My family has been badgering me for ages about getting a dog. I kept on saying ‘yeah, later’ for probably too long. I went away to Spain for a week and when I returned, we had an additional family member named Eva.
OK, it wasn’t exactly like that. I met the doglet the night before I flew out and we agreed to sleep on the idea of adopting her (they were already convinced, just trying to persuade me) - So as I was eating my breakfast in Spain the next morning, I texted them my ‘yes’.
She was rescued from a killing shelter in Portugal by a UK-based adoption charity. She’s a crossbreed of not-exactly-known parentage (but on the basis of build, gait and appearance, we think Miniature Pinscher x Whippet); five months old and has taken to training exceptionally well - housetrained already, nearly walking to heel, and will come/sit/handshake when called.
It’s only been a couple of weeks now, and it’s as nearly as exhausting as having a human baby again, but she’s adorable and completely worth it. She’s helping me lose a bit of weight too - by getting me out of my armchair for walks (and because I daren’t creep into the kitchen for a midnight snack, in case I wake her).
She’s certainly very alert, focused and incredibly fast on her feet (she nearly ran over a wood pigeon the other day by complete accident, just because it had no time to react to her approach).
…But I should mention - the linked photo somewhat misleads on her size. She’s only a little over a foot tall in that seated pose - she’s still young, so will probably grow a bit more, but she’s probably going to be smaller than a whippet when full grown.
Do you plan on doing group obedience lessons? When my daughter was 10 I had her take a puppy to basic obedience; she and the dog both loved it.
One tip: do nail trimming every day. Just one paw each evening in rotation will get her used to having her feet handled. At the same time, look into each ear ( I say, “ear” while doing it), inspect her teeth, etc. Makes things easier five years from now.
We got a second dog, largely for this exact reason - to get me up off the couch and doing stuff. It worked.
Definitely enroll in a group obedience class - this is as much about training the owner as the dog. Practice the exercises with her. If she can reliably come, sit, and stay on command, she will be much easier to live with. (My dog was a year-old rescue - it took a lot of work to unlearn habits he learned early.)
Please make her behave when she is out and about. Socialize her to meet other dogs without drama. When on heavily-used paths and areas, keep her leashed and under control. If you like to let her run free, do so in less-used locations.
For some reason her picture isn’t coming up for me. Given her origin, is it possible she’s a galgo? Regardless of breed, thank you for adopting her. Hunting dogs in Spain and Portugal meet an untimely and brutal end by the tens of thousands, a problem that my non-profit (and many others) are trying to solve. Please love and cherish her as partial payment for all those who we can’t save.
Its possible, but only if she still has a great deal of growing left to do. She has the slim build of a greyhound/whippet type of breed, but she’s quite small.
I won’t mind at all if she grows as big as a greyhound, of course, but it seems likely she’ll get about half as big again as at present.
She’s gorgeous. The current Maid of Words has a very similar (male) dog, named Ty, which is apparently a black & tan jack russell - a breed in its own right (though I’d never heard of it before), that comes out a wee bit bigger than a standard JR. He looks like a miniature Pinscher in many ways, though the Manchester terrier is even more like one, and he has a distinctively jaunty ‘trotting’ gait. There are also Spanish (and probably Portuguese) rat terriers that share that general build and demeanour.
If Eva is anything like Ty, she really will get you fit. I took Ty to participate in a town carnival parade this weekend, a walk of four hours duration all in (on top of his 30 min morning walk). When we finally got home and relaxed, I got a call which meant leaving the house again. He knows the signs now (keys, shoes etc) and was eager to go out again himself.
Squash = UK term for cordial-type still soft drinks
The image is up there because I used it as an example of lack of foresight in product design. It looks like the panda is incontinent.
I googled Galgo puppies and did find one or two hits for dogs that were black with white chest and chin, but I agree - Eva’s colour markings are primarily those I normally associate with Germanic dog breeds - pinscher, dachshund, etc, but her build is more like a miniature greyhound - very leggy and slim, with a deep ribcage.
Interesting, because she does ‘point’ - this morning in the garden, she spotted a blackbird and stood with one paw lifted, nose and tail extended.
