The Presa Canario
The breed, as it should be
Rustic, strong, steady. Heir to the presa dogs the conquest brought, which guarded the houses and cattle of the Canarian countryside for centuries, and a new breed that began to take shape in the 1970s. This is the one we breed, the one we document, the one we defend. Everything below comes from Manuel Curtó Gracia’s book.
The true origin
Not Guanche, not English. Spanish, and island-bred.
Presa dogs arrived with the Spanish conquerors and settlers. The first record is from 1404, when Jean de Bethencourt came back from Castile with reinforcements: “and they had dogs with them”, says Le Canarien.p. 36, 110 By 1515 the Tenerife council already names them: pig herders could keep one dog “as long as it is not a presa”.p. 43
The dogs of the native islanders were different: “wild dogs that look like wolves, but are small” (Le Canarien), “small curs that they called cancha” (Alonso de Espinosa).p. 29-30 And the English did not bring the presa: in 1873 they took Toro, a 41 kg, 56 cm brindle presa, from Spain to rebuild their Bulldog.p. 98
That old presa died out, and nobody knows when.p. 67 Today’s Presa Canario began to take shape in the mid-1970s, and Curtó was the first to say so plainly: it “was not an old breed but a new one, the product of crosses between several breeds brought to the Canaries from various countries and the Perro de Ganado Majorero”.p. 332-333 The idea of the breed, its name and its first draft standard came from his writing.p. 189, 459
“It is clear that presa dogs, cattle dogs and podencos, like pointers and mastiffs, were brought to the Canaries by the conquerors from Spain.”
— Manuel Curtó Gracia · El Perro de Presa Canario, su verdadero origen, p. 48
The working dog
Made in the countryside, not in the ring
Before clubs and standards, the presa guarded houses and estates, worked rough cattle and helped butchers hold the stock.p. 60, 97, 141
And it fought. “Fighting was the reason presa dogs existed. That is what they were crossed, bred and selected for.”p. 53 These were not organised contests and there was no betting: “You had a dog, I had another, and when we felt like it we set them to fight”, said Pancho Saavedra of Gáldar.p. 264 In Tenerife the fights ended in the 1950s; in Gran Canaria the pechadas carried on in secret.p. 62, 119-120
“Aggression must not be confused with courage. Aggression is a sign of pathology. Courage and temperament mean bravery, mettle.”
— Manuel Curtó Gracia, pp. 252-253
From that rustic dog, “made by rough men for hard work”,p. 92 we keep the character, not the fighting.
Temperament
Temperament above all
The presas of the land “were more serious, less playful, far more wary of strangers”, quiet and deep-voiced. “And they did not bite without a real reason. Their mere presence and their growl were more than enough to deter any stranger.”p. 91
Steady
“A serious animal, almost thoughtful, not much given to play, never boisterous, affectionate, somewhat independent, with a look that is nearly human.” He barks little, “and when he barks he does it calmly, cavernously”.
p. 144-145
Self-possessed
“Sure of himself, hard to bribe, if he has been raised away from the caresses of strangers since he was small. This dog has never feared, and must never fear, the stick or threats.”
p. 145
Balanced
“He must be calm, never a biter unless there is an evident reason for it, and able to put up with children’s mischief.” And first of all: “there is no presa dog without temperament”.
p. 53
“A well-trained dog never takes the initiative; the master does.”
— Manuel Curtó Gracia, on the presas of Pancho “el Rey”, a cattle farmer in La Esperanza · p. 62
The colours of the breed
Bardino, fawn, black… and with white
The presa was never selected for colour: “White or black, bardino or fawn, marked or not, it hardly mattered”.p. 122 There were black, bardino, fawn and white presas, and presas with white markings on the feet, belly, neck or chest.p. 144, 152 The standard allows white on the legs, chest, neck and belly, up to 30%.p. 231-232
Bardino
Brindle. In the speech of the Canarian countryside, bardino is the colour, not the breed (pp. 81, 168). It is an old Castilian word that died out on the mainland and survived in the islands; its sister word, barcino, comes from the Arabic baraxa (p. 168). In the north of Tenerife people say berdino.
Fawn
Across the whole range, down to sand (p. 231). With bardino, the coat the old fighting men preferred (p. 53). What Curtó never liked was a uniform sand coat with a black mask: “it invariably reminds me of the Bullmastiff” (p. 420).
Black
There have always been black presas: the Negro that fought in Gran Canaria in 1928, Demetrio Trujillo’s Tinto (pp. 263, 282). The official 1989 standard left black out, and Curtó fought until it was accepted (pp. 168, 222). Blacks, fawns and bardinos are born in the same litters: “presas with a black coat are as much Presa Canario as those with a fawn, brindle or bardino coat” (p. 444).
Bardino, berdino, verdino. Three ways of saying the same thing: a coat, never a breed. “Verdino” or “berdino” is a corruption of bardino and means the same; it is what the presa is called in the north of Tenerife.p. 136-137, 168 Corominas and Pascual record bardino as “a marked dog or beast, a mix of white and black hair”.p. 101 And no, bardino does not mean a short-nosed dog.p. 137
The standard
Built like a presa
Powerful, broad, of medium height and somewhat longer than he is tall, slightly higher at the croup than at the withers.p. 143
Curtó wrote the first draft standard by measuring his first dogs, Boby and Piba, with a tailor’s tape.p. 459 The official 1989 standard came from the Tenerife club’s draft and did not convince him: “it does not fit the Presa Canario, not even remotely”.p. 157, 167 The one we follow is the Modified Breed Standard written together in Las Palmas by the clubs and breeders of both provinces, Curtó among them, which accepts the black coat.p. 221-222
The ideal presa
In January 2001, replying to a European enthusiast, Manuel Curtó described his ideal presa:
“Medium size (62–64 centimetres at the withers, 50–55 kilograms), slightly higher at the croup than at the withers, never the other way round, […] well-developed masseters, a mouth without prognathism, nor a pincer bite, nor enognathism, […] dark, large eyes, a broad neck, a broad chest (without excess), an ample (without excess) and deep rib cage, […] and free of hip or elbow dysplasia. He must have good character, strong temperament and a marked guarding instinct. And a dark bardino coat, or black.”
