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Livia had her photo in a London tabloid, the Daily Mail. She looks exactly like Maria our Podengo Medio from the Cape Verde islands. Livia had a life threatening illness. She needed an urgent blood transfusion. But she has a rare type of Rhesus Negative blood. The Mail reporter was vague on exactly which type.
But they managed to find a Staffordshire bull terrier, with the same kind of blood, who donated enough for a transfusion to save Livia`s life. There is a growing trickle of podengos, mostly medios, being rescued from Portugal and particularly southern Spain, where some British expatriates operate a dog rescue charity. There is even a dog bus that transports dogs from southern Spain and Portugal to England, to avoid the piratical air fares. Not all recipients take to the breed, one woman who has ended up with a whippet sent a podenco back saying it had hopeless recall. That does not surprise us.
We also met Dillon, a mongrel cross, rescued from Greece. Curiously enough he looks exactly like the dogs in the Cape Verde islands. Of average size, he has a thinner Labrador head with a white patch on the forehead and an upward curling tail with a white tip.
The medium size Cape Verde dogs are almost always crosses between two Portuguese types, the Labrador which the Portuguese brought from Newfoundland and the Podengo which the Romans and Phoenicians brought from the Levant. Strangely, Greek dogs seem to be very similar.
It is relatively easy to move dogs around Europe now. Provided that a blood sample can demonstrate that it has sufficient rabies anti-bodies, the dog can get an European passport, which allows free movement including to the UK.
North Americans can do this also, but the blood must be flown to any European test center - there are two in Britain - one month after being given an injection of rabies antibodies. Then there is a three month hiatus to ensure that rabies does not develop.
Some Americans are now taking their dogs with them on the Cunard liner Queen Mary 11, which has 20 kennels on the top deck and travels between Brooklyn and Southampton.
But they managed to find a Staffordshire bull terrier, with the same kind of blood, who donated enough for a transfusion to save Livia`s life. There is a growing trickle of podengos, mostly medios, being rescued from Portugal and particularly southern Spain, where some British expatriates operate a dog rescue charity. There is even a dog bus that transports dogs from southern Spain and Portugal to England, to avoid the piratical air fares. Not all recipients take to the breed, one woman who has ended up with a whippet sent a podenco back saying it had hopeless recall. That does not surprise us.
We also met Dillon, a mongrel cross, rescued from Greece. Curiously enough he looks exactly like the dogs in the Cape Verde islands. Of average size, he has a thinner Labrador head with a white patch on the forehead and an upward curling tail with a white tip.
The medium size Cape Verde dogs are almost always crosses between two Portuguese types, the Labrador which the Portuguese brought from Newfoundland and the Podengo which the Romans and Phoenicians brought from the Levant. Strangely, Greek dogs seem to be very similar.
It is relatively easy to move dogs around Europe now. Provided that a blood sample can demonstrate that it has sufficient rabies anti-bodies, the dog can get an European passport, which allows free movement including to the UK.
North Americans can do this also, but the blood must be flown to any European test center - there are two in Britain - one month after being given an injection of rabies antibodies. Then there is a three month hiatus to ensure that rabies does not develop.
Some Americans are now taking their dogs with them on the Cunard liner Queen Mary 11, which has 20 kennels on the top deck and travels between Brooklyn and Southampton.
