The New Arrival

This is Baxter, a five-year old Andalusian Podenco who we are in the process of adopting. We met him for the first time this afternoon so we could see if Zoe, our Hungarian Vizsla would hit it off with him. He has had a very chequered life so we thought he might be quite anxious but he reacted very positively and was soon coming round for a wee bit of petting. Zoe was fine and was obviously wanting him to play but he's not quite ready for that yet. He inspected the house and garden and was remarkably relaxed. As Margaret is going to be away next week we will have to wait a week before he takes up residence. Needless to say we were enchanted and can't wait until he arrives.

The podenco breed is native to Spain and the spanish colonies where it is used for hunting rabbits. Like greyhounds they are treated atrociously, physically abused and killed off or discarded at the end of the hunting season. Normally the ears are upright and it is thought they may be related to the hunting dogs of ancient Egypt.

No doubt I will bore you with lots more pictures of Baxter. This was very much a grab shot which I took just before he left. I like the glowing light around him from the windows but the cupboards behind were completely burnt out so I have had to rebuild them in Photoshop.