It seems me absolutely advisable to say once again that the Perro the Presa Canario, the old Presa Canario, the famous fighter, the unequaled canary cowherd dog, the incomparable guardian of houses and properties no longer exists. The last units of pure breed, that could be counted with the fingers of one hand, were crossed with foreign dogs in these last years in the attempt to recreate the breed. And the thing (the attempt to recreate the breed) was made so bad that the genetic torrent of the foreign breeds has been so big due too many crossings in just a short time, that the inheritance of the Presa Canario is little appraised in the abundance of present dogs.
Said this we are going to speak of the prognatismo in the presa canarios dogs in particular. It is well known between the old dog´s fighters of these islands, that the prognatismo in the contenders units was a defect that sited them in conditions of inferiority in the fight, defect that by means of the selection, they eradicated when this one occurred. Clear is that there were prognatos dogs that were good fighters, but due to this defect the prey went them away long before that to those that they had perfect bite in scissors or level bite.
But were prognatos the dogs of presa of the land, of the Canary Islands, the traditional ones, those descendents of the Spanish dogs of presas? , or that prognatismo was introduced with the import of English Bulldog already in our century -or was before?-, It could be. Larger it is the prognatismo worse clutch. A prognato dog cannot equal itself, not only in the fight, either in the big game, to a dog with bitten in level or scissors. The creators of the Dogo Argentino knew this very well, and they took very much care that their dogs were not prognatos. The Dogo Argentino was created for the big game, not for the fight, and it is an extraordinary clutching dog. If to a Dogo Argentino the clutch at the most critical moment goes him away, bad thing. If to the Presa Canario Dog the clutch, at the most critical moment of the fight goes him away, bad thing.
But we are going to throw to fight now to our dogs, in our days, that is so much speech about humanity towards the animals, nonviolence, the conservation of the animals species and ecology? Of course that is nothing of that, but if we speak of a canine breed called Perro de Presa Canario we must be consequent with the reality of it anatomical parts. We cannot be deceived, and try to deceive the others. The presa Canario Dog was not prognato, and it was considered defective to those that was so. And why? Very simply; because this dog was thought, from very old, to make clutch in other animals, congener or no. In our days, due to the use of prognatas foreign breeds, for the recreation of the Presa Canario Dog, prognatos products are born, and we must not try to justify those products. The Presa Canario Dog was not prognata, and if we want that our presas resembles to those of the past, we must eliminate those individuals that show that defect. Clear is that this question of the prognatismo is not solved in two days. It is necessary to select without scruples generation after generation.
Published by the author in "El Día" the 16 November 1984.
