Manuel Curtó Sr.

Founder of the Irema Curtó Kennels kennel, writer, researcher, dog trainer and breeder. He is in charge of the breeding and selection part within the original kennel in Tenerife.

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Manuel Curtó Sr.

Founder of the Irema Curtó Kennels kennel, writer, researcher, dog trainer and breeder. He is in charge of the breeding and selection part within the original kennel in Tenerife.

Go to Youtube

The basis of everything.

Manuel Curtó Gracia, born in Vall D’Arán in 1945, was the founder of the Irema Curtó Kennels kennel, creator of the “Perro de Presa Canario” breed concept, designer of the first breed standard, which was published in Doggy magazine. People. Tireless defender of the black coat and functional dogs. The dogs bred by him have served as the genetic basis for the vast majority of existing Presas Canarios.

Main occupations.

In the mornings he dedicates himself to feeding the dogs, taking the puppies out to play, observing them a lot to see where they need to improve, and making sure that they are always of the expected quality. Then he starts training the young foals for about 2 hours every day, and when he finishes, he starts recording videos for YouTube telling his opinion about the world of the Presa Canario, his experiences and knowledge. If he is satisfied with the videos, he gives them to Manuel Curtó Jr. to process. The rest of the time he is reading all those books that make him such a cultured person.

Works and collaborations.

Throughout these 48 years, Manuel Curtó Sr. has contributed a lot of knowledge to the world through different formats. Here is a list of works and collaborations:

1976

Creation of the breed concept “Perro de Presa Canario”

Manuel Curtó begins to write articles on various topics in the newspaper El Día. In those articles he also talked about dogs. This is when the concept of the Perro de Presa Canario breed was born. This same year he writes the first draft of the standard, based on the measurements of Boby and Piba, which would later be published in Doggy People magazine.

Mid 1980s

Collaborator in “COPE” radio.

For 1 year, every Thursday, Manuel Curtó Gracia was a collaborator in “COPE” radio at the María del Pino Fuentes program, to speak as a canine specialist.

May 21, 1989

Correction of the 1989 standard.

Manuel Curtó Gracia is part of the decisive meeting for the modification of the official standard of the Perro de Presa Canario, which later had to be presented to the FCI.

1980 - 2000

Collaborator in magazines

For 20 years, Manuel Curtó collaborated in the magazines “Todo Perros, El mundo del Perro and Canidapresa” writing articles about the breed and providing photographic display.

December 10, 1991

Publication of the book “The Perro de Presa Canario, its true origin”

In 1991, Manuel Curtó Gracia published “The Presa Canario Dog, its true origin”, a book made up of articles in chronological order and comments on the matter, which recounts the historical origin of the Presa Canario Dog, and the events that occurred from 1975 to 1991 during the creation of the breed, being very critical and explicit with all the irregularities that occurred during those times.

1996

Appearance in the documentary “Senderos Isleños” on TVE

Appearance in the documentary “Senderos Isleños” of the TVE television channel in 1996, talking about the Perro de Presa Canario, its origin and selection. In this documentary, Manuel Curtó Gracia shows live how a puppy does not complain if its tail or ear is pulled.

1999

Collaboration in the book “Gladiator dogs” by Dr. Carl Semencic

Collaboration in the book “Gladiator dogs” by Dr. Carl Semencic to talk about the Perro de Presa Canario. In that book there was talk of bull-type dogs that had originated in dog fighting, or that they were powerful dogs.

2003

Preservation of the Presa Canario with the UKC

Due to the fact that the Spanish Club of the Perro de Presa Canario decided to change the denomination of the Presa Canario to Dogo Canario in 2001, modifying the standard and eliminating the black coat, Manuel Curtó, went to the UKC (United Kennel Club) so that previous negotiations, recognize the breed with its traditional name (Perro de Presa Canario), with the 1989 standard, and with the black coat included. This event is very important, since without it, the Perro de Presa Canario would have ceased to exist, as would the black coat.

2003

Publication of the book “Perro de Presa Canario”

In 2003 the book “Perro de Presa Canario” was published in English, with the publisher “Kennel Club dogs”, a book which belongs to a numbered collection of books on all breeds. Like the 1991 book, it was the first book on Presa Canario published in English.

2012

Publication of the book “Perro de Presa Canario” in Spanish.

In 2012, the book “Perro de Presa Canario” was published by the Hispano-European publisher, based on the book published in 2003 by the Kennel Club Books publisher.

2014

20 articles for the website iremacurto.com

In 2014, Manuel Curtó Gracia wrote 20 articles about what happened in the Perro de Presa Canario since the publication of his first book in 2001, until 2014.

2014

Publication of the book “The Presa Canario dog, its true origin” in PDF.

