Occasionally, an Ibizan Hound person would tell me to get a wire Ibizan- it was basically the same thing, only AKC registered! Nah. I would feel cheated, I thought. I really wanted the real thing.
Many years passed. I found someone in Portugal online that would help me get a letter to the president of the Portuguese Kennel Club, Carla Molinari. I never heard back from her. In retrospect, after talking to other European dog authorities, I realize her priority at that time was making sure her breed, the Portuguese Water Dog, was a success in the USA and my letter most likely went into the circular file.
More years passed. I and an online friend (and fellow WPM fan) from a Usenet dog group founded The Portuguese Podengo Club of America in 1996, even though neither of us had one. But someday...
Then, in the early 2000's, the small podengos started coming to the USA due to the efforts of a puppy broker and that person started making me her number one target to bully. Upon realizing I was merely dealing with a crazy person, I kept my own nose clean and proceeded with my own dreams of getting the WPM started in the USA.
One of the crazy puppy broker's 'people' imported a WPM with one of the shipments of small podengos in 2004. That WPM was so angry to be in that home, she reacted with aggression to the other puppies there. The WPM was rehomed to my original friend from the Usenet group.
Realizing she just did not have time for the WPM, she called me.
This was Evita V. D. Kleiheuvel, who went on to be the first WPM to have puppies in the USA, first Champion Podengo Medio in the USA and Canada, first lure coursing Podengo and so many other firsts I just lost count long ago. She would head out on a 'naughty romp' around our 10 acres every once in a while and return with a big smile on her face. She gave us 2 litters of beautiful puppies and got the breed off the ground in the USA. Some things like this will always be hers and mine. We appeared in Vitor Veiga's book about Podengos.
We had so many adventures crossing the country, meeting the movie star WPM Nikki and just taking pics of her that grace the internet far and wide. Online she will never die. When she started to slow down a few years ago, it was a sad surprise.
In recent months, she started having seizures and developed a collapsed trachea and multiple benign fatty cysts that never healed. She had a very nice kid's t-shirt collection to cover them up. She cough-barked instead of barking in the last year of her life, lost her hearing and part of her sight. It is so difficult to see a great dog fall. She died wearing one of her favorite shirts, a grey t-shirt with a rhinestone red and blue Democratic Donkey on it. Yes, she will be buried in it.
RIP, Evita, my friend. Thank you for all the adventures. Your children and grandchildren carry on your spirit and beauty. You did it, you did what you came here to do.
Evita Van De Kleiheuvel, born August 17, 2004 - died October 10, 2017
