Cão de Castro Laboreiro

The Cão de Castro Laboreiro is a livestock guardian dog from Castro Laboreiro, in the mountains of the far north of Portugal. Its name means simply the dog of Castro Laboreiro. It is also called the Portuguese Cattle Dog or Portuguese Watchdog.

History

Castro Laboreiro is a small town, now a parish of Melgaço, in the same mountains as the Peneda-Gerês National Park. The rocky country around it was once very remote. The breed descends from old guardian dogs that worked there with herders, defending livestock against wolves and other large predators.

Nobody knows how the breed began. There are many legends, but the Portuguese breed club says that what has been written about its origins is fiction, and that records for most guardian and herding breeds do not go back beyond 1900. The dogs are mentioned in the 19th century and not before 1800. In a novella of 1882, Camilo Castelo Branco wrote of the very fierce dogs of Castro Laboreiro. Genetic studies have shown that the breed is distinct from similar Portuguese breeds.

As wolves and other large predators were eradicated, the dog lost its work. Changes in farming over the last hundred years led to many being abandoned. Some turned feral and became a problem for people raising cattle and horses.

The breed was first shown in 1914. The veterinarian Manuel Marques wrote the first standard in 1935, when the Clube Português de Canicultura recognized it. It is recognized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale among the mountain-type mastiffs, and by the United Kennel Club in its Guardian Dog group.

Today the dog is mostly kept as a companion and guard, away from its old range. There are said to be no more than 500 in the world, with about half a dozen breeders in Portugal and a few in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States.

Appearance

The Castro Laboreiro is somewhat wolf-like in outline. It is a large dog but not an oversized one: no more than 60 cm (24 in) at the withers and no more than 40 kg (88 lb), with females a little smaller.

Its colors are described in wolf terms, such as dark wolf color and light wolf color. Most breeders prefer what is thought the most authentic, the mountain color. This is a mix of light and dark gray with single brown or dark red hairs scattered through it, giving a brindle effect overall.

Temperament

The dog has long had a name for fierceness, and is said to be ferocious against wolves.

Care and health

No health problems particular to the breed have been documented.

Facts on this page were checked against Wikipedia and may have changed since.