Canary dog

The Canary Dog is a large and strong, but by no means lumbering dog with a predisposition to guard and active defense of the owner. He doesn’t like other dogs and can be quite conflicting. Requires strong hand lead.

Nature

The Canary Dog is a very confident, balanced and controlled dog. In some situations, however, he can reveal his fiery Spanish temperament – sometimes he is impulsive and violent. As a former war dog, he has a tendency to be aggressive, especially towards foreign dogs or people he considers a threat to his herd. For the family, he is gentle, generous and caring, distrustful and distant towards strangers. The voice is low and deep.

Skills

In the past, the Canary Dog was used for dog fighting, today it is a guard and guard dog, traditionally it was also used to drive and protect cattle herds. It does not require special training in the field of guarding and defense, because it has “in the blood”.

Training and education

The Canary Dog is an intelligent and trainable dog, but it requires very consistent handling. Sometimes he is stubborn and reluctant to follow orders if he senses weakness in his guide. It should be carefully socialized and brought up. A well-mannered Canario is a great companion and protector of the family.

Who is this race for?

A dog of this breed should only go to the hands of experienced and responsible people who have specific personality traits – firmness, consistency and patience. It can live both at home with the garden and in the city. However, you should remember that you can only go for walks on a leash.

It’s best if the Canary dog ​​lives in the house, in close contact with his family. However, he can also live in a pen. In the period from spring to autumn, a normal kennel is enough for him, but in winter, due to the lack of undercoat, a kennel with thick walls, good insulation, warm bedding (good hay) should be provided and a special curtain should be installed at the entrance.

Canary dog. Advantages and disadvantages

Disadvantages

• stubborn and dominant
• tends to be aggressive
• requires an experienced guide
• needs early socialization and proper training

Advantages

• excellent guard and guard dog
• very attached to the owner
• caring for children
• easy to care for

Health

The Canary Dog is generally a fairly healthy breed. Like other large dogs, it is exposed to iliac and elbow dysplasia, juvenile osteomyelitis, OCD. There are also problems with the patella, usually found in miniature breeds. Typical for large breeds is also Wobbler syndrome. In addition, epilepsy, entropy and hypothyroidism occur. Canary Dogs are also exposed to stomach enlargement and twist.

Feeding

Canary dogs should receive good quality food for large breed dogs, adapted to the age and activity of the individual. Of course, it can also be fed with properly-composed food prepared at home. Then we also have to remember about supplements.

Care

Care for dogs of this breed is not complicated, it is enough to brush the dog from time to time with a rubber comb or a glove with insets. Every now and then we check the condition of the ears, teeth and claws.

Canary dog. History

As the name suggests, the Canary dog ​​comes from the Canary Islands. It was used there for dog fights and for guarding cattle herds. This breed was created by crossing local dogs from the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, Bardino Majorero dogs from Fuerteventura and strong dogs that came to the islands with the Spaniards.

Dogo canario has inherited his temperament, among others after the ancestors of Bardino Majorero, who are descendants of Spanish cattle dogs, which found their way to the islands in the 15th century during the colonization by the Spaniards, and then spread throughout the archipelago. They were resistant, brave dogs with a fiery temperament. Associations of combat type dogs with intermediate type have developed a war dog with a lively disposition and defense predisposition.

The first mention of dogs from the archipelago appeared in historical documents a few years after the conquest of the Canary Islands by the Spaniards. Before the conquest of the island lived the people of Guanches. They had small dogs called cancha. During the conquests, most of the Guanches died, and the rest were assimilated with Spanish invaders. The Guanche people resisted for many years without being conquered, but gave way when the Spaniards used their fighting dogs to fight, which later also took part in the conquest of the New World.

The imported dogs mixed with the locals over time, creating through isolation a separate population, which over time became a new breed. However, the old perro de presa (war dog) was gradually forgotten, replaced by new breeds and mixed with them. He slowly died from the landscape of the Canary Islands.

In the 1970s, the Canary dog ​​was rediscovered in the minds of dog enthusiasts. Then the gradual reconstruction of the breed began. There were interviews with old breeders and people who knew the breed in the past, they searched for villages and cities of its last representatives, from whom breeding work and foundations for the breed in the present sense of the word could be started.

Many crosses with other breeds were also bred to unify the population and obtain a wider genetic pool. Already in the years 1986–87 two regional shows were organized, at which a large group of dogs was presented. Over eighty reports were also prepared and the breed of the Spanish Breed Commission was presented, and then at the International Dog Show in Madrid in 1987 a pair of dogs of this new Spanish breed was officially presented to the public. These dogs were brindle Faycan and Marquesa.

In 1989, the perro de presa canario was officially recognized. In 1990, the first monograph of the breed took place, i.e. a specific overview of breeding achievements and an indicator of what is being sought in the breed. Monographs have been taking place in the Canary Islands since then every year.

The Canary Dog breed was initially recognized by the FCI in 2001 with a new pattern and new name – dogo canario. Thanks to this, the Canary dog ​​hit the international stage, quickly gaining recognition in Europe. Meanwhile, breeders from the Canary Islands, Spain and the USA worked to preserve the original character and appearance of the dog, which in 2003 resulted in the registration of the breed in the UCC under the name perro de presa canario (Canary fighting dog). In July 2011, the breed was fully recognized by the FCI.

Systematic breeding activities have achieved that the Canary dog ​​is today very widely represented throughout the Canary Islands, where until today selection criteria are strictly in line with the requirements of the breed’s standard and utility.

Canary dog. Template

Canary dog ​​- group II FCI, section 2.1, reference number 346

• Origin: Spain (Canary Islands)
• Character: dog with a calm manner and alert expression; especially suitable for guarding and guarding cattle; barking loudly, in a low voice; extremely devoted to the owner, obedient and gentle to the whole family, but suspicious of strangers; balanced, confident, full of dignity, with distance
• Size: dogs – 60-66 cm, bitches – 56-62 cm
• Weight: dogs – 50-65 kg, bitches – 40-55 kg
• Coat: short, thick, close-fitting, without undercoat (it can appear only on the neck and on the back of the thigh), hard to the touch; very short and delicate on the ears, slightly longer at the withers and the back of the thighs
• Color: various shades of brindle – from dark, deep brown to light gray and blonde; fawn in various shades, sand; white markings on the chest, throat, forelegs and toes of hind legs, but the latter should be as small as possible; the mask is always black, it should not reach above the eyes
• Lifespan: 9-11 years
• Vulnerability to training: high

Interesting facts

In Poland, the Canary dog ​​was entered on the list of dog breeds considered aggressive. The provisions of the Act on the protection of animals indicate that running a breeding or keeping a dog of an aggressive breed requires a permit of the commune authority competent for the planned place of breeding or keeping the dog, issued at the request of a person intending to run such a breeding or keeping such a dog.

Moreover, the permit is not issued and issued withdrawn if the dog is or is kept in conditions and in a manner that endangers humans or animals.

Import and sale of Canary Dogs are prohibited in Australia and New Zealand.