Here is a lovely story from Dineka in Portugal, about a lucky Portuguese podengo family.

‘On the 7th of May I saw two Podengos running on the road, both skinny to the bone, one male and one female. Stopped and gave them water and food, and the female obviously had puppies recently.

She was approachable, but the male was too scared, and ran off. It was already late afternoon, so I took the female to the vet, checked for a chip, and she belongs to a hunter nearby. But he didn’t bother reporting her as missing.

It turned out she had Microfilaria, anaemia and Tic-fever, and I left her ate the vet that night. Next morning I picked her up, put her on the leash where I found her, and she took me directly to a hollow tree, where she had hidden 5 puppies.

The puppies were only 3 weeks old, and Estrela (the mother) had hardly any milk left. So I took them all home, gave the puppies puppy-milk and rice and chicken, and started giving Estrela medication for everything.

In the meantime they are all healthy and fat, and I’ve decided that Estrela ( she’s called Starlet now) can stay with me.

I named all the puppies after stars or planets: Lua, Rhea, Sol, Ariel and(the only male) Pluto. A few weeks ago Sol has found a wonderful home, but the other 4 need to go too! I need to find forever homes for them. Their estimated date of birth is 15th of April, they had their first vaccination, they are de-wormed and had their booster+rabies. They can travel everywhere in Europe to the right homes.

First are photos of the tree where they were hidden and then photos of the puppies. (2 pix of each)

Pluto: the only male, sturdy and naughty.

Ariel: she has a little heart on her head, and the longest legs

Lua: who looks the most like her mother

And Rhea who has the colour or the male Podenco, who must be her father. She’s the smallest.

So, if you know of someone who would like to adopt a beautiful Podengo Português, they can travel as from the beginning of August

Contact dineke_alipo@sapo.pt