• Canary dog
• Perro de Presa Canario
• Dogo Canario
• Canary mastiff

…is certainly not a dog for the faint of heart or the novice dog owner. The Presa Canario hails from the Canary Islands a place to which the Canary bird owes its name but contrary to popular belief is not name d for! The Canary Islands derive their name from the dogs that used to abound all across the archipelago which were referred to as canis (Latin word for dog) by the ancient Romans and as “canario” by the Spaniard settlers (canario means dogs).

The Presa Canario is undoubtedly a Mastiff descendant characterized by a powerful cuboid-shaped head that houses tremendously powerful jaws. The overall appearance of the Presa Canario is of a solid, muscular dog with thick-boned legs that though not short are not overly long so as to compromise the dogs well balanced center of gravity. All in all the Presa Canario paints the picture of a powerful yet agile dog of medium height.

Though this dog breed was originally bred as a livestock guard dog as well as herder, soon enough its days based as a farming dog were superseded as a fighter! One glance at the Canary dog’s build is more than enough to hint at its fighting pedigree. In fact to the untrained eye the Presa Canario looks remarkably like a very large, somewhat long-legged Pit Bull.

Long before the arrival of the Spaniards and other European settlers, the Canary Islands were host to an indigenous dog that was locally known as the Bardino Majorero. Indeed it was as attribute to those local breed of dogs that the Islands got their name of Canary from the Romans via the Latin word “canis” which means dog.

The Bardino Majorero was described as an exceptionally savage dog of fiery and tempestuous disposition. That said, the dog proved to be very trainable and made for an excellent guard dog that excelled in both courage and loyalty and was renowned for never backing down. Woe betide the man or beast that ever incited the ire of this dog!

The now extinct Bardino Majorero not only passed on its unparalleled ferocity and tenacity to its descendant, the Presa Canario, it also passed on its rather unusual habit of rarely barking if ever (guess that’s where the saying “beware of the silent dog” comes from).

Article on Presa Canario written by Kayye Nynne

Okay this is my self-compiled list of the dog breeds that I refer to as Powerdogs! With hindsight I realize that if I am going to give a short (well relatively short) description of each Powerdog this post will trail off into infinity.

So what I shall do is give a short post on each, throw a pic and video and then at the very end I will compile the list with a pic of the respective dog breed and a hyperlink to its more detailed page.

WHAT IS A POWERDOG?

The Dogs In This Video Are Over 200 lbs Each

Typically Powerdogs breeds are over 100 pounds in weight (but not always) and overall are generally big dogs.

But as far as I am concerned the defining characteristic of a Powerdog is the combination of great strength, a typically dominant and obstinate temperament that necessitates early socialization and skilled training and such dogs are generally not recommended for the first time owner.

By and large this list of Powerdogs comes from either the Livestock Protection dog breeds or dogs that were developed as bull baiters and eventually bred for their dog fighting skills.

Some of these dog breeds have very notorious histories and much as lovers of each breed may claim that it is the fault of the owner and not the dog’s that it was involved in fatal biting incident I do not full agree. You see the problem is way too many dog owners do not conduct enough research about their selected dog breed.

Now having said that I will admit that a lot of dog attacks are related to certain dog breeds (namely the Pit Bull) for the simple fact that the criminal world has embraced it as the new weapon of choice.

Why?

Because, taking Britain as our case example, a hoodlum caught with a knife may face up to 4 years in prsion whereas if his/her assault was aided and abetted with a vicious dog attack then the maximum sentence is 6 months imprisonment!

However there is an obvious reason why the criminal crowd who favor a dog as their weapon of choice invariably resort to the same dog breeds, it is because the genetic breed development of such a dog lends itself well to their purpose…a four-legged weapon!

Okay enough talk, time to list the various Powerdogs.

LIST OR POWERDOGS!

1. Caucasian Mountain Dog

This is a large dog breed that weighs up to 200 lbs. The signature characteristic of this dog breed is the massive and broad skull. The typical male should be 30 inches (76cm) though a minimum of 26 inches is accepted  and the average female is about 28 inches (71cm).

Compared to other flock guardian dogs (livestock protection dogs) as a result of its “latter day” genetic development for military work the Caucasian Mountain dog is both more trainable and aggressive!

To enhance their natural ability as livestock protectors to that of compliant and trainable military dog the Soviet Military crossed the natural Caucasain Ovcharkas with Leonbergers, German Shepherds, Great Danes and the Saint Bernard.

Pure blood lines of the Caucasian Mountain dog still exist but they come at a premium price!

To Be Continued