Publication of the book “The Presa Canario dog, its true origin” in PDF, both in Spanish and English. Edited by Manuel Curtó Jr. This was a great advance, since many people, finally, were able to know the true origin of the Perro de Presa Canario, which was described in the 1991 book, and not in the 2003 book, which was a rather illustrative book. , and not a book complaint.

2020

30 Youtube videos

In 2020, Manuel Curtó Gracia decided to make 30 videos in Spanish talking about the Perro de Presa Canario, providing hitherto unknown historical data, new discoveries, theories and stories.

Capabilities to highlight:

Vision

Manuel Curtó Gracia recognized the significance of the Perro de Presa Canario from the beginning and documented the events of its creation in order to ensure a thorough understanding of its history in the future.

Constancy

For 48 years, it has been breeding and selecting under the highest quality standards. While most breeders retire before the age of 5, he has spent almost 5 decades without stopping for a single day, nor has the quality dropped.

Wisdom

Manuel Curtó Gracia is an avid reader. He has spent his entire life reading and learning. This hobby, added to a natural insight, have made him make the right decisions to bring Irema Curtó’s Perro de Presa Canario to the point it is today.

Manuel Curtó Jr.

Founder of Presarve and speaker. He is in charge of shipping, logistics, marketing, improvements of the entire brand, and manager of the breeding and training centers in the USA and Bulgaria.

Go to his site

Manuel Curtó Jr.

Founder of Presarve and speaker. He is in charge of shipping, logistics, marketing, improvements of the entire brand, and manager of the breeding and training centers in the USA and Bulgaria.

Go to his site

Explosion of creativity.

Manuel Curtó Jr. born in Tenerife (Canary Islands) in 1996, is the youngest of the 6 children of Manuel Curtó Gracia. He was always raised surrounded by Presas Canarios, horses and other animals. However, where he always excelled was in tasks that required planning and technology. This natural ability, together with the existence of a breed that still had to be improved, gave him the opportunity to create Presarve and to found two more delegations outside of Spain. Some have classified him as “the executive of the Presa Canario”.

Main occupations.

He works within all the global schedules at the same time, since he has to be aware of managing everything, so he must maintain a multifaceted sleep in order to be able to work at full capacity. In the mornings, he always dedicates a few hours with the phone disconnected to be with the dogs, trying to see where to improve, just like his father, and checking that all the puppies are in perfect condition by the time they get to be with their new owners.  During these hours he does some content for social networks. The rest of the time she is traveling to personally deliver dogs, meetings, running seminars, and making sure everything runs as expected.

Works and collaborations.

Manuel Curtó Jr. has been working at Irema Curtó Kennels for 10 years, however, these last 3 years have been when he has been most active in the creation of content and projects. They would be the following:

2021

Presave Foundation.

Due to all that happened during the creation of the Presa Canario, the multitude of changes, and the dispersion of all existing documents, Manuel Curtó Jr. decided to found “Presarve” (Preserve the Presa), a club focused on the preservation of the traditional Presa Canario dog according to the 1989 standard. The function of this club is to generate 100% digital pedigrees, with photos, videos, descriptions, real origins and all kinds of relevant information of each dog under the name of Perro de Presa Canario. In addition, there is a digital museum where you can see the history of the Presa Canario organized chronologically, as well as photos from all eras.

2022

Presa Canario Seminars

On November 19, 2022, the first Presa Canario seminar was held in Texas, given by Manuel Curtó Jr. on behalf of Presarve. These seminars aim to educate future buyers and breeders in the history of the Presa Canario, and in good breeding, selection and marketing practices.

2022

A United States kennel and training center was established.

Due to the difficulty and lack of efficiency involved in sending dogs internationally, Manuel Curtó Jr. decided to found a private breeding, selection and training center in the United States to have the possibility of providing specimens to the entire continent more effectively, thus reducing the cost for customers, and indirectly also the carbon footprint.

2022

The same, but in Bulgaria

Around the same time, Manuel Curtó Jr. decided to found another headquarters outside of Tenerife, this time in Bulgaria, in order to have the possibility of providing dogs to all the countries of Europe, Eurasia and Africa. However, this headquarters is more focused on the breeding and selection of working dogs to be used later in private security and military activities.

Capabilities to highlight:

Automation

Manuel Curtó Jr. has an obsession with making things effective and later automatable. Everything must be simplified and improved. That is the only way to make the Presa Canario the most complete breed in the world.

Adaptability

No matter how changeable the world is, Manuel Curtó Jr. has known how to stay in constant movement and focusing his efforts on strong long-term goals, which cannot be affected by momentary changes. It is the recipe for success.

Workaholic

Working all the schedules at the same time forces you to be active all the time. His goals are so ambitious that he takes advantage of any moment he has to open his computer and get to work. There must be constant improvement.