I met Winston on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Green Park.
It was easy to spot him as he run across the grass with his beautiful athletic silhouette and a stunning Titian-red coat gleaming in the afternoon sun.
Winston is a Podenco Canario, also known as Spanish Warren Dog. It is a rare breed in the UK, and Winston was brought to London all the way from Spain.
He was rather uninterested in me and my camera, unsurprisingly perhaps, preferring a good sniff and run around the park, to talking to complete strangers. What I did not know was that Winston absolutely loves treats and, the moment he saw the box in my hand, he turned from an aloof aristocrat into the friendliest of dogs. He gave me his paw, while looking earnestly at me with his beautiful hazel brown eyes, and quickly wolfed down three treats. His owner told me that Winston is an exceptionally quiet dog and almost never barks unless you ask him to speak, which I think may be pretty much every owner's dream!
The Podenco Canario is a Spanish hunting dog, bred to catch rabbits. Podenco is one of several breeds to come from the Pharaoh Hound, the old Egyptian breed, often featured on hieroglyphs and paintings from ancient Egypt.
See another Spanish dog, Bamba, who is a Pharaoh Hound cross.
