Nikan and the Potowatomi -
The kennel name NIKAN (pronounced nih-kahn') means “friend” in Potowatomi, an American Indian culture, and was carefully chosen from the Potawatomi language. The Citizen Band Potawatomi's are an American Indian Nation from the Shawnee, Oklahoma. They are the "People of the Place of the Fire." In their own language, Potawatomis call themselves nIshnabe'k, which simply means “the people.

The Potawatomi “a” is always pronounced “ah,” “i” is similar in pronunciation to the English “i” in “fit,” and the accent in Potowatomi is on the second syllable. "Pah-toe'-wah-toe-mee." You can find the Potawatomi dictionary at:
http://www.kansasheritage.org/pbp/books/dicto/d_frame.html.

Located in the Potawatomi area of rural midwestern USA, the NIKAN family can provide Portuguese Podengos with plenty of room for these hunting hounds to exercise their desires to run like crazy, play hunting games with each other and dig comfortable holes for daytime snoozing. As they tire, the comfortable indoors originally designed for humans suits their fancy and satisfies their hedonistic tendencies.

At Nikan, we also raise Pacific parrotlets in various color patterns including fallow, pied, pastel and dilute in greens, yellows and blues. Pacific parrotlets are the smallest species of parrot in the world. It breeds freely in aviculture and is readily available as pets, looking much like a 5” tall Amazon parrot with it’s stocky build and short, broad parrot tail.
Please check out Living at Nikan to see some of what we are up too.

Portuguese Podengos are a sight hound with a strong drive to hunt.  They are very strong, swift and have a lot of stamina. 

The Grande (large. 22” to 28”) was developed for deer and wild boar hunting. It will exhaust and hold down the prey and await the hunter's gun. The Grande is now very rare in its home country.

The Medio (medium. 16” to 22”) was developed for rabbit chasing, flushing, hunting and retrieval. Its hunting style includes catlike stalking and, similar to the Ibizan Hound, it often jumps above the prey before landing on or near it to flush it out of dense brush, rock crevices or burrows. It will dig if necessary to flush prey.

The Pequeno (small, 8” to 12”) was also developed for flushing rabbits from cover. It is also a good vermin exterminator and was probably kept on board explorer ships when the Portuguese initiated the European worldwide explorations in the 15th and 16th centuries.

In the United States the American Kennel Club (AKC) has divided the breed into the Portuguese Podengo Pequeno and the Portuguese Podengo (that includes the medio and grande size). Both breeds are hunting hounds. The Pequeno will be entering the AKC Misc class in January 2011. The Podengo currently at 124 needs to be at 150 to move to Misc.

The Portuguese Podengo was developed with 6 varieties, each suited to different climates, terrain, type of prey and hunting style. Each is a very versatile hunter and companions that use all of its senses combined with agility, speed and endurance, running single or in packs. The Wire Coat variety is better suited for hotter climates with its more open coat texture which provides better cooling and the Smooth variety is better suited for cooler climates with its tighter, denser coat which provides better insulation.

The Portuguese Podengo has been recorded in the Foundation Stock Service since 2004.  

              

                 One of the Founding Members
                                        of   the
American Portuguese Podengo Medio / Grande Club

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