— Manuel Curtó Gracia · El Perro de Presa Canario, su verdadero origen, p. 365On prognathism: “The more prognathism, the worse the grip.”p. 87 The old fighting men hated undershot dogs,p. 112 and Curtó puts them down to crosses with the English Bulldog and the Bullmastiff.p. 178
- Height (males)
- 61–66 cm
- Height (females)
- 57–62 cm
- Average weight (males)
- 45–57 kg
- Average weight (females)
- 40–50 kg
- Body
- 10–12% longer than the height
- Head
- Brachycephalic, cuboid, skull to muzzle 6:4
- Mouth
- Complete, no prognathism; pincer or scissor
- Tail
- To the hock; in action, sabre-shaped
- Coat
- Short, no undercoat, slightly harsh
- Colour
- Brindle (bardino), fawn and black; white up to 30%
Modified Breed Standard · Las Palmas · pp. 225-232
The secret of the line
The Majorero blood
The Perro de Ganado Majorero, the dog of the land of Fuerteventura, descends from the Spanish cattle dogs that came with the conquest, not from the native dogs.p. 39, 136, 312 Curtó bred presas and Majoreros from the start.
- Major. His first Majorero, bought at six weeks old from Ramón Sosa Roger of Gran Tarajal: light wolf-grey, “an exceptional dog, very brave, a real fighter, with a strong guarding instinct”.p. 208, 458
- At the root of the breed. For Curtó, today’s Presa was born of crosses between imported breeds and the Majorero.p. 333
- Longevity. The Presa stays young, healthy and fit for work at an age when the Dogo Canario has already grown old. “I hold that the Presa Canario owes that longevity to the high proportion of Majorero blood in its veins.”p. 318
“A plain Majorero cattle dog will thrash one of today’s crossbreds every which way.”
— Manuel Curtó Gracia, on the crossbred presas of the 1980s · p. 93
What it is for
A dog made for work
“The Presa Canario is a working dog, and as long as it is useful to people its future is secure; otherwise it will end up where many other breeds have ended up.”p. 391
Guard and defence
“It is a dog for guarding and defence, above all” (p. 386). In the old days any country house had a presa lying across its doorway, “and woe to anyone who thought of coming in!” (p. 63).
Rough cattle
“He did not shy away from the charge of a cow, however stubborn, and it cost him little effort to take hold of her and bring her to the pen” (p. 60). In 1516 the Tenerife council let butchers keep two dogs “to catch the cattle” (p. 43).
Grip, not scent
Not a dog for birds, rabbits or trailing; he excels at boar hunting (p. 386). He grips with the incisors and canines of a complete mouth: “the point is to catch, and that what is caught cannot get loose” (p. 112).
Our position
Dog shows are the death of the useful dog
Manuel Curtó put it bluntly: he had no sympathy for dog shows, “because they are the death of the useful dog”.p. 369 In the ring a dog proves nothing about what it is for, and no certificate of hips and elbows free of dysplasia is required.p. 369-370
Since the 1970s he argued for a working presa, not a show dog; conformation assessments, where a dog is examined against the standard, are another matter.p. 303 At Irema Curtó shows come second: sound conformation, function and health come first.p. 460
“Champions of what?, I always say.”
— Manuel Curtó Gracia · p. 369
How we breed
Health and honesty before applause
“You breed with the females”: the stud shapes the breed, but what decides is a short list of brood bitches from lines of prolific mothers, easy whelpers and good rearers.p. 347 “A puppy is not a top-level breeding dog, it is a project”:p. 414 until it is about a year old nobody knows whether it will enter the breeding plan, and many are set aside.p. 345 Our studs do not cover outside bitches that have not been x-rayed, that are out of type, or in exchange for a puppy.p. 398
And they eat the way dogs eat: since 1976, the year Manuel Curtó started out as a breeder,p. 308 the base of the diet has been raw chicken carcasses, never cooked. A raw bone is chewed and digested; a cooked one splinters.
Hips and elbows
Hip and elbow radiographs for every dog that will be bred (pp. 349, 474). “Breeding from dogs that have not been x-rayed is breeding blind” (p. 475).
A flawless mouth
No missing premolars and no prognathism (pp. 348, 415). “The Presa Canario must have a flawless mouth, with a scissor bite” (p. 238).
Proven temperament
Before breeding, every young dog works in obedience and then in defence, attack and pursuit, in different settings and in open country, without being turned into a robot (p. 349). “Either it has proven temperament or it is worth nothing” (p. 245).
“There is one mistake a breeder must never make, and that is to lie to himself.”
— Manuel Curtó Gracia · p. 465
“To breed is to select. To select is to use what stands out and set aside what does not measure up.”
Manuel Curtó Gracia · El Perro de Presa Canario, su verdadero origen, pp. 402-403
Meet our dogs
Look at the dogs of Irema Curtó, their pedigrees and their bloodlines. Every dog, with its history.