Can anyone help Kerry and her podenco Spesh, an urgent solution needs to be found for helping them find a new home for him. This is their story.
'I thought I would send you my story in case you could help or knew anyone who might want to adopt a podenco.
There is a quite a story behind him (as I am sure there is with most rescue dogs) but firstly, the basics facts are; he is a 5yr old castrated male with his recently acquired passport for travel and entry into the UK and is currently housed near Iznajar on the Cordoba/Malaga borders.
'Spesh' was one of a litter of 8 which we hand-reared when his stray Mum was to ill to feed them at 5 days old.
We reared the entire litter until 4 months old, re-homed 6 and kept two. Spesh and his brother lived for 3 yrs on 12acre piece of land next to our house and when we moved to a large townhouse, we attempted to integrate them into our new home with our 'house dog', a border-collie cross. Although, they had played with him on the land since they were all puppies, the fights that ensured meant we had to place the 2 podencos back outside to live on the land and we visited them twice daily.
All seemed well until last November when the 2nd dog escaped and was heartbreakingly hit and killed by a car. We felt it cruel to leave Spesh on his own so again tried to integrate him into the home without success. For the past 8 months, Spesh has been a permanent border at a wonderful 'open-house' (lots of land and all dogs loose together) ran by an English woman near Iznajar. We have still visited and walked him 2/3 times a week but in the last 6/8 weeks there have been a few problems and the owner no longer wants Spesh to stay there.
The issues have been three-fold. Firstly, in true podenco style, he has found means to escape. This has been a handful of times and he has always returned but it causes a problem to the owner. Secondly, Spesh has been snappy/snarly/raised hackles with some of the other bigger dogs which are loose with him. He is a strong powerful dog so the owner decided she would no longer have him in 'general population' and housed him in a large, spacious pen but regulalrly let him out into a paddock area to exercise.
However, in the last 4 weeks, a situation has occurred which has made the owner decide that she wants him to leave. Close by live a spanish family with two of the small, standard yappy dogs that everyone seems to have. When you walk past their house, the dogs fly out from nowhere at whoever walks by. When I am walking Spesh, he becomes particularly agitated by this and I have to use all my stregnth to stop him from chasing them. 3 weeks ago, one of the owners helpers who was walking Spesh couldn't hold him and he escaped,picked the dog up by its neck, shook it and then dropped it and it ran off. It was fine but he had bitten it. Yesterday, almost the identical thing happened when the owner was walking him. The owner dived on Spesh and the small dog got free. It understandably shook her up.
She has told us she think Spesh should be put down. This thought horrifies us. Its not something we can even begin to contemplate. I have spoken to an acquaintance who is a dog trainer who has said Spesh instinctively will chase small, fast moving creatures and that the snappiness when openly surrounded by 20+ other dogs, who are continually coming and going, would be unsettling for any dog. He suggested a home where Spesh is the solitary pet which has plenty of open space. The owner has given us to the end of the weekend to move him or make a decision to have him put down.
We, my Mother and I, are really distraut by this whole situation and want what is best for Spesh. We are trying everything we can to resolve this upsetting situation but the owner says we shouldnt even be contemplating re-homing as Spesh could escape from another location and harm any cats/small dogs in the vicinity. I have been competely open with you and recounted everything that has happended.
If you can help in any way, we would be forever thankful.
Warm wishes
Kerry Lackey
Contact Kerry by email
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