Karol ...
Boléra
Meet "Boléra" a graceful Galgo breed female dog.
Lumix S5 - Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8
ƒ/5.6 1/50 ISO 3200 @59mm
Galgos
The Spanish greyhound is thought by some popular writers to have descended from Egyptian dogs brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Phoenicians nearly 3,000 years ago. However the existence of the Celtic vertragus in Roman Iberia 2,000 years ago, as described by Arrian and Martial, suggests that it and its possible descendant the Galgo, may more likely be of Western European type in origin. After it was established in Spain, it is thought to have been cross-bred centuries later with the Sloughi brought from North Africa by the Moors. Some writers suggest that this breed may be ancestral to the English Greyhound.
The Galgo name is probably derived from the Latin Canis Gallicus or 'Dog from Gaul'. The Spanish word for all kinds of Greyhounds — including the Galgo — is lebrel, which means 'harrier' or 'dog for chasing hares', since liebre is Spanish for 'hare'. The same derivative is seen in the Italian levriero and the French lévrier.
Arrian described his personal experience in Spain. His description of hare hunting is very similar to that used with the Galgo nowadays in Spain, adding that it was a general Celtic tradition not related to social class. He indicated that there were not only smooth-haired types of the vertragus but also rough-coated ones.
There is little evidence for mention of the Galgo or its antecedent in the first centuries of the Middle Ages, but it appeared to have survived and flourished in the second half of the period.
In the 9th and 10th centuries, coinciding with the Reconquista, great spaces in Castile were colonised resulting in Christian military repossession of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim control. This open land introduced a new mode of hunting with dogs: while the North of Spain is mountainous, the regions progressively recovered were flat, open areas full of small animals like hares, which provided the Galgo a useful opportunity for hunting. At that time it was considered a noble dog, and was kept mainly by the aristocracy of both the Christian and the Muslim kingdoms in which Spanish territory was still divided. It is likely that the Galgo and the Sloughi (perhaps also Saluki) were interbred during this period.
The Galgo appears to have developed first in the Castillian plains, both in the north (Valladolid, Zamora, Ávila Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Burgos and Palencia) and the south (Toledo, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Madrid and Ciudad Real) of Castilla. And, afterwards, in more southern territories: La Mancha and Andalusia. It became the typical dog type of the Spanish interior, while the bloodhound plays the same role in the coast regions.
The Galgo appears not only in hunting books but also in common Spanish expressions, as well as in literature. The most famous reference is perhaps the one contained in the opening sentence of Don Quixote de La Mancha: "In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a galgo for coursing."
Animal cruelty concerns
There are many reports of Galgos being treated cruelly by their hunters and breeders in Spain. An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 Galgos and Podencos are killed, often brutally, each year by their hunters, also known as galgueros.
Source Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galgo_Espa%C3%B1ol
Boléra
Meet "Boléra" a graceful Galgo breed female dog.
Lumix S5 - Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8
ƒ/5.6 1/50 ISO 3200 @59mm
Galgos
The Spanish greyhound is thought by some popular writers to have descended from Egyptian dogs brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Phoenicians nearly 3,000 years ago. However the existence of the Celtic vertragus in Roman Iberia 2,000 years ago, as described by Arrian and Martial, suggests that it and its possible descendant the Galgo, may more likely be of Western European type in origin. After it was established in Spain, it is thought to have been cross-bred centuries later with the Sloughi brought from North Africa by the Moors. Some writers suggest that this breed may be ancestral to the English Greyhound.
The Galgo name is probably derived from the Latin Canis Gallicus or 'Dog from Gaul'. The Spanish word for all kinds of Greyhounds — including the Galgo — is lebrel, which means 'harrier' or 'dog for chasing hares', since liebre is Spanish for 'hare'. The same derivative is seen in the Italian levriero and the French lévrier.
Arrian described his personal experience in Spain. His description of hare hunting is very similar to that used with the Galgo nowadays in Spain, adding that it was a general Celtic tradition not related to social class. He indicated that there were not only smooth-haired types of the vertragus but also rough-coated ones.
There is little evidence for mention of the Galgo or its antecedent in the first centuries of the Middle Ages, but it appeared to have survived and flourished in the second half of the period.
In the 9th and 10th centuries, coinciding with the Reconquista, great spaces in Castile were colonised resulting in Christian military repossession of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim control. This open land introduced a new mode of hunting with dogs: while the North of Spain is mountainous, the regions progressively recovered were flat, open areas full of small animals like hares, which provided the Galgo a useful opportunity for hunting. At that time it was considered a noble dog, and was kept mainly by the aristocracy of both the Christian and the Muslim kingdoms in which Spanish territory was still divided. It is likely that the Galgo and the Sloughi (perhaps also Saluki) were interbred during this period.
The Galgo appears to have developed first in the Castillian plains, both in the north (Valladolid, Zamora, Ávila Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Burgos and Palencia) and the south (Toledo, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Madrid and Ciudad Real) of Castilla. And, afterwards, in more southern territories: La Mancha and Andalusia. It became the typical dog type of the Spanish interior, while the bloodhound plays the same role in the coast regions.
The Galgo appears not only in hunting books but also in common Spanish expressions, as well as in literature. The most famous reference is perhaps the one contained in the opening sentence of Don Quixote de La Mancha: "In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a galgo for coursing."
Animal cruelty concerns
There are many reports of Galgos being treated cruelly by their hunters and breeders in Spain. An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 Galgos and Podencos are killed, often brutally, each year by their hunters, also known as galgueros.
Source Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galgo_Espa%C3%B1ol