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PERICO
1927
- Was I so
entertained reading the ORIGIN OF THE PURE ARABIAN BLOOD,
LEGEND AND TRUTHS, of the book, the Pure Arabian Blood,
of KRISTIAN FENAUX, when rang the phone. Hello, yes, I am
Manuel Curtó. Who called me was a young Gallego (from Galicia), fan of the
Perro de Presa Canario, to say me
that in the magazine AVION REVUE, Num. 218, AUGUST 2000,
appears a Perro the Presa Canario of year 1927. It is
worth that you obtains the magazine, insisted.
Nonmemory the name of the Galician boy, who said me,
also, that he had read my book, "The Perro de Presa
Canario, its true origin", that had requested me it
by phone years ago.
Dear friend,from this web site, I profit the occasion to thanks you.
At the few days I went to La Laguna with the purpose of
buying number 218 of the magazine AVIÓN REVUE. In the
Lemus Bookstore, Paco Lemus said that they did not
receive it, that I must go to kiosk..., I nonmemory the
name to me of kiosk. The proprietor of kiosk said me that
yes they received Avión Revue, but that the nº 218 was
an edition of the last month, and the units that remained
were gave back to the editorial, because that is a
magazine that is sold little here, better will be than
you request it directly to them. Thus I did it, I
requested it by telephone to Madrid and at the few days I
received it by mail. I begin to leaf through, many
airplanes, old and modern, of all type, of very varied
models, I do not understand nothing of airplanes, it had
never been happened to me to think that magazines
dedicated only and exclusively to this type of
apparatuses could be published. Now, thinking about, I
see it like the most logical thing of the world, how are
not going away to publish magazines dedicated only and
exclusively to the airplanes when half world travels
already in airplane?
And, indeed, in page 81 they appear photographed, Hidalgo,
in pyjama, near the impressive Perico, and around
them a writing titled, Cordial ambient... Sometimes.
Perico attacks Saint Exupéry, and thus says: In
Cabo Juby always a great climate of cordiality existed,
although some isolated accident accompanied it, as in the
case of the aggression that underwent Saint Exupéry on
the part of a dog of the Spanish garrison. The anecdote
relates Hidalgo because he was who proposed the idea
that, with the purpose of helping the nocturnal guard, a
dog of presa of the Canary Islands was engaged in -to
whom they baptized with the name of Perico- so that it
frightened the marauders of the fort. Certain night, the
aviators heard the barks of Perico mixed with shouts of
SOS coming from the outside of the fort and when going
with lights they found out that the dog had made
"presa" in the shoulder of Saint Exupéry and
it did not loosen in spite of requests and struggles of
his owners. Finally Hidalgo struck the head of the animal
with an airplane transom obtaining that the dog loosen to
the unfortunate French aviator. Saint Exupéry only left
the mishap with some bruises and a fort attack of nerves
of which recovered days later.
This fact occurred in 1928. Important, very important
this graphical document.
Very few photographies we know of that time. Of the presa
canario dogs of principles of century XX until end of the
Fifties; due to the shortage of photographies that have
been able to compile, it is very difficult to form an
objective idea respect to its morpho-phenotypical
characteristics, considering, in addition, the amount of
crossings that by those years were carried out in order
to obtain dogs for the "pechadas"
(fights).
Have not been few the students of spanish dogs of bull,
of presa, alanos, chatos (flats) etc. And they have not
been less the theses exposed respect to his origins,
crossings, functions that fulfilled, and others. After
long years of study, and reflection, from the origin,
function, crossings, etc. of the perro de presa canario,
one reaches the conclusion that is not possible its study
if it is broken the contact with the peninsular ones. I
mean that if in peninsular Spain there were "chatos"
(flat) dogs of bull in the Canary Islands also, presas of
straight nasal pipe and without prognatismo (undershot
bite), evidently in the Canary Islands also, and the
reason that it was thus does not have more than one
explanation, that to the Canary Islands, was brought of
peninsular Spain, as of peninsular Spain they were taken
to the Balearic Islands.
And they were brought not only and exclusively once, in
the first times of conquest and colonization, no, they
were brought at different times, for the refreshment of
the castes introduced in the first dates, and is logical
to suppose that that continued happening until end of
century XIX, or first decades of the XX.
The dog Perico, analyzed in detail, in the measurement
that the photography allows it, could be classified very
well within the group of the dogs of bull named "chatos"
(flat dogs), (Spanish bulldogs for the English of century
XIX) -of whom they took a good number to England for the
reconstruction of their Bulldog-. Perico has somewhat
convex head, nasal pipe short and turned up, tucked lips,
and evidently prognato (undershut bite), the body big,
massive, compact, straight forelegs, perfectly plumbed
(as in the photography is seated nothing we can say of
the hind legs, but without a doubt they would correspond
with the fores ones).
At sight of the photography of Perico first that had
happened to me was to make a comparative study with
breeds that in principle could be compatible, as they are
the English Bulldog of end of the XIX and first decades
of the XX, and the Bullmastiff of the same times.
Nothing, Perico, under my point of view, was a different
dog, very different. Then we made use of our file, in
which there are photographies, engravings, drawings,
etc., of dogs of presa (Canary Islands-Spain) of
different times, and we found two dogs (that we include
as illustration) whose heads are extraordinarily similar
to the one of Perico. First, appeared in the New Book of
the Dog, Robert Leigthon (1911), and the second,
represented in a bronze plate of 1625 found in Paris
(exhibit in the British Museum).
The similarity of the cranial conformation, the
characteristics as a whole of the head of Perico, with
those two dogs is not product of the chance but of a
kinship, to my way to see, unquestionable. This mean that
the Spanish dog of presa commonly called chatos, Spanish
Bulldog for the English, conserved itself in the Canary
Islands until end of the 30´s, probably final of the 40´s. What happened later?
In peninsular Spain all the dogs of presa (alanos,
chatos, etc) were extinguished by the same dates more or
less. That nobody tear the clothes if I say (basing me on
the reality) that of the different castes of old alanos,
presas, chatos, of the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic
Islands not remained sign some. The Present Ca de Bou and
peninsulars alanos are an attempt of reconstruction of
those breeds. Known it is that reconstructions never are
such but new breeds, if is that they get to be such, to
which are gave or adjudges them, the name of the
disappears ones.
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Published in "Canidapresa Magazine",
March-April 2001
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PERICO, PERRO DE PRESA CANARIO Of 1928
 
SPANISH ALANO OF BEGINNING OF THE XX SPANISH ALANO NAMED CAZALLA, 1914
 
SPANISH PERRO DE TORO SPANISH PERRO DE TORO, 1625
CA DE BOU (PERRO DE PRESA MALLORQUÍN), 1928
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