Tuesday

Describing the personality of the Podengo Pequeno, Desmond Morris asserts

‘They can be remarkably silly in the home.’

If they are all like Isis, indeed they can. It will take several posts to do justice to her silliness, but let’s begin with the collar and lead dance.

For months now Isis has always made a fuss about having her harness put on or taken off. I can understand this as she is thought to have spent most of her life chained up and any neckware must have bad vibes for her.

As I have explained already, I now put on her collar, attach the lead to it speedily and take her into the car. There, for some reason best known to herself, she sits angelically waiting for her harness to be put on. She is rewarded with a small treat.

But lately it seems that she misses the drama of her former performances in the house, for she has now returned to her old routine, this time when she needs to have her collar and lead put on.

O.K. I know there’s always a reason for what animals do and I am pretty tolerant – but her ‘silly times’ really are something else.

It’s like this: I present her with the collar and lead to sniff. She wags her tail gaily but as soon as I touch her neck she begins to prance. Her movements become increasingly intense until she explodes into growling, snarling, spinning and grabbing at her back feet.

Now that I know her better I am fairly sure that she will not bite herself badly in this situation. And on Monday I decide to take the risk.

As soon as she begins, I turn my back on her and walk away. To my amusement she stops immediately and follows me. Twice a day we go through this process five or six times before she sits still and has her collar/lead put on.

Mornings aren’t my best times, and even in the afternoon I would prefer not to spend fifteen minutes getting her ready to go out.

But I can see the funny side.

And she is a podengo.

If you are of unsound mind and are interested in adopting a dog like Isis, see below.

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.com