Since 1975
Half a century faithful to the dog of the land
The story of Irema Curtó is the story of a family that refused to let the authentic Presa Canario die. We did not rebuild it with foreign breeds. We kept it.
The founder
Manuel Curtó Gracia
A Catalan from Lleida, he arrived in the Canary Islands in 1968. The dogs of the land caught him quickly, and his first Canarian dog was a Perro de Ganado Majorero. From there he moved to the presa, and spent the rest of his life on it.
He did not only breed it. He researched it and wrote it down. He travelled the archipelago documenting the last authentic presas, and wrote for the Canarian press for nearly twenty years.
“It is from my first writings that people began to speak of these dogs as if they were a breed.”
— Manuel Curtó Gracia
Our history
From near extinction to today
Each date is a link in the same chain: the continuity of a line that was not improvised, held by three generations of the Curtó family.
- 1968
A Catalan arrives in the Canaries
Manuel Curtó Gracia lands in Tenerife. His first dog of the land is a Majorero, Major: the start of a life spent with Canarian dogs.
- 1974–75
The search, and the affix
He travels the islands looking for the last presa dogs, at a time when the breed was nearly extinct. On 4 November 1975 he registers the affix Irema Curtó (no. 896, RSCE).
- 1977
The first litter
The first litter is born from the breeding pair Boby and Piba. We have bred Presa Canario without a break since that year.
- 1977–80
The first standard
He publishes the first writings on the breed in the Canarian press and drafts a first standard, measuring his own dogs.
- 1978–85
Three crosses with the Majorero
Three founding crosses, all documented, with the Perro de Ganado Majorero: Rocky (Felipe Reyes, Puerto de la Cruz), Major I (Ramón Sosa Roger, Fuerteventura) and males from Lanzarote. Longevity of 14 to 16 years, complete mouths and a firm guarding instinct — what the other lines do not have.
- 1991
The book
He publishes “El Perro de Presa Canario, su verdadero origen”, the first monograph on the breed.
- 2003
An international edition
The book is published in English (Kennel Club Books, USA). The history of the authentic Presa crosses the Atlantic.
- 2019
Vindicated, seventeen years later
The FCI officially restores the name “Presa Canario”, the name Manuel Curtó had defended all along. Time proved him right.
- 2024
Second edition
Manuel Curtó Jr. publishes the second edition of the book. The third generation takes over.
The claim
He won the battle of the name
Manuel Curtó always insisted the breed should be called Presa Canario. When the official route renamed it “Dogo Canario” and changed the standard, he did not give in. He kept the name and the traditional type.
To put it on the public record that his position was a matter of principle and not of interest, he renounced, before a notary and before the CEPC, any right over the name. A gesture he documented, and never regretted.
In 2019 the FCI officially restored the name “Presa Canario”. What had been a lonely position for years, time turned into the right one.
When the referee agrees with you seventeen years late, it is still your point.
The work
The true origin, in writing
El Perro de Presa Canario, su verdadero origen (1991, second edition 2024) was the first monograph on the breed. It was also published in English — Kennel Club Books, 2003 — and is a reference for breeders around the world.
We do not tell the history of the breed from the outside. We wrote it while it was happening, generation after generation.
“A breed can be lost in less than twenty years, if people lose interest. That is what happened to the presa canario.”
— Manuel Curtó Gracia
Be part of this history
If you are looking for an authentic Presa Canario, let's talk.