog are fully investigated and treated, for the dog’s safety and well-being I would move one (for me it would be the partner that went, but I accept that isn’t everyone’s choice!)
I don’t have a cat but if I did I would only get a dog that had been cat tested for the sake of my resident animal. It’s the same with getting another dog, I have only ever chosen a dog that gets on well with other dogs to ensure the health and wellbeing of my resident dog. Obviously I appreciate that this can’t always be 100% guaranteed and work does need to be put in to ensure that both animals get along.
I have always chosen my rescue dogs with some input from my husband but if he didn’t like the dog then he wouldn’t be the sort of person I would want to be with anyway. There has been a lurcher handed in to a rescue local to me, eight years old, has been with the same woman all his life. She has met someone and he has said that he would only marry her if she gets rid of the dog, hence the dog being dumped. Personally if it was me, it would be the bloke who was out on his ear. Love me love my dog, end of.
I had a bit of an issue with my mixed breed rescue dog (not a pod or a galgo), as for some reason she did not like my Dad and barked and glared at him every time she saw him. Now my Dad is not particularly an animal lover but he went out of his way to gain her trust. She spent time with him at his house, we all went on holiday together. It took six months of this and now she is won over completely, as is my Dad.
Now would I have considered getting rid of the dog? Absolutely not, we would have carried on working with the situation because I knew that deep down she was scared and I think she thought that my Dad had come to take her away.
My Dad never once said that he didn’t like her or that I should get rid of her. He was set on doing everything he could to bring her round because he knew how much she meant to me. In all other situations with people and other dogs my dog is submissive, trustworthy, gentle and very loving (an absolutely wonderful dog to be honest) so she just needed a bit of understanding.
It’s very upsetting when someone says that they don’t like an animal, as they pick up on that kind of thing, it makes the situation worse and I can’t understand someone saying that they don’t like an innocent creature. Like Beryl says, pods and galgos are such loving gentle animals, that’s my experience anyway. I feel really sorry for the dog.
The story behind this dog is that she was abandoned and turned up in a neighbour’s garden. As the neighbour already had 9 dogs, this lady took her in. The partner was bitten by a dog as a youngster and isn’t prepared to deal with the problem. So the dog is now up for adoption. She is in Puerto de Mazarron, if there are any readers there who can help. I have asked for a description and pix so I can post separately. Very sad, as the lady says the pod/galgo is the lovliest dog she has had.