josebrwn
24th September 2004, 16:16
The influence, importance, and role of the Majorero in the Perro de Presa Canario has been like the fish tale, where the fish grows larger and larger with every telling.
To be succinct: the Majorero is neither the ancestor of the Presa, nor a sufficient or even necessary element of the breed. This claim, made almost exclusively on this board, is based on research proposed by one person alone, and over time, that proposition has been distorted to the point it is almost unrecognizable.
Here is the original, undistorted version:
After several years of study and going over the matter again and again, I have reached the following conclusion. Presa dogs and Perros Majoreros on that island, as on the other islands, coexisted and bred amongst themselves throughout various centuries, from the beginning of the fifteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. And sometime afterwards, we do not even know the approximate date (I personally think maybe at the end of the last century, beginning of this one), the Presa disappears, only traces of it remaining, no doubt in decline, basically due to negligence on the part of the herdsmen. Crossbreeding did the rest. The Perro de Ganado Majorero in Fuerteventura, or its sort, disappeared from the other islands just like the Presa did. I wish to say that if the old Presa Canario of Iberian stock disappeared as a breed, it has continued in the purest of the Perro de Ganado Majoreros to the present day. It is true that very few of these dogs are of significant pure breed, but they do exist. In fact, right now we are trying to recuperate the breed with part of this genetic material.
And again
But be warned that not all Presas Canarios have genetic heritage from this genuinely Canarian breed. The ones from the island of Gran Canaria do, but the ones from Tenerife (with the exception of IREMA CURTÓ and some other) do not. This is why there are many Presas Canarios with an important percentage of Perro Majorero blood in them, which are also wonderful watchdogs, with sharp senses of territoriality. The biggest problem for these Presas is officialdom. That is to say, the Club's specialist judges, which in turn are almost all breeders themselves, value more the other type of Presa, which carries more characteristics of the Great Dane, the Bullmastiff, the English Bulldog, etc. And since the monographic and special prizes of the breed have been so deemed by these very judges, well, that's where the Special Show winners, the Monographic Show winners and the Champion of Spain winners come from-with the exception of one or two. The Perro de Ganado Majorero, the real one, is almost extinct nowadays due to abandonment and chance breeding. Yet it is also the base, the ideal prime material for pulling forth the Presa Canario as a functional animal. And to the extent that the Perro Majorero is predominant in the Presa Canario, with proper selection, generation after generation, the guard instinct will be guaranteed. Otherwise, the Presa Canario will become a mere and vulgar show dog with no future.
What we have here is a theory. In the reconstruction of a lost breed it is not unreasonable to assume that lost genetic material from one breed may be recovered by a careful program of cross breeding to another breed that is related through admixture of genes, which should exist in this case if we assume, probably quite safely, that the dogs regularly interbred throughout their history. In short we are not presented with the idea that the Majorero is an ancestor of, or even a necessary component of the Presa Canario, as seems to be the popular interpretation, but is proposed rather as a "repository" of lost genes from the Presa dogs of old.
But a lot of genetic mutation can occur in ten or twenty years, let alone over a hundred years, and since we are essentially talking about a pre-Columbian race of dog, it is just as safe to assume that these same "lost genes" can be found in any breed similarly descended from the war dogs of the Spanish conquistadors: American Bulldogs, Spanish, English, French and Bull Mastiffs, even the English fighting dogs, whose genes flowed from Iberia to Britannia and back several times, before making their way to the Americas.
That the Majorero may be a more ideal repository of these "lost genes" due to geographic isolation may be worthy of study, and that study can be performed by phylogenetic study at the Dog Genome Project at UC Berkeley and at the Ostrander Lab at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Such a thing has already been tried, and it has failed, not surprisingly. The small amount of genetic material available from the remaining, heavily diluted stock of Majorero; diluted throughout its decline in the 20th century, and further diluted to the point of total unrecoverability during its latter day reconstruction, together with the unavoidable facts of genetic inheritance, puts the theory of the Majorero as an essential, or even qualifying ingredient of the Presa Canario squarely in the camp of interesting, but unsubstantiated and unsupportable theory, and nothing more.
What then is the true Presa Canario? A dog, descending from the dogs native to the Canary Islands in the latter 20th century, answering in type and temperament to the RSCE Standard of 1989. What we should seek is this, and then put the issue to rest. What remains after that is the never-ending quest for a functional guardian, loyal, intelligent, athletic, and healthy.
