I just found this on the Podenco charity website. I knew it all already really but reading it all in one go.... Sheesh.
The Podencos story.
For many centuries, hunters in rural Spain have used dogs to hunt wild animals across the winter landscape. In the 17th century these dogs were associated with nobility, protected by law and appeared in noblemens’ wills. But these dogs have had a dramatic fall from grace. Today, at the end of each hunting season in February, it is estimated that between 60,000 and 80,000 Spanish hunting dogs (Podencos as well as Galgos, the Spanish Greyhound) are dumped, abandoned or killed, considered too old or too slow for the next season. 60,000 - 80,000 dogs - every single year.
Most dogs are left to their fate by the sides of the road, many picked up by government ‘killing stations’ or perreras but some are punished for poor performance, or simply for ‘sport’ by being hung from trees or thrown down wells alive. Most of these perfectly healthy dogs are under the age of 2, and many of them will be pregnant. There are no regulations on breeding, micro -chipping or guidelines on how Podencos should be kept as they are not considered pets by their hunting owners - they are simply a tool for hunting during the 12 days (Sundays) of hunting season.
Most of their working life is spent on a short chain, without any shelter from extreme weather conditions. Alternatively, they are often crammed into dark sheds, packed so tightly together that they cannot move - forcing them to lay in urine and faeces. They are given very little food or water as it is believed that being starved makes them sharper, better hunters. Dogs with injuries receive no veterinary care - we have often taken in Podencos with serious broken limbs, literally unable to walk, and yet, astonishingly, still being used for hunting. Others will come to us with chains or rope embedded so deeply in their necks that the scarring is permanent.
Females who are bred from are not kept in any better conditions, giving birth whilst chained tightly, the pups arriving onto bare and often filthy concrete floors.
At the end of hunting season each year (in February), their owners repay these young dogs for their hard work and loyalty by throwing them away; abandoning them, killing them, or leaving them to starve, as it is cheaper to get rid of the old ones and breed or buy new ones for the next season, than keep a pack fed until the following season.
Preferred methods of destruction are to throw dogs (alive) over ravines or down well shafts. They are frequently drowned, ofter weighted down with rocks. We have seen dogs left to starve in empty water reservoirs, who have ripped out their claws trying to climb the walls. Dogs with horrific head injuries, dogs abandoned with metal gag bits in their mouths to stop them feeding - and the horrific practice of ‘Playing the Piano’ where a Podenco or Galgo is hung by its neck - its back feet touching the ground just enough to allow it to ‘dance’ while it clings to life, until it is too exhausted and dies a slow, painful and terrifying death by asphyxiation.
Truly it seems the hunters have no limits. It is almost impossible to imagine the suffering these dogs endure especially once you have known and loved a Podenco and have experienced their love and devotion. We are sorry if the images below are distressing, but unfortunately this is the condition our dogs routinely comes to us in. These are a fraction of the dogs that we deal with and we are already at full capacity.