Breed: Trying to accurately restore the origin of breeds of dogs often results in an unsolvable puzzle, generating endless controversy. The history of the Dogo Argentino, as it seems, is an exception to the rule, but still it includes the elements of legends and deep-rooted notions. About this dog they say, that she owes her existence to the imagination of one man - Dr. Antonio Nores Martinez, who bred this dog in the early twentieth century. In Argentina, different Mastiffs existed since the beginning of the XVI century, when conquistadors began to use this dogs to fight with the local population, then they started to cross that early Mastiffs with a Bulldogs, Bull Terriers, Boxers and Mastiffs of Cordoba.

At the sunset of the last century in Argentina among the pastoralists and farmers of Cordoba, located to the north-west of Buenos Aires, the great popularity enjoyed the violent dog fights, which by their profitability and entertainment surpassed even the famous cockfights. The favorite subject of the fans of this "entertainment" was so called white fighting dog of Cordoba - Perro de Pelea, a cross between a Bulldog and Mastiff. In the early twentieth century, Professor Antonio Nores Martinez got interested in this strong and courageous dog.

The future founder of the breed was not at all a fan of dog fights, but he was an experienced hunter. And it is good to notice, that the hunting experience in Argentina of early twentieth century, in this almost virgin land with it's vast territory, quite often could be considered as the real danger. The most prestigious game of this part of the New World at that time was puma - the "Queen" of American cats.

Martinez's dream was to create a working dog that would hunt the puma and the peccary in the Pampa. He needed a dog for hunting, nosy and with the innate tendency to bring the booty. In addition, this dog has to be adapted to the harsh environment of the country and must not have the unnecessary aggressiveness of the native Mastiffs. Martinez wanted a dog of medium size - to move quickly on a hilly terrain, white - to be easily seen in Pampa.
So, Professor Antonio Nores Martinez takes a fighting dog of Cordoba as a base, a strong foundation on which he is going to build a new dog, able to drive the puma out of the shelter, fight it and win.

This was not an easy job. Martinez purchased several Perro de Pelea, and began to skillfully and patiently add to them the blood of some other breeds. From the Boxer he wanted to inherit a stable nervous system, from the Great Dane - the size, from the Bulldog and Bull Terrier - a broad chest. In the formation of a new breed was also used the Pointer (an excellent sense of smell), Dogue de Bordeaux and Spanish Mastiff (impressive muscle mass), Pyrenean Mountain Dog (color).

Antonio Martinez was not satisfied with the first obtained results, believing that the new dogs are too aggressive and do not meet Martinez's requirements for the breed. So he laid another line, adding the blood of an Irish Wolfhound and Dogue de Bordeaux. This two new breeding lines were given different names - Guarani and Araucana. Later on the product of the crosses of these two lines became the prototype of the modern Dogo Argentino.

After the death of Antonio Nores Martinez in 1956, the breed has been through a sharp breakdown: many breeders began crossing various breeds of dogs, preferring a white dog with the outward signs of the Dogo Argentino. Thus, in the registering for the formal recognition of the breed, dogs were allowed, subjecting only to their phenotype, even when nothing was known about their genotype. Only through the intervention of Augustine, the brother of Martinez, the breed's development got back on a track. From that time people start talking about Dogo Argentino from Kubuta - an area where was the Augustine's kennel.

The first breed standard was established in 1928, but only in the early 1960's it was possible to say that the breed was stabilized. The first official recognition of the Dogo Argentino by the FCI was held in 1964. International experts, without a doubt have brought a new breed in the second group along with other Molossers. However, the representatives of the historical homeland of a new breed insisted on a typical hunting qualities of the Dogo Argentino and for some time our hero was registered among the hounds, which made him to stand out and appear atypical, because it was the only Molossoid type dog ??????in this group. It was kind of a liberal decision, which was putting aside the background of traditional morphological traits, with an emphasis on working qualities exhibited by the breed. Nevertheless, further the Dogo Argentino returned to the large family of Molossoid dogs (group II). Today it is the only breed of Argentine origin.
Dogo Argentino in Argentina - is not just a purebred dog, he is a national pride and national treasure.

General Features: Dogo Argentino is a well built, big-boned, muscular dog of Molosser type. The whole appearance of Dogo Argentino suggests a lot of physical strength. The body length is longer than the height at the withers.

Head is rounded with a convex skull, whose length equals the length of the muzzle. Muzzle is quite long and wide, not flat. Nose is black with wide nostrils.

Eyes of a Dogo Argentino are of an almond shape, dark and placed wide apart. Ears must be set high, triangular in shape, always were docked (but recently more and more dog handlers are taking docking of the ears as an optional thing).

Tail in a shape of a sward, long enough. When running the dog raises it above the back line and the tail is moving from side to side.

Colour of the Dogo Argentino is only pure white, although dark markings are allowed. But the fewer - the better. Originally this color was desired and bred because of the climatic conditions - the white color reflects sunlight and thus the body heats up not that much and the animal is tolerating the heat easier.

Temperament: In Europe, this dog was for some time called the "killing machine", the writers and commoners were forgetting that through the whole history of the breed there was no case, when the owner will be attacked by Dogo Argentino. M. Bueti, a great connoisseur of the breed, writes: "... a dog for protection, guarding, hunting - these are the roles that may be successfully performed by Dogo Argentino."

It must be noted that at his homeland Dogo Argentino is used quite widely: in the custom service, police and in the army he??caries??his guarding duties. This breed has an excellent reputation of an impressive dog for the protection of the offices and of a dog-bodyguard. Natural intelligence of the Dogo Argentino and his excellent ability to learn is used very often to train him to be a guide dog and companion for blind people. Although the main purpose of the Dogo Argentino is to hunt such a ferocious animals as the jaguar, puma and wild boar.

Now you can sometimes hear that "no dog is a good enough protection against bullets." Yes, of course, the dog is not an armored tank. And still there are the situations where an immediate reaction of the dog, his amazing senses of smell and hearing are saving human lifes. Especially from the random criminals or from the juvenile debauchee a good dog ??????is always a powerful protection.

There was once a story in the mass media, which made the Dogo Argentino a real hero. He calmly walked with his owner and before his owner noticed, the dog saw their car parked near the house, settled down by unknown people. Without any command of the owner with a terrible roar, Dogo Argentino rushed forward, immediately knocked out the windshield and while the dog was busy with one of the gangsters, the other was sitting neither dead nor alive, afraid to move, not even thinking to run. the owner of that Dogo Argentino, of course, at this time was taking an action as well... Due to this quality, this breed untill now is used not only as a hunter, but as a bodyguard.

These dogs are able to be trained very well, they are very gentle and affectionate in the family, but they have an innate mistrust to the outsiders. A wonderful mind and temperament of this dogs allowes to keep them in both: suburban homes and urban apartments. If you have at home this "Silver Panther", you can be assured of complete safety of your children and you will never worry about the safety of your property.

In everyday life the Dogo Argentino are not??capricious, they eat everything that is offered by the owner. Children in the family have a big part of their loyality and Dogo Argentino allows them to do all sorts of liberties. Dogo Argentino is very clever and all the guests will be sorted by his owner's reaction: Dogo will be either friendly or indifferent, or aggressive, but in any case a loving and beloved owner of the Dogo Argentino can rely on the selfless courage of this dog and his willingness to protect until the last drop of blood - that is for sure.

Health problems: Generally Dogo Argentino is a quite healthy breed. But still, as most of the white breeds of dogs, some Dogo Argentino may be deaf. In some lines also may??occur??the hip dysplasia.

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