Portuguese Podengo

Alert and vocal, quick to react and keen to chase.
A Portuguese Podengo
Photo: M Dixon
Adult weight
4–30 kg
8.8–66 lb
Lifespan
12–14 yrs
Class · Field
also Sport, Family

What it's like

In temperament the Podengo is lively, alert and independent, quick to react to sound and movement and keen to give chase. It is often watchful and vocal, affectionate with its own people and reserved with strangers.

Day to day
Activity
Needs lots of exercise
Intelligence
Learns readily, likes games
Handler demand
Needs steady training
With people
Affection
Affectionate on its own terms
Loyalty
Bonded to its family
Independence
Decides for itself
Around the home
Sensitivity
Hardy, takes a busy home in its stride
Voice
Barks to alert, then settles
Prey drive
Likely to chase small pets
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
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Living with one

How it sheds and the grooming it needs depend on the coat. It needs a moderate amount of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

A Portuguese Podengo is a medium dog, about the weight of a grown Border Collie.

It is lightly built and agile, with a wedge-shaped head, large triangular ears carried upright and a tail curved like a sickle. There are two coat types, one smooth and short, the other harsh and wiry, and the wire coat often gives the face a bearded look. Yellow and fawn, from pale to deep shades, are the usual colours, often with white markings.

Varieties

FCI 94 divides this breed by size. Pick the variety your dog is for a band that fits. The 2 coat varieties are the same size — only the coat differs.
Variety
Weight
Height
Pequeno
4–6 kg4
20–30 cm4
Medio
16–20 kg4
40–54 cm4
Grande
20–30 kg4
55–70 cm4

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 5 months, a male Portuguese Podengo puppy is already as heavy as a grown Pug. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
11 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight6
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
01020302m4m6m9m12m18m
01020302m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
0.9–6.5 kg 2.0–14.3 lb
1.0–7.2 kg 2.2–15.9 lb
3 months
1.3–9.6 kg 2.9–21.2 lb
1.4–10.2 kg 3.1–22.5 lb
4 months
1.9–14.0 kg 4.2–30.9 lb
1.9–14.6 kg 4.2–32.2 lb
5 months
2.4–17.9 kg 5.3–39.5 lb
2.5–18.5 kg 5.5–40.8 lb
6 months
2.9–21.4 kg 6.4–47.2 lb
2.9–21.7 kg 6.4–47.8 lb
7 months
3.2–24.0 kg 7.1–52.9 lb
3.2–24.0 kg 7.1–52.9 lb
8 months
3.5–25.9 kg 7.7–57.1 lb
3.4–25.6 kg 7.5–56.4 lb
9 months
3.6–27.2 kg 7.9–60.0 lb
3.6–26.9 kg 7.9–59.3 lb
10 months
3.7–28.0 kg 8.2–61.7 lb
3.7–27.7 kg 8.2–61.1 lb
11 months
3.8–28.6 kg 8.4–63.1 lb
3.8–28.3 kg 8.4–62.4 lb
12 months
3.9–29.1 kg 8.6–64.2 lb
3.8–28.7 kg 8.4–63.3 lb
15 months
4.0–29.8 kg 8.8–65.7 lb
3.9–29.6 kg 8.6–65.3 lb

Lifespan

No vet study has measured how long Portuguese Podengos live yet. The 12–14 years shown is a general figure without a published source.

Where it comes from

The Portuguese Podengo probably descends from dogs the Phoenicians and Romans brought to Iberia, later mixed with those of the Moors. It was bred in three sizes for different quarry: the large for deer and wild boar, the medium and small for rabbit, and the small, from the 15th century, also as a ratter aboard the ships of Portuguese explorers4,7.

The Portuguese Podengo is a hunting hound of rural Portugal, kept for centuries by country hunters for its usefulness in the field rather than its looks. A written standard was drawn up in the twentieth century, and in Portugal the three sizes are still treated as varieties of one breed. In the United States, however, the small form is registered as a separate breed, the Portuguese Podengo Pequeno. The Podengo appears on the emblem of the Portuguese kennel club. It hunts by sight, scent and hearing together. The medium and small sizes are traditionally worked in packs, flushing rabbits from thick scrub and stone walls.

Breed standard

Kennel clubs do not all register this breed the same way. One registry divides it into three varieties by size, each with its own weight range.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Portuguese Podengo figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a medium-sized breed is most likely somewhere in the middle.

Compare with related

Peruvian Inca Orchid
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Keeshond
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Finnish Lapphund
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Kishu Ken
Spitz & primitive · Medium
Or compare the Portuguese Podengo with any breed you choose
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Sources

Uncited on this page: Lifespan — no reviewed source yet, so it is a general reference figure rather than a published one.
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Parts of this page were written by AI ·