Rescued Podencos arrive in Nottinghamshire

I recently reported on the rescue of four Podencos from the Sara animal shelter on Lanzarote. Well, they have now arrived in the UK and join the one remaining bitch from the previous rescue operation. Rick and Lesley Beauchamp are currently fostering all five on their Nottingham farm and are looking for loving homes for them.

Rick has written a full report on them all in the hope of finding forever homes as soon as possible:

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CHRISTINA age 2, came into the shelter as a young puppy and spent her first 20 months within those 4 walls.

Chrissy is a real character, in some ways she is almost feline in her ways. When she plays she pounces (as do many Podencos but Chrissy is so precise she could catch a rolling penny). Christina is just about the prettiest Podenco we have seen – a real eyeful, beautifully marked and put together – everything is in proportion. She has lived in our house since she came to the UK last November apart from about 3 weeks when she was adopted but, unfortunately, returned when her adopted family split up!

She is loving, attentive, incredibly clean around the house and good with children, other dogs, cats and horses. She also quite happily spends a couple of hours in a large cage as she often sits in one of our cages at teatime and curls up in it afterwards and goes to sleep. Christina has had an unfortunate start to her new life in the UK and we are incredibly fond of her, so her new home must be very, very special. She needs a good hours exercise a day, a fully enclosed garden as she is a great escape artist – no gaps or hedges to crawl under and at least a 5 foot boundary fencing!  She isn’t the best traveller in cars either but will get better and copes ok provided she has a sickness tablet. Really Christina would be best suited to a home with another dog as she likes canine companionship.

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 ABRILA, age 2, is Christina’s litter sister with the same good looks as her sister but with much plainer markings.

She came to the UK recently and is currently living in our kennels. She is initially rather reserved with people but secretly longs to be your friend and when you can convince her to snuggle up next to you she loves it! Unlike her sister she’s not such an escape artist but we’d still require a totally secure garden environment for her.

We are finding out more about her every day and she is continually enchanting us with her attitude to her new life. Podencos notoriously “go for a long run” when let off their lead but Abrila so far only wants to gambol around the other dogs.

She loves to play, loves a cuddle, loves other dogs and despite her initial reservations loves people.

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AGORA age 3 – We had a spare air ticket on a flight back to the UK as we had only chosen 3 Podencos (we try to bring 4 to spread the costs) so we asked the vet at SARA who she would like us to rescue and without a moments hesitation she smiled and said Agora! This lovely little bitch had been in the shelter for 2 years, she was admitted with really bad mange that is, thankfully, all cleared up now. Within 2 days of arriving in the UK Agora wormed  her way into the house and apart from her walks and toilet breaks she doesn’t leave her two favourite spots 1. in front of the Aga or 2. on a big comfy dog bed under the stairs! 

She is really good on or off her lead, this little dog is adorable! But be warned, when she sits in front of you and looks up at you it is hard not to spoil her in ways that would make The Dog Whisperer have a fit!

Agora is quite small for a Podenco, has a thicker coat than most (good for the UK) and so far has displayed less of a hunting instinct than most of the Podencos we know. She isn’t a big jumper, but she’s no mug either so a secure garden is still a must.

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MOZAGA aged 18 months –  We saw this girl when she was a fairly small puppy with her siblings but she was separated from them because she damaged one of her front feet. All now fixed and sound although one front foot is slightly larger than the other. Mozaga arrived in the recent batch of immigrants and currently lives with Abrila. She reminds us of an adolescent girl in her looks (but thankfully not in temperament) everything is a bit “gawky” and needs time for all her body bits to come together. But having said that she is a really lovely bitch, quite large, nicely marked and with dropped ears which is rather unusual!

The first two days when she came to the UK she spent her time barking at our horses, so much so, we moved our horses to give her (and us) a break. Now she doesn’t bother at all with them although her natural reservation at new things I think comes from her total institutionalisation in SARA, I guess even with humans some prisoners adapt better to prison life than others. Until we came along I think that the only love that Mozaga had was from her mother for those first few precious weeks. So she is coming to trust and accept humans and is good on her lead, improving every day and we feel is a super, super dog in the making.

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PINTADA aged 5 – Pintada has been in rescue for far too long! She is absolutely stunning with markings more like a pointer than the usual foxhound/beagle type markings that typifies the breed. This is another recent immigrant to the UK.  What a character, she demands attention every time you get within 20 metres of her kennel and barks until you talk to her and her alone! I love her to bits. She can jump so well that if she was 3 times as big I’d have a saddle on her and be vying for a place in the British show jumping team! Five bar gates, she leaps without touching and six foot garden fences are clambered over easily.

So it goes without saying that this little girl needs a country home in the middle of nowhere where she won’t come to any harm when she jumps out your garden! But on the upside she loves people so much that she doesn’t run off too far and comes to a quick call. One for the agility enthusiast! Eminently trainable, endless energy, exudes love and affection but in need of a knowledgeable attentive home.

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If anyone is interested in adopting any of these dogs, please get in touch with Rick and Lesley on sarashelter_uk@hotmail.com 

They will be bringing another 4 or 5 dogs over to the UK in the next rescue operation in October. We would like to point out that, owing to the different climate and the location of Lanzarote, these Podencos are not susceptable to the Mediterranean diseases (Leishmaniasis – Ehrlichiosis etc). They are fully vaccinated, microchipped, neutered etc and available for immediate adoption.