Rescued Spanish hunting dog finds a new home in Estonia

Maarja Sau has brought home a podenco hunting dog from Spain, where many podencos and galgos are abandoned and treated cruelly, ERR’s Terevisioon reported.

Sau said Moy, who is about three years old, was abandoned after his working life and found suffering from heatstroke, close to death. A rescue organisation found him and gave him a chance to survive.

“The fate of podenco and galgo hunting dogs in Spain is very sad. They are abandoned and all kinds of terrible things are done to them. They are treated as hunting tools,” Sau said.

According to Sau, most abandoned dogs in Spain are never rescued and their stories remain unknown. She said many organisations were nevertheless working hard to help as many dogs as possible.

Dogs are taken hunting when they are very young, Sau said, and if they go missing, nobody looks for them. Podencos in Andalusia mainly hunt rabbits across difficult rocky and sandy terrain. She stressed that not all hunters abandon their dogs in this way.

Moy is highly active and has a lot of energy. Sau described him as a loving dog who enjoys long walks in the forest and would suit an active person looking for a hiking and activity companion. She added that Moy is not particularly sensitive to cold.

Sau decided to adopt him after her own dog died last year. She said she wanted to give a chance to a dog that had not had such a fortunate life. A friend who adopted a podenco from a Spanish shelter also helped spark her interest.