Such a dog exists in the United States in the bloodlines of Jardin Canario. Rustic, athletic, high performance dogs, of hard temperament, superlative guardians, tremendous athletes, first winners of the Canarian Expositions, pure Canarian blood, imported into the United States in the same year the RSCE standard was drafted, first among the RRC registered dogs, are not these as much an ideal repository of the true Presa Canario, as a recent cross with the Majorero, which itself is a merely a cross-bred shepherd's dog? It does us good to remember that as many years have passed now since the day of Tonio and Princesa as had passed from theirs back to the days of Piba and Boby. These dogs are an inescapable and essential component of our breed, and should be celebrated as such. The Presa is first and foremost a functional fighting dog and capable guardian, and abandonment of this important bloodline in favor of theories is a fundamentally flawed approach that does injustice to this breed.
Tonio del Jardin Canario, ca. 1990
http://www.bessie.tv/images/jpg/elpresa/jc/74.jpg
Tonio and Bill Jarvis
http://www.bessie.tv/images/jpg/elpresa/jc/tonojarvis.jpg
Tonio's 1989 pedigree
http://www.bessie.tv/images/jpg/elpresa/jc/tonped.jpg
First Exposition 1993 Winner, Ebro del Jardín Canario, owned by don Julián Seli.
http://www.bessie.tv/images/jpg/elpresa/jc/tonart1.jpg
Bulldog Exposition I of the Canaries
Last June 27th, the Bulldog Exposition I of the Canaries was celebrated for the first time in the history of Telde at the El Quinto fairgrounds, in the San Juan district, all being a resounding success, as much in the organization as in the participation of pedigree specimens, according to the literal words of the national judge, Celemente Reyes Santana, who mentioned that with the 163 dogs that participated in said exposition a record had been broken, at the same time he made mention of the excellent quality of the animals that were shown by their owners.
It is calculated that the on mass scale of participation of the spectators was around 2,000 or 2,500. A new record, as judge Clemente Reyes mentioned earlier.
Prizes were given for the following categories:
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th for pups between 1 and 6 months old; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th for pups between 7 and 12 months old; and so on for female adults, male adults and the champion of champions, the latter being the best specimen presented and corresponding to the dog named Ebro, owned by don Julián Seli and representing the Jardín Canario.
Behind the obtained success was the organization, that was taken care of by the board of directors of the Association. The Unión Casino of Telde has seen fit to try to continue with this type of event in the future, in order to continue offering the citizens, young and old alike, the possibility of spending a Sunday such as this one in the city of Telde.
The event lasted approximately seven hours.
The organizers, Nacho Calderín and F. Ramón Alamo, encourage this board of directors to proceed as they are doing and,* to give my (their) most heart felt congratulations to all those persons who have collaborated with this event, especially the town festivities councilor, without whose collaboration would have been carried out with great difficulty, according to organization sources.
To be succinct: the Majorero is neither the ancestor of the Presa, nor a sufficient or even necessary element of the breed. This claim, made almost exclusively on this board, is based on research proposed by one person alone, and over time, that proposition has been distorted to the point it is almost unrecognizable.
Here is the original, undistorted version:
After several years of study and going over the matter again and again, I have reached the following conclusion. Presa dogs and Perros Majoreros on that island, as on the other islands, coexisted and bred amongst themselves throughout various centuries, from the beginning of the fifteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. And sometime afterwards, we do not even know the approximate date (I personally think maybe at the end of the last century, beginning of this one), the Presa disappears, only traces of it remaining, no doubt in decline, basically due to negligence on the part of the herdsmen. Crossbreeding did the rest. The Perro de Ganado Majorero in Fuerteventura, or its sort, disappeared from the other islands just like the Presa did. I wish to say that if the old Presa Canario of Iberian stock disappeared as a breed, it has continued in the purest of the Perro de Ganado Majoreros to the present day. It is true that very few of these dogs are of significant pure breed, but they do exist. In fact, right now we are trying to recuperate the breed with part of this genetic material.
And again
But be warned that not all Presas Canarios have genetic heritage from this genuinely Canarian breed. The ones from the island of Gran Canaria do, but the ones from Tenerife (with the exception of IREMA CURTÓ and some other) do not. This is why there are many Presas Canarios with an important percentage of Perro Majorero blood in them, which are also wonderful watchdogs, with sharp senses of territoriality. The biggest problem for these Presas is officialdom. That is to say, the Club's specialist judges, which in turn are almost all breeders themselves, value more the other type of Presa, which carries more characteristics of the Great Dane, the Bullmastiff, the English Bulldog, etc. And since the monographic and special prizes of the breed have been so deemed by these very judges, well, that's where the Special Show winners, the Monographic Show winners and the Champion of Spain winners come from-with the exception of one or two. The Perro de Ganado Majorero, the real one, is almost extinct nowadays due to abandonment and chance breeding. Yet it is also the base, the ideal prime material for pulling forth the Presa Canario as a functional animal. And to the extent that the Perro Majorero is predominant in the Presa Canario, with proper selection, generation after generation, the guard instinct will be guaranteed. Otherwise, the Presa Canario will become a mere and vulgar show dog with no future.
