THE DOG OF THE LAND

For over thirty years in Gran Canaria, the fans of the presa dogs and dogs fighting, "in their conversations referred  with  some frequency to “perros de la tierra” 8dogs of the land) ... The fans I talk about  were old people, I mean elderly: Panchito Saavedra, Salvadorito, who died several years ago, and others.

And new generations are still talking about the dog of the land, due they heard that from the old men. But know these new generations how was the dog of the land, did they ever saw it, would be able to describe it?
   In the many trips I made to Gran Canaria over the years I never saw a dog of the land, and, except Panchito and Salvadorito Saavedra, nobody could tell me how it was. Salvadorito told me that it was like a Spanish Mastiff. Panchito Saavedra that was like a majorero dog but larger. And they spoken in preterit, this mean that when I interviewed them (1) on the island were not dogs of the land, and nobody know when they became extinct.

  In Fuerteventura there is a dog breed that the inhabitants of the island, traditional farmers (who are increasingly less) - called Perro de la tierra (dog of the land) or perro de Ganado (live stock dog). In the other islands this dog is call PERRO MAJORERO, for being from the island of Fuerteventura aka Majorata.

   Unlike Gran Canaria, in  Fuerteventura  the dog of the land survive, but due to the mixing and neglect of farmers, it have degenerated, so  today is no more than a caricature of that one  who  was raised fifty or more years ago.

   In my opinion, the dog of the land of Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura were the same dog, no doubt, and no other origin than the Spanish live stock dog (2), which, as I have written on other occasions, was introduced in the islands after the conquest and colonization, with refreshments later, as the new canaries, or their descendants, considered it appropriate or necessary.

 It seems pertinent to say that the nowadays  Spanish Mastiff is  not the ancestor of the  Canary Island live stock dog, but a descendant of the Spanish live stock  dogs of centuries ago, which evolved in different way.

In mainland Spain this canine variety had to defend the sheep from the wolf but in  the Canary Island not, so it develop, over time, in a livestock guardian dog.

In mainland Spain the dog of the land, called we don’t know since when, Mastiff, survives but in great decadence. In Gran Canaria, his distant relative disappeared we not know when, and in Fuerteventura is still a remainder, in which is difficult to recognize, for the reasons stated, the ancestral dog of the land.


(1) In my book The Perro de Presa Canario, its true origin you can read the interviews to which I refer.
(2) In the Espasa Encyclopedia reads: "Live stock dog, dog similar to the Mastiff that is used for livestock." Now we should ask, what was the difference between the livestock dog and mastiff?, "Were two branches of the same trunk?

 

 

Female "de ganado canaria" or "de la tierra", with her owner, Teodora Suárez.

Gáldar (Gran Canaria). 1970.