Hello from Los Angeles

Hi. My name is Bart and I have just adopted Jaxxon, a Podengo Pequeno... at least I think pequeno. Everything I have read have Pequenos maxing out at 12 - 13 pounds. My boy is 18 pounds. But I don't think he is a Medio. But what do I know. And frankly - I am overjoyed with him anyway no matter what his "official" title is.
I just got him about 4 hours ago so I am only beginning on this journey and I am certain I will have plenty of tales to tell.

Here is Jaxxon with his feline friend at the rescue home I found him in.

We are pretty quiet here - but getting back up to speed. a Pequeno would be between 8 and 12 1/2 inches tall and weight 9-12 lbs top. The Medio size starts at 16 inches. Hard to say as your dog could also be a mix. There are few podengos of any size and we know where most all of them are - we have small numbers in all sizes. That said - sometimes people from Portugal bring dogs over to hunt with and give puppies to friends.

Yeah as I learn more about podengos I can see my Jaxxon isn't pure. However he certainly has a whole bunch of podengo in the mix!

Outside of the US where most Podengos are carefully bred by registered breeders and therefore conform to a regulated norm, Podengos are much more varied. In their homeland of Portugal, most Podengos live out in the open air on farms  and so breed freely with whoever comes along at the right time. This inevitably leads to a bewildering variety of cross-breeds which probably would not be accepted by the American Kennel Club.

Nevertheless, in Portugal, many are accepted as Podengos and used in field sports. The primary test for a Podengo is in the case of a Medio; Is the dog good at finding the scent of a rabbit or other small mammal and then giving chase as though its life depended upon it? For a Pequeno the test is will it dive down a rabbit hole and flush out the inhabitants so that the faster Medios can give chase?

Here is a photo of two Podengos as they have developed on the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde. Robbie on the left was a Medio and Vlekkie on the right a Pequeno. Each was adopted by French and South African families after being found abandoned. Each was brutally murdered in Vlekkie`s front yard by local savages who used meat laced with strycchnine to give them a slow and very painful death. The US ambassador`s pet was murdered in a similar fashion.

Long and short haired Podengos do interbreed and so occasionally do Medios and Pequenos. They certainly recognise each other as being from the same generic race.  So it would be quite possible to find in the Cape Verdes or in Portugal dogs intermediate in size between the two classes.

Maria, who is definitely recognised as  a Medio in Portugal and has he strongest hunting instinct that I have ever encountered weighs 13kg or approximately 29 pounds. We have seen smaller Medios in Portugal both short and long haired.

In Portugal, the limiting factors for a Pequeno`s size would be ability to enter rabbit burrows and for a Medio, speed of at least 25mph over rough ground and through hedgerows.