I am re-posting a piece I wrote at roughly this time a year ago because, while all the dogs touch my heart, every single one of them, there are are several breeds that are so overlooked, that are so often left behind and ignored. One of these is the Bodeguero. These little clowns will make you laugh but it make you cry too to see them languishing behind bars for so long simply because the breed's unknown, and sometimes misunderstood.
It breaks your heart to see so many Bodegueros and Podencos left behind in the shelters while so many other dogs are adopted. One of the reasons may be that these breeds are little known – not just in Holland but in the UK, the rest of mainland Europe and indeed throughout most of the world. In this post I’ll concentrate on the Bodegueros and will write about Podencos another time.
There may be other reasons for the lack of adopters for Bodegueros. The main ones are almost certainly ignorance of the breed and its characteristics and the confusion with the Jack Russell terrier, which it seems has a bad reputation in Belgium though not I think generally in England. However, the Bodeguero is a completely different and original breed – strong, healthy, sweet, very intelligent and loyal.
This sturdy little dog has a nice and compact muscular body, fairly long, elegant legs, and a nice smooth coat. They have beautiful little faces! Real teddy bear faces – and yes, they do smile! The breed is known by various names. The Rat Nero (rattevanger), the Perillo Ratero (rat dog) and the Bodeguero Andaluz. They got the name Bodeguero from the wineries and wine cellars (bodegas) where they are used to keep wine barrels free from rats and other vermin.
The Bodeguero first became known towards the end of the 18th century with the arrival of the English wine merchants in the province of Cadiz, Spain. The British brought with them a breed of particularly smooth-haired fox terriers. These were crossed with the already existing local dogs that were used as rat catchers in the bodegas.
These hybrids quickly became popular and made excellent ratters. At that time they were bred to be white in colour, so that they could be seen in the dark vaults of the then unlit wineries. In 1993, the Club Nacional del Perro Andaluz Ratonero Bodeguero, was formed and in 2000 the breed was recognised as a native Spanish breed by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture. It is not yet recognised internationally by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale.
Bodegueros adapt well to full-time indoor or apartment living but have lots of energy so they both enjoy and need a great deal of daily exercise. They love to spend time outdoors, playing games such as fetch and tug-of-war, and having plenty of room to roam, run, and play.
They thrive on strong dependable relationships with humans. This in particular makes them easy dogs to train and thus they make excellent pets being bright, clever, obedient, loyal, loving and affectionate with adults and children alike. Like all shelter dogs they may take a little time to adapt to a new home. But once they have settled in (and being so intelligent and eager to please this may not take too long) you’ll have a delicious, crazy, sweet, funny and loving friend for life.
UPDATE
I met so many of these sweethearts at El Refugio, among them our beloved Bombardonneke, Mikvel the clown, and so many others. They are funny, sweet, loving and clever and all deserve golden baskets. Since I wrote the original post Bomardonneke has a wonderful, loving new home. Curra, Zozima, Madina and Figaro are no longer on the 'Dogs for Adoption' list, nor the reserved list, so I hope and pray that means they have found their golden baskets (I think it does.) Fino, Pablo, Leon and Kwien are all reserved or pre reserved - either to go into foster care - the first step to a family - or have indeed been reserved by a family.
However, while our hearts are full of happiness for them they all waited patiently, and for far too long. There are many many others still at the Refugio, pushing their little noses through the bars of the cages, dancing around with their smiley faces saying - "please, me too. Me too. Can it be my turn next?" Dogs like Cervantes who featured on my last post, and on the Belgian and Dutch blogs recently - will someone hear his 'cry for help?' Or wonderful Albert, 4 years old and already waiting for over 2 years. Or sweet patient Camus. He's 7 years old and, like Albert, he's been waiting since 2011. Gorgeous dogs, pining for a home of their own. For a family of their own. For you?
Leon - after a years wait, he's on the reservation list for Belguim.
Kwien - now waiting to go to Holland
Zozima - thrown over our gate but now she has a happy ending
Madina - my turn next? Yes her turn did come. Wonderful.
Figaro - he was waiting for nearly a year but now the wait is over.
Beloved Bombardonneke - great news, our darling girl is adored and spoilt by her new loving family.
Cervantes - who will hear his cry for help?
Sweet Albert - longing to follow in Bombadonneke's footsteps
Camus - seven years old and waiting since 2011
My original note: - I want to acknowledge and thank Ineke for posting the original article by Judith, in Spain on the Dutch Blog on March 3rd 2012 and also Karin van den Akker who drew her attention to Judith’s article. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Judith. I did try to translate her article using Google Translate but in the end it was easier to write my own version, drawing facts from Judith’s article and from various other sources including Wikipedia and All About the Breed
hello I would like to adopt a bodeguero and I would like to know how they are regarding barking and destructiveness (although they look a bit like the Jack Russell, you mention they have a different character)?
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot