Libro Razas Españolas

him escaping. They lie in wait for the prey and put it to the shot of the handler. He is very good at the hunting of feather, being mainly used for partridge and quail, where he shows it perfectly in many occasions, as if he was the best pointing dog. Besides, he is also used for the hunting of thrush, turtledove and dove. He is an excellent auxiliary that always retrieves perfectly, unbeatable, no matter the ground where he is. He can also be used as retriever of all sorts of anatidae in the water, in marshes, lakes or rivers. Another utility in small game is called “Quitaor”, in the “recovas” or going with the groups of greyhounds in the hunting of the hare. This function is usually developed by a Big size Podenco Andaluz, but without ruling out the Medium or Small size dogs, because for this task it is required a stronger dog, the most respected, the leader of the group, and if the “recova” is only formed by Medium or Small size dogs, one of them stands out for this function. About this dog, it is said that he is “of high winds and straight to the preys”, but if on the ground where he is, there is a lot of game, he does not have enough time to follow the preys but he exclusively retrieves and snatches them from the rest of dogs in order to give them to his owner. When we talk about the hunting of the hare, the only possible “quitaor” is the Big size Podenco Andaluz, since a dog of his size can only dominate the hounds. Usually, the preys are followed by four or five greyhounds and the presence of one of this Podencos is totally essential to avoid the hounds damaging or devouring the prey. In many occasions, the “quitaor”, just growling the other dogs from a long distance, gets that the others leave the prey in his hands. Otherwise, the Podenco Andaluz will have to impose his control, showing his power and even quarrelling. On the other hand, if we specifically describe this work, we will say that, firstly, they find the preys, make them move and pursuit them. Immediately after, the greyhounds are unleashed to run behind the hare until seizing it. Usually, the greyhounds can run away several kilometres, the owners losing sight of them, and once more, the help of the “quitaor” is invaluable. But if the hare escapes and takes shelter somewhere, the Podenco comes again into action, making the prey move again to put it at the greyhounds’ disposal. This action is repeated once and thousand times until the greyhounds seize the hare. Then, the “quitaor” retrieves it and gives it to this owner. Big Game When talking about big game, we must obligatory refer to huntings with pack of hounds, understanding a group of dogs that guided by a so-called “podenquero” are capable of solving the search, movement of the prey, pursuit, hounding and retrieval of the animals on the ground. The effort in hunting, his attention, his gait when running, his ability in dodges, his resistance to go up and down rocky outcrops and cross the vegetation of the mountain, make the Podenco Andaluz be the starring in any pack of hounds. The classical structure of a pack of hounds has the Big size Podenco Andaluz, rough and long hair, as main member in “searching” and “hounding” tasks; some Medium or Small size as “pointing dogs”, apart from mastiff or mastiff-type dogs as “retriever dogs”. It was not a long time ago, when it could be found a couple of Alanos in charge with this last function. This breed, developed in the Andalusian orography, has acquired some qualities in hunting which are unlikely surmountable. The battle, whose aim is to hunt the wild boar or the deer, basically consists on a sequence in which it is firstly detected the prey on the part of the “pointing dogs”; followed by the pursuit and hounding until Las razas caninas españolas - Spanish canine breeds 232