Galgo Español

The Galgo Español is Spain's own sighthound — an ancient coursing dog bred to run hare across open country, and one of the most numerous breeds in the country.

History

The name probably comes from the Latin canis gallicus, "dog of Gaul", and the breed has been in Spain for many centuries; it was prized by the nobility, and it turns up in Don Quixote in the novel's opening lines. Unlike its English Greyhound relative it stayed a Spanish hunting dog rather than a racing one, and formal recognition outside Spain came only in the twenty-first century.

Temperament

The breed is known for being quiet, gentle and undemonstrative at home — calm enough indoors to surprise people who expect a running dog to be restless — and reserved rather than nervous with strangers, with total commitment once something runs.

Care and training

It needs room to gallop and secure fencing; a sighthound in pursuit is unreachable. Training should be gentle, because the breed is soft and shuts down under pressure. Both the smooth and the rough coat need very little, and a lean, thin-skinned dog feels the cold. It is worth knowing that large numbers of galgos are abandoned in Spain at the end of each hunting season, and that rescue organisations rehome them across Europe — many of the galgos in homes outside Spain arrived that way.

Health

Generally robust, with the anaesthetic sensitivity common to lean sighthounds and the bloat risk of a deep chest. These are patterns for the breed rather than a forecast for one dog; the measured facts are in the panel.