Carpentry shop leftovers and certifiably reforested Brazilian bentwood become engaging works of art under the talented hands of Ted Benvenuti. Seen below are his Spanish Greyhounds (or Galgos Español), but the Scottish Terrier, Beagle, and Dachshund have also been created.

As for the Galgo itself, when compared to English Greyhounds, Spanish Greyhounds tend to be smaller, lighter and higher in the rear than in the front, a trait characteristic of endurance runners. Spanish Greyhounds come in two coat types: smooth and rough, as well as in a variety of colors and coat patterns.  Calm and affectionate, they are simply lovely dogs.

Sadly, the Galgo is also one of the most persecuted dog breeds in the world.  Spanish hunters, or “galgueros,” use the dogs to hunt hares in the Spanish countryside, and at the end of hare hunting season, hundreds of the dogs are dumped in shelters or the countryside –  and they are the lucky ones. If they hunt poorly, they are tortured as retribution for the shame they reflected upon their owners. The barbarity is rooted in ignorance and superstition, and shockingly, Spanish law has been “soft” on action even in light of estimates that around 50,000 or more Galgos are killed or abandoned. Even “good” hunters usually die by their third birthday after years of poor nutrition and lack of care. For these people, it is easier and cheaper to kill the dog rather than to pay to maintain them for the next season. 

The topic is so upsetting that we’ll say no more about it other than to add that are groups dedicated to saving these dogs, and we’ll be tackling that topic in another post.

Though it has taken far too long, the movement to confront such barbarity is picking up steam. Rescued Greyhounds are become more and more popular among hipster communities and city dwellers in northern Spain, and we’ve read that some 2,000 dogs are saved each year.

There is another factor that has impacted the situation.  The myxomatosis virus (it killed 500 million rabbits in two years in Australia)  has jumped to the Iberian hare, and it could go extinct. The lack of hares means no more sport for the hunters, so they are abandoning Galgos at a record pace. We can’t know the long term outcome right now, but perhaps a tipping point for the breed is in the foreseeable future.

See more of Benvenuti’s work here: http://www.camaleonte.com.br/home/

Image of Galgo by Marianne Perdomo shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license