Portuguese Podengo

GENERAL APPEARANCE
Sizes: Height: Small 20-30 cm; Medium 40-54 cm; Large 55-70 cm 
Weight: Small 4-6 kg; Medium 16-20 kg; Large 20-30 kg
The Podengo is very lively and intelligent  with a quadrangular pyramid head which has erect ears. His tail is sickle shaped tail, and he is a well proportioned, and well muscled dog described as “sober and rustic”. The breed exists in three sizes, with two varieties of coat smooth and wire.  
CHARACTERISTICS AND CARE 
All varieties are also used as watchdogs and as companion dogs and as such can be reserved with strangers. The large Podengo is still used for hunting big game as the medium Podengo (also known as Warren Hound) is still well used as a rabbit hunter hunting either in a pack or alone. The small Podengo is used for searching fro rabbits in holes and rocks. Podengo coats are easy care and come in  two varieties short and smooth or long and wire, both of medium thickness, without undercoat. The short coat is more dense than the wire coat. In the wire variety the hair on the muzzle is longer (bearded). Coat colour is yellow and fawn in all shades from light to dark, with or without white markings, or white with patches of these colours.
HISTORY
Primitive type dog, it probably originates from the ancient dogs brought by the Phoenicians and Romans to the Iberian Peninsula in the Classic Antiquity. The breed was subsequently influenced by the introduction of dogs accompanying the Moors in their invasions in the 8th century. It adapted to the Portuguese terrain and climate, to become what is nowadays known as the Portuguese Warren Hound. Podengos evolved morphologically throughout the centuries due to their functionality, with the small variety being selected, from the 15th century on, as a ratter on the Caravels of the Portuguese navigators.