The Portuguese Hound is a breed of pack hounds originating in Portugal and has been declared National Dog of Portugal. This breed is also known as Podengo Portugues and Portuguese Warren Hound. Commonly referred to as Podengo in its country of origin, this dog comes in three different sizes (Portuguese Podengo Pequeno(small), medio (medium) and Grande(large)) and in two coat varieties, smooth coated and rough_coated. This ancient breed was brought to Iberia by Romans. It developed through natural selection and as such, has not changed too much from old times. The probable origin of the Portuguese Podengo is with the primitive, multipurpose hunting dogs obtained, used and distributed by Phoenician traders during the circumnavigation of Africa in 600 BC and reaching Portugal in the 700's BC. This is evidenced by artifacts found under the Lisbon Cathedral. The three varieties were developed to hunt different size game. Pequeno was developed as a hunter of rabbit and mouse. The Medio (medium) was developed for rabbit chasing, flushing, hunting and retrieval while the Grande (large) was developed for deer and wild boar hunting. It will exhaust and hold down the prey and await the hunter's gun. The Grande is now very rare in its home country. The Grande dog stands between 22-28 inches, Medio between 16-22 inches and Pequeno between 8-12 inches and weighs 44-66 lbs, 35-44 lbs and 9-13 lbs for Grande, Medio and Pequeno respectively. Generally, the breed has pyramid head, mobile and erect ears, small, almond shaped eyes, always dark colour nose and sickle shaped tail. The elegant and well balanced body is slightly longer than it is tall. This breed sports two coat varieties that come in different shades of either fawn or cream colour.
This breed is NOT recognized by AKC however it is recognized by UKC, FCI, KC(UK) and AKC (FSS).