What we have here is a theory. In the reconstruction of a lost breed it is not unreasonable to assume that lost genetic material from one breed may be recovered by a careful program of cross breeding to another breed that is related through admixture of genes, which should exist in this case if we assume, probably quite safely, that the dogs regularly interbred throughout their history. In short we are not presented with the idea that the Majorero is an ancestor of, or even a necessary component of the Presa Canario, as seems to be the popular interpretation, but is proposed rather as a "repository" of lost genes from the Presa dogs of old.
But a lot of genetic mutation can occur in ten or twenty years, let alone over a hundred years, and since we are essentially talking about a pre-Columbian race of dog, it is just as safe to assume that these same "lost genes" can be found in any breed similarly descended from the war dogs of the Spanish conquistadors: American Bulldogs, Spanish, English, French and Bull Mastiffs, even the English fighting dogs, whose genes flowed from Iberia to Britannia and back several times, before making their way to the Americas.
That the Majorero may be a more ideal repository of these "lost genes" due to geographic isolation may be worthy of study, and that study can be performed by phylogenetic study at the Dog Genome Project at UC Berkeley and at the Ostrander Lab at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Such a thing has already been tried, and it has failed, not surprisingly. The small amount of genetic material available from the remaining, heavily diluted stock of Majorero; diluted throughout its decline in the 20th century, and further diluted to the point of total unrecoverability during its latter day reconstruction, together with the unavoidable facts of genetic inheritance, puts the theory of the Majorero as an essential, or even qualifying ingredient of the Presa Canario squarely in the camp of interesting, but unsubstantiated and unsupportable theory, and nothing more.
What then is the true Presa Canario? A dog, descending from the dogs native to the Canary Islands in the latter 20th century, answering in type and temperament to the RSCE Standard of 1989. What we should seek is this, and then put the issue to rest. What remains after that is the never-ending quest for a functional guardian, loyal, intelligent, athletic, and healthy.
Such a dog exists in the United States in the bloodlines of Jardin Canario. Rustic, athletic, high performance dogs, of hard temperament, superlative guardians, tremendous athletes, first winners of the Canarian Expositions, pure Canarian blood, imported into the United States in the same year the RSCE standard was drafted, first among the RRC registered dogs, are not these as much an ideal repository of the true Presa Canario, as a recent cross with the Majorero, which itself is a merely a cross-bred shepherd's dog? It does us good to remember that as many years have passed now since the day of Tonio and Princesa as had passed from theirs back to the days of Piba and Boby. These dogs are an inescapable and essential component of our breed, and should be celebrated as such. The Presa is first and foremost a functional fighting dog and capable guardian, and abandonment of this important bloodline in favor of theories is a fundamentally flawed approach that does injustice to this breed.
Tonio del Jardin Canario, ca. 1990
http://www.bessie.tv/images/jpg/elpresa/jc/74.jpg
Tonio and Bill Jarvis
http://www.bessie.tv/images/jpg/elpresa/jc/tonojarvis.jpg
Tonio's 1989 pedigree
http://www.bessie.tv/images/jpg/elpresa/jc/tonped.jpg
First Exposition 1993 Winner, Ebro del Jardín Canario, owned by don Julián Seli.
http://www.bessie.tv/images/jpg/elpresa/jc/tonart1.jpg
Bulldog Exposition I of the Canaries
Last June 27th, the Bulldog Exposition I of the Canaries was celebrated for the first time in the history of Telde at the El Quinto fairgrounds, in the San Juan district, all being a resounding success, as much in the organization as in the participation of pedigree specimens, according to the literal words of the national judge, Celemente Reyes Santana, who mentioned that with the 163 dogs that participated in said exposition a record had been broken, at the same time he made mention of the excellent quality of the animals that were shown by their owners.
It is calculated that the on mass scale of participation of the spectators was around 2,000 or 2,500. A new record, as judge Clemente Reyes mentioned earlier.
Prizes were given for the following categories:
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th for pups between 1 and 6 months old; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th for pups between 7 and 12 months old; and so on for female adults, male adults and the champion of champions, the latter being the best specimen presented and corresponding to the dog named Ebro, owned by don Julián Seli and representing the Jardín Canario.
Behind the obtained success was the organization, that was taken care of by the board of directors of the Association. The Unión Casino of Telde has seen fit to try to continue with this type of event in the future, in order to continue offering the citizens, young and old alike, the possibility of spending a Sunday such as this one in the city of Telde.
The event lasted approximately seven hours.
The organizers, Nacho Calderín and F. Ramón Alamo, encourage this board of directors to proceed as they are doing and,* to give my (their) most heart felt congratulations to all those persons who have collaborated with this event, especially the town festivities councilor, without whose collaboration would have been carried out with great difficulty, according to organization sources.