What a year you have been 2023! There were moments when we thought we would never find a way through for Steve to keep the charity running exactly the way we all envisioned and dreamed - for both the pods and the stretched team. But we also had shared moments of absolute joy that we will remember forever, pod rescue, pod adoptions and of course - pod partnerships!

One of the most important things you can do for your Podenco (and any dog!) is help them to maintain a healthy weight. We know it can be heartbreaking to see how underweight some Pods are when they are first rescued, and we all know how masterful they are at giving you the ‘I’m so hungry, please feed me’ eyes, but if you do one thing for your Pod’s health, not letting them carry any additional, unnecessary weight, should be it.

As our wonderful community is already aware, Steve - one of the founders of Hope For Podencos will be returning home to the UK in January 2024. After many years rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming the pods in need, it is time for him to hand the centre over and take up the reigns from the UK running the charity itself.

We have been incredibly lucky with the support we have received from other Spanish charities, asking us not to step away entirely from the world of rescue, working with us to ensure we can continue with our boss man Steve at the helm!

What does this mean for HFP?

Jackie and Jess had been looking at adopting a rescue for a long time, and had actually been matched with a dog from a UK charity. Sadly the charity pulled the application at the last minute leaving these two wonderful people heartbroken.

Luckily I’m a friend of theirs and I also volunteer for Hope for Podencos in the UK. Do I know of any charity looking to re-home dogs…?

Settled but still barking at the postman? Ever considered teaching your pod tricks? Thinking of taking up canicross?

Training dogs never stops!

Caught between Brexit and sudden Covid-19 travel restrictions in the UK, time was running out for two lorry drivers and dog rescuers - and for 39 dogs who were still waiting for a home.

We are so grateful for all of the interest we have received in our products and for everyone who has purchased them. We hope you like them and are enjoying them as much as we are!

But our stock is now getting low, so we thought how can we make our range even better?! Plus its Christmas right, so we put our festive thinking caps on…

It’s been a while, but we are slowly finding our feet again. What better way to bring back the blog than with the next instalment from Claire Martin, our dog behaviourist and trainer extraordinaire! So here we have Reactivity – what is it and what to do about it?

Irene Allan, our co-founder of Hope For Podencos sadly passed away unexpectedly on Monday 17th August 2020. This is how Steve and the HFP team intend to continue her work. xxx

In 2019 Rita was found wandering the streets in Elche and there was no available space in any local rescue associations. She started to have seizures the day before she arrived with us and went straight to our vet where she was sedated with treatment started. Later she went to Valencia Hospital for a CAT scan which was clear.

Are we all ready fo the next instalment from Claire Martin, our dog behaviourist and trainer extraordinaire? With so many dogs arriving in their new homes, we asked Claire to provide some support to our new pod families on Podencos and recall.

Many of our followers over the years have asked for Hope For Podencos products, and whilst we have done a few bits here and there, today is the day we officially launch our web shop!

This is a game changer for us, and we want to get it right, so we are asking you our community to register your interest and feedback so we know what people (& Podencos) want.

As anyone who follows us will know, we at Hope For Podencos LOVE a calendar, and it’s become our annual thing. This year we want it to include all of our wonderful communities Podencos, so… its competition time everyone!

Basically, we want to fill a 2021 calendar with as many pictures of Podencos as we can, we want it crammed full of cheeky doggos, so we are starting early.

Are we all ready fo the next instalment from Claire Martin, our dog behaviourist and trainer extraordinaire? As many of you will know we are back transporting our rescued Podencos again, so we asked Claire to provide some support to our new pod families on Introducing a new dog to the family.

So while we are still trying to find our feet with the blog, we are mixing up our posts a little, you will see this weeks Breed Profile is the Podenco Ibicenco and has been written by our awesome volunteer Danielle!

I adopted Maggie May in January 2019, she’s now nearly two years old!

I was told before she came to the UK that she was almost totally deaf, but it didn’t put me off when I found out. I knew there might be extra challenges but it just made me want to give her a safe loving home even more.

I found out about Hope For Podencos in a very round-about way. My partner and I had just bought a house and wanted a dog to help make it a home. We found Lilly at the local rescue and were intrigued as we hadn’t heard of the Podenco breed before. We fell in love with her and took her home. Fast forward a year, and I was tagged in a post with Lilly on Facebook that Irene saw and she got in touch….

We are SO thrilled to announce that the wonderful Claire Martin of Chrysalis K9 has agreed to write a monthly blog for us! First up is Home Alone After Lockdown: If, like us, you are spending all day, every day at home with your dogs during the lockdown you might be wondering how they are going to cope when you have to go back to work.

The Podenco Canario, or Canary Islands Hound comes in a more consistent look and size, they are medium to large and lean with slender limbs, a long muzzle and large pointy ears. They are used for hunting and while relatively known in Gran Canaria (for over 500 years!), they are not so recognised in the mainland of Spain. 

We are so blessed to have people write about Hope For Podencos and want to share their experiences with us and the rescue world. But we are truly humbled when someone so young champions their voice to be a part of the cause. Helena you are a star in the making!