What is a Hunting podenco?

The Spanish hunting podencos are not a breed but to call them mixed breed is to make it too easy for us. The hunting podencos have been exclusively bred for hunting and their appearance have been secondary to their hunting performance. Its characteristic appearance, the  podencos have developed according to the type of prey they chased. But climate and habitat have also affected their appearance. A slim and long legged dog has easier to get rid of excess heat when they hunt during the many and long hours under a burning sun. A compact built dog would quickly die of heat stroke during the conditions prevailing around the Mediterranean Sea.

It was only in 1980-90s as RSCE (the Spanish Kennel Club) approved Podenco Canario, Podenco Ibicenco and Podenco Andaluz as breeds of their own. Until then, there were no written standards on how a podenco would look like. Despite this, they all knew how a podenco would be built for best performance during a hunt. Large errected ears was important and they are the signum for these breeds today. But they would also have a slender body type with long legs but there are exceptions to this rule. If these features were not there, it was not a podenco. However, colors and furs fluctuated a lot. Podenco Andaluz though have a more rustic body than the other spanish podencos. One neighbour in the village may have bred red podencos. The next family chocolate coloured and those next to them bred perhaps black dogs. But despite that, they was all considered to be just podencos.

In the case of Podenco Andaluz, the majority of the dogs had dark noses and dark eyes before the standard was set. When they wanted to get Andaluz recognized as a breed the Portuguese protested, they found the Andaluz to be to similar to their Podengo Portugues. It was decided then in Spain, only to recognize those with red noses as "genuine" Andaluz. In a trice, had the majority of the Podenco Andaluz gone from "genuine" to mixed-breed. Similar compromises were also made in the other podenco breeds. Within Podenco Canario they do not recognize dogs with black pigments or with freckles.

If you would ask a hunter what breed the dog on the photo to the left is, he would probably respond Maneto. Would you ask a breeder, so might some of them say that it is a Podenco or a Manetomix. It is only his colors that are not authorized under the standard. Most hunters and breeders would prefer to see an opening of the standard, so as to increase the diversity within the breed. If you look at some of the videos available, you will see that they are all about hunting. In the hunting context you have a greater tolerance of how a podenco should look like. So even though it says that it is Andaluz, Canario or Ibicenco on the video you will see that many of them would never have been approved on an exhibition. But despite that, they are all considered to be pure-bred in those contexts.

The dogs who come to northern Europe via Spanish rescues is primarily hunting podencos and podenco mixes. To draw the dividing line between hunting podencos and podenco mixes is subtle. But if they have all the external features and temperament, and hunting desire as a podenco should have, I would call them hunting podencos. But it is only a play with words that we humans put so much efforts in. A dog does not care if we call him podenco this or that, German shepherd, Poodle, or even for a sock. Just make sure that they get everything that a dog needs, and he is satisfied, whether it is pure-bred with pedigree or a mongrel picked up from someone's backyard. It is only for the owner that it is important if the dog has papers or not. With a pedigree, you can set out and compete in all the different dogrelated things there are out there. A dog without a pedigree can not participate in all competitions, which one should be aware of if you choose to acquire a hunting podenco.

La Podenquera