Day 4

 

After arriving in Montemor-O-Velho Luis Fonseca invited me out to lunch with him and his wife Manuella. We had a wonderful lunch and talked about dogs and various other topics. Manuella was very nice and seemed very supportive of Mr. Fonseca in his passion for the PP. After lunch we took some dogs including the female that he wanted to show me. This bitch, Luis Fonseca had received as a trade between another member of the association in Porto. This was not the best day for the female as she did not have much of a desire to hunt. She was a sweet, good natured dog nonetheless. We let out the other dogs to give them some exercise in the training field and I took some pictures of two of Mr. Fonseca’s very best dogs. The male who’s name was appropriately Best was a spectacular specimen and had won many competitions in his hay day and the female I believe was named Pina another champion in all rights.

 

Luis Fonseca made arrangements for me to meet Carlos Figuiera the owner of Canil de Tagus and I headed down to Santarem to meet him for dinner. Upon arriving he showed me his dogs. He has some spectacular darker varieties and was very kind to give me lots of details about each dog. We went to dinner in a little town about 15 minutes away whose specialty is Sopa de Pedra (Rock Soup). He told me story about the possible origin of the name which was quite entertaining. Another fabulous meal; the PP was chiefly the topic of conversation. Before returning to his home, Carlos figuiera helped me reserve a room at the Hotel Alfageme in Santarem. We talked a little while longer and then he, with the help of Luis Fonseca made arrangements for me to visit the Canil de Mibafe owned by Mr. Moises Nascimento Costa in the town of Seia up north. Mr. Figuiera was then kind enough to follow me back to the hotel to insure that I did not get lost in the night.

(Click here to see all pictures of Canil de Tagus)

 

 

Day 5 (Click here to see all of day 5's pictures )

 

After breakfast at the hotel and checking my email and messages in the hotel business center, I headed up to Seia to meet Moises Nascimento Costa the owner of Canil De Mibafe otherwise known as Professor Moises. Upon in arriving in town and after getting lost a bit, I finally made it to the kennel with the help of some very helpful locals. Mrs. Costa was there to greet me and showed me their dogs while waiting for Professor Moises to arrive. I believe that the Canil Mibafe is one of the first organized kennels to exist and most of the other kennel owners credit him as the source of some of their dogs. It was a great privilege to meet him and to get his ideas on the PP. We quickly went inside his house and he showed me a phenomenal video of his dogs in action working a field with wild quail. His approach on the subject of the PP is one with an emphasis on hunting ability above all else and it certainly was clear by the efficacy the dogs showed in the field in finding and pointing game. He graciously made a copy of the video for me and it is a spectacular!

 

We talked for a while and then his son and his family came over for a visit. I was invited to eat lunch with his son and daughter in-law and we had a pleasant conversation while eating some terrific home cooked food and fresh cherries from their cherry tree. After lunch we went into town to get a quick espresso at a local coffee house and quickly returned home.

 

Professor Moises and I then loaded up the dogs in the car and proceeded to climb the Astrella mountain to go to a place where he lets the dogs run. The ride up the mountain was very foggy and I’m sure I left grip marks in the armrest as it was hairy to say the least. Upon arriving it seemed like the professor knew the land like the back of his hand as I was immediately disoriented and could not judge what direction we were going from one minute to the next. The dogs didn’t seem to mind and they must have run for an hour and we returned to the car.

 

Upon returning, Professor Moises showed me a bitch that had birthed puppies just a week ago and it was a tender site to see. We went inside and discussed the PP some more and I decided to leave before nightfall to avoid getting lost. It really was an honor to meet Professor Moises as he has been a cornerstone of the revival of the PP and has done a fine work in his lifetime. How he has the energy to walk those mountains every day with the dogs is a mystery as I was surely getting winded just trying to keep up.

 

I headed back down to Montemor-O-Velho as I found out that Carlos Figuiera was planning to come up in the morning to work his dogs with Luis Fonseca in the training field.

 

Upon arriving in Monte-Mor I found out that Luis Fonseca was unable to have dinner with me that night as he had to bring one of his dogs to a Vet in Coimbra. I ate at the same grill house we had eaten before solo and was not disappointed. After dinner I walked over to a bar named Gargantua that is owned by Mr. Fonseca’s friend Miguel to have a coffee. Miguel talked with me for a couple of hours and I learned a great deal about the association and the current hot topics in the association. I then went back to the hotel and called it a night.

 

Day 6

 

I arrived at the training field at 9:30 AM after getting lost a bit and Luis Fonseca was already there. Carlos Figuiera showed up a few minutes later. There was another man with his father that bred PPs and I had a short discussion with them. They were the owners of a recent champion in the field trials named Cigarra and I felt it was important to meet as many people as possible.

 

After my discussion we took Best out to look for a partridge that had his legs tied together to slow it down. The three of us were out with the dog and he found the bird in just a few minutes. He pointed the bird and then Carlos Figuiera and Luis Fonseca did some brief exercises with him and gave me some useful tips in field training the PP.

 

Unfortunately, I had to leave immediately afterwards to catch a plane. I said goodbye but knew that someday I would soon return.

 

To all the kennel owners who extended themselves and showed me hospitality, I thank you.