Podenca Andaluz Bebe – off on an adventure in rural France!

Yet another story about a podenco! This time it is about mine, little Bebe, my Podenca Andaluz, rescued injured from a Seville motorway 2 1/2 years ago. My vet operated on her injured leg, and now Bebe is the fastest Pod on 4 legs!! I haven’t been able to train her to come to me when she is outside of the house, the vet thought she was about 5 or 6 when rescued, so probably too old to train. So when we walk the dogs, Bebe is on a harness and long lead, and then on a long tether on a long line when in the courtyard with the other dogs. Our courtyard is enclosed for galgos and Podenco Canarios and Ibicencos, but not the miniatures. We have to leave one or two small escape routes for our cat, in case she ventures into the courtyard when the dogs are loose.

The dogs sleep overnight in a barn adjoining the house. Each morning I let them out into another barn which leads to the back door, where they also have their breakfast. They are naturally all excited running and leaping about. I have to be quick to catch hold of Bebe to attach her extending lead onto her collar, and then all the dogs can be let out to wee, before they come back in to eat.

This morning was no different, except that as soon as I opened the back door and the dogs ran out, I realised with horror that I did not have a little Podenca Andaluz attached to the other end of the lead in my hand!

Straight off round the house she went, through the gate (which hasn’t got mesh fencing on so it is an escape route for the cat), looking for Pollypuss the cat, and away………over the fields, gardens and lanes…….

My car broke down last week, this morning my husband was out in the other car and so I had no car to go tracking Bebe. I walked and walked, but she was headed for the village and could have gone any which route. After probably a good 45 minutes or so, I was chatting about it to the old boy at the top of our lane, who was sitting fishing his little lake. Suddenly he pointed behind me and down the lane towards us came Bebe in full flight, straight in through his open gates and into his lake after one of his geese! If I hadn’t been so desperate to catch her, I’d have laughed.

She’s a really good swimmer, but not as fast as the goose! The ducks took flight and scattered, round and round the lake went the goose with Bebe in pursuit but beginning to loose ground, thank goodness! Monsieur walked around the lake whacking a big stick on the ground, so she wouldn’t get out of the water near him. Eventually the goose got up on dry land, I followed it, Bebe followed it still in the water. Eventually she gave up and climbed out so I could grab her collar and put her on the lead. Boy, was that a relief!!

Back home we walked, Bebe safely attached to the end of the lead this time and, after drying her off to get her little body warm, she was wrapped up in her fleece winter overnight coat to recover. Tell you what, she is a cracking swimnmer!

So now we will definitely have to get some plastic fencing with small mesh and put it around the courtyard and across the big gates, because it’s just too difficult to catch Bebe on the rare occasions she does escape. And I’ll just have to keep praying Polly puss continues to have the sense not to come in the courtyard when the dogs are loose.

Podencos are the most loyal of dogs, great characters and lots of fun. Some of them, if adopted young enough, are able to be trained to come to call. Others are no good as hunters, unlike Bebe, and are not interested in chasing a scent to home in for a kill.

Please don’t be put off adopting a podenco. I tell this story simply to illustrate that when either a galgo or podenco is off on a scent, it is very difficult to catch them. At the end of the day, many of these dogs have hunted and should always, as both Bebe and my galgas are, walked on a harness and lead.