Dogo Argentino - Argentinian Mastiff

Have you ever had a dream that seemed to far out so impossible to ever become true, but then, against all the odds you succeed; that thing that you had dreamed about for so long had finally become a reality?

Well, I want to take all the way back to the year 1925 in Argentina when a young man had a dream. Antonio Norez Martinez was around 18 years old when he and his brother Agustin had the dream to come up with a breed of dog that would have excellent fighting skills, lasting endurance and the love and loyalty to make this dog an animal fit to guard the home.

At the time in Argentina, there was a fighting dog breed named the Dog of Cordoba; these animals where bred for one purpose to kill other dogs in the fighting rings. The dogs were so dangerous and so vicious that even during mating the male would attack the female! Nevertheless, Antonio had a dream.
Antonio got several females of this ferocious breed (about 10) and started a breeding program with the following breeds in an effort to make the perfect dog.

Antonio used the Pointer so that the Dogo Argentino would have excellent tracking abilities while out working in the field; the Great Dane for the appropriate size; the Bull Terrier for fearlessness; the Bulldog for the staying power; the Irish wolf hound for good performance while on the hunt; Dogue de Borbeaux for the necessary head and jaws to hunt big game and finally, the Great Pyrenees for the color, the Spanish Mastiff for strength and the Boxer for gentleness.

The Dogo Argentino is a dog that was bred to be able to hunt and hold big game such as wild bore and pumas...with wild bore this dog would trap the animal on the ground by holding on to its throat until the hunter had arrived to claim his prize.
Antonio loved his dogs but he was not the one to see the realization of this dream; it was his brother Agustin who brought this dog breed to perfection.

The Dogo Argentino was a dog that was specifically bred not to be aggressive towards other dogs (unlike the Dog of Cordoba) the Dogo Argentino had to be able to hunt in packs and bring down the wild game together. Sadly, because of this breeds' abilities, it is a favorite of the people that organize illegal dog fights, they have given the breed a bad reputation by breeding animals with bad and aggressive personalities and then fighting them.

Because of this, the Dogo Argentino has been banned from some countries, which is a shame because it was never Antonio's purpose for the breed to be aggressive with people and animals, other than wild game, of course.

The Dogo Argentino is an excellent guard dog that will protect your home with everything he has in him...to death actually...that was what he was bred for, to never give up where other dogs would in an instant.

If you think about it, that is probably the reason why dog fighters like this breed so much because, unlike other dog that will give up at the first sign of blood, the Dogo Argentino will truly fight to death. That same driving power can be channeled to get the dog to do almost anything for you and that is exactly what many people have done all around the world; you can find the Dogo Argentino doing everything from sniffing out drugs, to hunting, to participating in dog shows and agility...I guess this breed just has a little bit of something for everybody that wants to take the time to work with him.

When looking for a puppy, never get one from a backyard breeder because these animals are known to be unreliable and of extremely poor quality, not to mention the fact that they are usually not bred to the breed standard so they could have blood in them that is not of the Dogo Argentino. Always look for a good responsible breeder that knows what he is doing, a breeder that can provide paperwork on the parents of the puppy, proof of vaccines and so on...

The Dogo Argentino is not the dog for every person but maybe, just maybe, you are the person for the Dogo Argentino!