Keep your Portuguese Podengo Pequeno on a performance diet, containing a high percentage of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Keep training short, positive, and relaxed. Be sure to teach your pet some easy commands, including stop, come, sit, stay, etc. Since it often has an independent streak, training it for obedience could be useful in dealing with and overcoming problem behaviors. Practicing this will teach the puppy to get used to unknown people approaching its bowl. Then ask them to drop a tasty treat into its food bowl. Invite your friends to come to your place and tell them to approach your dog’s bowl while it is eating. Allow other people to cuddle and handle your pup gently. Introduce your Pequeno puppy to well-behaved children and unfamiliar men regularly, keeping the interactions unthreatening and pleasant. It is a healthy and sturdy breed with no known hereditary diseases or serious health conditions.īeing loyal, smart, and affectionate nature, it is easily trained but requires a firm and confident handler. Baths are rarely needed, as the Pequeno can shed dirt naturally and keep itself clean. While the wire-haired variety needs occasional brushing using a pin brush for the prevention of knots and tangles, the smooth-coated type can be brushed on a weekly basis with a hound mitt.

They enjoy running off leash in an enclosed park or yard, as well as participating in dog sports like agility, flyball, and lure coursing. These are energetic and agile dogs that need plenty of regular outdoor activities, including brisk walking and jogging. If socialized from a young age, it is patient with children and other dogs in the household. It is neither too aggressive nor overly shy, but because of its tenacity, fearlessness, and wariness around strangers, the Pequeno makes an excellent watchdog. It is cheerful and rambunctious by nature, always looking to please its people with its amusing antics. A decrease in popularity has continued to decimate what remains of their bloodline.Although the Pequeno has earned its reputation as a tireless hunting partner of farmers, it is also cherished as a terrific family companion by city dwellers. For many years the Grande and Medio were interbred and in the 1800s it was heavily crossed with the Galgo Español, Greyhound, and crosses of the two. Today the Portuguese Podengo Grande is extremely rare, even inside its homeland and is danger of facing extinction. Some have speculated that the Medio was produced by the addition of Portuguese Sheepdogs to the bloodline, the Pequeno by small terrier-like dogs. This outside blood not only created the Grande, it may have led to the development of the other two sizes. This left them influenced by countless other breeds. Unlike their cousins, the Portuguese Podengo Grande did not develop independently and isolated on an island, but rather the mainland. Like the other Mediterranean sighthounds, the most commonly held theory is that their ancestors were brought to the region by the Phoenicians and were Egyptian hounds such as the Tesem. However, how and when it arrived has been lost in time. The Portuguese Podengo Grande has existed in Portugal for centuries. As a secondary role they were sometimes used for guarding. Although the Portuguese Podengo Grande is capable of working as a gundog. During a hunt they generally coursed alone or in pairs. However, as this game diminished their skill was turned toward smaller animals like rabbit or hare. Originally they were developed to hunt large prey such as boar, wolf, bear and deer in packs. The term ‘sighthound’ is a bit misleading as the Portuguese Podengo Grande uses sight, scent, and hearing while hunting. The Medio and Grande are lumped together as a single breed in their Foundation Stock Service. However, the American Kennel Club currently recognizes only the Pequeno. In most countries these types are seen as varieties rather than separate breeds. They are also the largest and oldest of the three Portuguese Podengos, the other two being the Portuguese Podengo Medio and the Portuguese Podengo Pequeno. This includes the Cirneco dell’Etna, Pharoah Hound, Ibizan Hound, and the Podenco Canario. The Portuguese Podengo Grande belongs to the family of primitive sighthounds found throughout the Mediterranean.

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