Portuguese Water Dog

The Spanish media showed grudging approval for Obama's choice of an Iberian breed for First Dog last week; Portugal is just next door after all. Adorable though this fish-herding canine may be - it's described by Sabine Durrant in this Guardian article as giving "every impression of being a person zipped up in a dog suit" - round our bit of Andalusia they prefer an altogether more elegant creature called the Podenco Ibicenco (below). Thought to be traceable back to the Pharaoh hounds of ancient Egypt, the Podenco was probably brought from North Africa to Malta and then on to Ibiza and Andalusia by the Arabs. (If true, this is interesting in itself, as modern Muslims aren't generally keen on dogs at all.) If there's anything better than a Podenco at hunting rabbits, it's the lynx, which is both nearly extinct and highly unlikely to let you take the rabbit off it when it's made a kill. Podencos coincidentally are said to be the most cat-like of dogs and have an impressive ability to leap into the air to get a good view of their quarry, then to pounce and grab the little blighters by the neck. Go rabbit-hunting with a Podenco, and you can leave your rifle at home. There are a few of them in our village, including one particularly handsome devil, solid sand in colour, who came into our house once while helping to deliver a fridge (long story). He then disappeared, and his owner Antonio practically accused us of kidnapping him. But after an extensive search of our back bedroom, he was found in the village square with his nose up another dog's bottom. The Podenco that is, not Antonio.

Get to know Antonio's Podenco, Vraclaw the Czech family's part long-haired daschund and part something else, our gentle old mongrel friend Luna and any number of fearsomely professional sheepdogs - not to mention cats, goats, sheep, chickens, horses, birds and lizards. Simply book a week or two at our beautiful Juviles village house. Sleeps five from only £200/€250 a week, and STILL AVAILBLE FOR EASTER.

Anyway, is it just me, or is there a serious inconsistency in publicly declaring that you're going to take a dog from a rescue centre, and then specifying that it has to be one of the rarest and most expensive breeds in the world? Maybe the logic is that the Obamas say they want a Portuguese Water Dog, thousands of thick Americans still suffering from Obamamania go out and order PWD puppies for themselves, realise they can't look after them what with not having any fish to herd, and give them to the Washington DC equivalent of Battersea Dogs' Home. Obama's little girls then get to take their pick from hundreds of pups, they get a PWD for free and they do their bit to help out the poor abandoned doggies. Aww!