When does a Pequeno Portuguese Podengo have its first heat?

Variety of Portuguese Podengo

Portuguese Podengo (Pequeno)

Curious and independent, with an urge to chase and dig.

Photo: M Dixon

Adult weight

4–6 kg

8.8–13 lb

Lifespan

12–14 yrs

Class · Companion

also Field, Sport

What it's like

Lively, alert and playful, the Pequeno is quick, curious and independent, with a strong instinct to chase and dig. It tends to be reserved with strangers and makes a vocal watchdog. Its nimbleness and keen senses have also carried it into modern sports such as agility.

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

Average

Voice

Very vocal

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.

Is a Portuguese Podengo (Pequeno) right for you?

Take the breed matcher

Living with one

Summary

Detail

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

The FCI standard allows more than one coat: a short coat and a wire or harsh coat ("short and smooth or long and wire")4. Its coats shed differently by type: with no undercoat to speak of, it sheds a single coat through the year rather than in seasonal moults and loose hair stays caught in the coat until it is brushed, stripped or clipped out. As a rule of thumb, by coat: a brush once a week; or a brush once a week, plus hand-stripping two or three times a year. Plan for a moderate amount of exercise compared with other breeds, judged from its FCI section: primitive type, hunting dogs.

Size and growth

Summary

Detail

A Pequeno Portuguese Podengo is a small dog, about the weight of a grown Yorkshire Terrier. It is one of the lightest small breeds.

It is a light, hardy dog, slightly longer than tall, with a flat-topped, wedge-shaped head, pricked, triangular ears that swivel readily, and a tail carried in a gentle curve. Its coat may be either short and smooth or longer and harsh, the wire form giving a bearded muzzle. Colours run through shades of yellow and fawn, from light to dark, with or without white markings; white dogs with yellow or fawn patches also occur.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log

Summary

Detail

By about 3 months, a male Pequeno Portuguese Podengo puppy is already as heavy as a grown Chihuahua. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.

By 3 months a male Pequeno Portuguese Podengo puppy already weighs as much as a grown Chihuahua5. It grows fastest between 3 and 4 months, when a male puts on about 0.1 kg (0.3 lb) a week. The chart keeps rising after a dog is fully grown, because many dogs keep putting on some weight into their second year5.

Expected range in kilograms: the breed's own adult weight, grown along the under 6.5 kg band of a WALTHAM growth standard5.

Fully grown

10 mo

Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight6

Male

Female

Shaded: expected range

Chart

Table

Age

Male

Female

2 months

1.3–1.9 kg 2.9–4.2 lb

1.4–2.1 kg 3.1–4.6 lb

3 months

1.6–2.4 kg 3.5–5.3 lb

1.7–2.6 kg 3.7–5.7 lb

4 months

2.1–3.2 kg 4.6–7.1 lb

2.2–3.3 kg 4.9–7.3 lb

5 months

2.5–3.8 kg 5.5–8.4 lb

6 months

2.8–4.2 kg 6.2–9.3 lb

7 months

3.1–4.6 kg 6.8–10.1 lb

3.0–4.5 kg 6.6–9.9 lb

8 months

3.2–4.9 kg 7.1–10.8 lb

3.2–4.8 kg 7.1–10.6 lb

9 months

3.4–5.1 kg 7.5–11.2 lb

3.3–4.9 kg 7.3–10.8 lb

10 months

3.5–5.2 kg 7.7–11.5 lb

3.4–5.1 kg 7.5–11.2 lb

11 months

3.6–5.3 kg 7.9–11.7 lb

3.5–5.2 kg 7.7–11.5 lb

12 months

3.6–5.4 kg 7.9–11.9 lb

3.6–5.3 kg 7.9–11.7 lb

15 months

3.8–5.7 kg 8.4–12.6 lb

3.8–5.6 kg 8.4–12.3 lb

18 months

4.0–5.9 kg 8.8–13.0 lb

3.9–5.9 kg 8.6–13.0 lb

Lifespan

Summary

Detail

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

Where it comes from

The Portuguese Podengo Pequeno is the small size of Portugal's Podengo, a rabbit hunter built to push into thickets and rock crevices. By the FCI's account, the smallest Podengos went to sea from the 15th century, catching rats aboard the ships of Portugal's explorers. The AKC treats it as a breed of its own, split from the larger Podengo in 2009 and admitted to the Hound Group in 20134,7,8.

The Portuguese Podengo Pequeno belongs to a breed that Portugal recognises in large, medium and small sizes, each shaped by the ground and game it hunted. Its ancestors are often said to have reached Iberia with Phoenician traders, though this is told rather than proven. Country people kept the Pequeno to flush rabbits from dense scrub and stone walls, working alone or in packs and hunting by sight, scent and hearing together.

Breed standard

Summary

Detail

Kennel clubs do not all register this breed the same way.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Pequeno 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 small breed is most likely at the early end.