Pondencos Oritos in the Poniente

podenco orito españolAround 50 Podenco Orito breeders and pet owners from all over Spain got together in Loja last weekend in Riofrío. The Spanish Podenco Orito, as well as being a pet, is a valued hunting dog.

Thus the I Concurso Morfológico del POE, held on the 6th and 7th was the first nationwide dog show of its kind for this breed, which is recognized as such by the Real Social Canina de España (RSCE).

The competition not only offered an opportunity for dog owners to meet but also included a Natural Aptitude Test for pups between four and six months.

The Chairman of Asociación Nacional de Podenco Orito Español (ANPOE), José Jiménez, explained that the test, “is the best way of determining if the pups have innate hunting qualities.”

On the judging panel was Antonio Galisteo, who is the 6-times winner of the Andalusian Hunting Championships and one-time winner of the National one. He explained that 33 dogs competed, all taking high marks, all being capable of being able to hunt in demanding terrain: rivers, brambles and thick undergrowth.

The Podenco Orito, according to the Vice-Chairman of ANOPE, Gaspar Jiménez, is the oldest domesticated breed of dog used for hunting: “The Greek Jenofonte in the 5th Century before Christ, spoke of the Laconia, which had similar or identical qualities to the Podenco Orito, and in the excavations carried out on the Roman town of Cástulo in Linares, the Podenco was found depicted in mosaics.”

Most of us have just seen this dog breed as strays turned into wild dogs in the campo, in semi-starved state, but the Podenco Orito is an excellent hunting dog. Naturally, the wild ones are not thoroughbreds but they are Podencos Oritos, nevertheless.

Pondenco literally means hound and sabueso means bloodhound.

For this reason, ever since 2009 ANPOE has fought to have national and international recognition of the Podenco Orito as a breed: “for the RSCE to recognise the Podenco Orito Español we have to achieve 300 registered specimens going back at least three generations – at the moment we have a hundred, which is why this event and the coming one, the Exposición Internacional Canina de Granada, we hope to make more progress,” explained the ANOPE Chairman.

Here is the contact info of the national association:

Asociación Nacional del Podenco Orito Español
C/ Cuesta de Marquitos, 4
29.300 Archidona (Málaga)
asociacion@elpodencoorito.com

Also, more info on the Podenco HERE

(News: Loja, Poniente de Granada, Andalucia)

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