www.podencoworld.nl

The Podencoworld Netherlands Foundation was founded on October 4, 2011. The Podencoworld Netherlands Foundation helps abandoned, neglected and abused Podencos in Spain. Our team consists of highly motivated volunteers who are all unpaid and enthusiastically committed to the well-being of the Podencos in need. The foundation is not for profit. We work closely with various animal shelters in Spain, these shelters are regularly visited by volunteers from the foundation.

In Spain and Portugal the Podencos are mainly used for hunting rabbits. The larger Podencos are also used for big game hunting, this is done in large hunting packs called rehalas. When it appears that a Podenco has insufficient hunting instinct, the Podenco is no longer useful to the hunter and the Podenco is abandoned.

Abandoned they walk around starving in the hunting areas, along the roads or on the street, many end up in a killing station. The hunting season lasts only a few weeks, the rest of the year the Podencos stay locked in a hunting kennel, often a closed hut or bunker without daylight, or they vegetate on a short chain in the sun. They also often only get food and drink from the hunters once or twice ‘because a hungry Podenco hunts better’. Many Podencos are mistreated and neglected. The misdeeds that these innocent animals have to endure are often horrific. We have seen all possible forms of abuse, from living Podenco puppies thrown away as waste in containers to hanging Podenco’s in trees. Tens of thousands of Podencos a year are abandoned,

The lucky ones are handed over to an asylum and therefore get a chance of adoption. However, the Podencos are still little seen as pets in Spain and Portugal. As a result, adoption within these countries is almost impossible.

A number of volunteers from the Podencoworld Foundation have been committed to the Podencos since 2005. Together the volunteers have now been able to offer more than 3500 Podencos a new home.

The Podencoworld Netherlands Foundation finds it very important that the right dog ends up with the right people. We therefore use an extensive adoption procedure. Good placement goes for many places. Due to circumstances, it can sometimes happen that an adopted dog can no longer stay with its owner. The Podenco then comes back to the foundation and is taken care of in a foster family, so that we can look for a loving home again. In this way we keep control over where the dogs are placed and we prevent the dogs from ending up in Dutch shelters.

The foundation is not only there to place dogs in Dutch and Flemish families. Our goal is also to provide help on the spot. We also help by:

Collect money for (re)construction of the shelters, operations, medication, etc.

Support education and sterilization projects of the shelters on site.

Collecting relief supplies to support the shelters.

Promote good cooperation with other foundations and maintain contacts with asylums in Spain and Portugal.

If you are interested in our work or in our dogs, you can always contact us without obligation. We are happy to tell you more about this fantastic breed and about our foundation.

We need you… the Podencos need you!