Now tell me this is not one of the most handsome Canary Dog Puppies you have ever seen! Stunning color, great confromation! He comes from top champion bloodlines. Mommy and daddy are both European champions!
The Canary Dog is a breed that needs large amounts of exercise, running and daily walks. Mental and physical stimulation will keep this breed happy and subdued. If you don’t give him enough exercise, his latent aggressive nature may come to the fore.
Unlike other large mollosus breeds, the Canary Dog is a relatively healthy breed. The only known disease to really plague this breed is hip- and elbow dysplasia, which means that the joints in these two areas did not develop as desired or as required. The best way to help your Canary Dog is to not let it near stairs when he is a puppy. Stairs have a very negative effect on the bone and joint develops as does very long runs when very they are very young. Light playtime will be great for them as puppies and will not exert that which is genetically a weak point in this breed. If you live in a a flat, where there are stairs,then do pick your puppy up. It will reward you in later years, when veterinary bills could have been higher!Other than that, and the regular care, your Canary Dog should be right as rain.
Avoid unnecessary vet bills! Do your dog’s basic health check!
A lot of people are afraid of the Canary dog, in much the same way as with Dobermans and Rottweilers. The Media has made sure that people fear this breed. The notoriety of this breed is due to negative publicity after being linked to two fatalities. In 2001, a 32 year-old woman, by the name of Diane Whipple of San Francisco, California, was killed by two dogs that were Presa Canario/Mastiff-crosses. In 2006, Shawna Willey, a 30 year-old Florida woman, was also killed by a dog identified as a Presa Canario. Although it doesn’t do much for the breed’s popularity, there are avid fans, who even after this negative publicity would buy a Canary dog, to breed it for fighting, or simply because they respect the breed itself. Although it still has a lot of work to do, to be recognized and respected, more and more people are becoming avid fans of this beautiful breed.
The ideal coat of a Canary Dog is of medium length and “rustic”. This means it is slightly coarse to the touch. The Canary dog only sheds minimally. The short, coarse fur comes in shades of fawn, brindle and black. White is allowed up to 20 percent and is most commonly found on the chest and feet, and occasionally on a blaze on the muzzle. The breed standard requires black pigmentation and dogs should have a black mask that does not extend above the eyes. This breed has never consisted of any shades of blue or grey. All colors that have been accepted include: Black, silver fawn, red fawn, fawn, red-brindle, brown-brindle, fawn-brindle, reverse-brindle and verdino, which has an almost greenish tinge to it.
The Canary Dog, or the Presa Canario or even the Dogo Canario as the breed in known has a strange name that often confuses people. Was it named after a canary bird? Or the Canary Islands? What’s the story? Well, this gorgeous breed originates from the Canary Islands. Hence its name. (Forget Tweedie bird for now). It was bred as a multi-purpose farm dog and Canary Dog enthusiasts believe that a certain farm dog breed from the Canary Islands; called : “Perro de Bardino Majorero” was crossed with the Mastiff and other English dogs that were brought to the island by visitors. It is believed that this dog breed: the “Perro de Presa Canario” ( or: the Canarian Dog of Prey) was created sometime during the 18th century as a flock and guard dog. Sadly a lot of the Canary dogs lost their lives to Dog Fights…that which was introduced by English settlers and perpetuated with the use of other Mastiffs and Bulldogs.
After 1940 – during a period when dog fights were prohibited, the breed almost became extinct. Luckily in the 1970’s well-meaning breeders made it their life-work to rekindle the genetic make-up of this powerful breed. It truly remains the : ” perro de la tierra ” (The dog of the land ). As for Tweedie…yes, the little yellow songbirds we call canaries have little green ancestors who once lived on what are now Spain’s Canary Islands. You might think that the islands are named after the birds, but such is not the case. “Canary” derives rather from the Latin word canis, or “dog”, and the name Canaria was given to one of these islands because of its population of fearsomely huge canines. Both the dogs and the birds were brought back to the Continent, but while the canaries prospered, those fierce dogs of the past (the grand-daddies of the Canary Dogs) have since become extinct. The name Canaria, however, stuck to both the islands and the birds…and gave the basis for the naming of the star of this Blog…the Canary Dog. As for Sylvester, he has no part in the story!
I have always prided myself on the fact, that I know quite a lot about dogs…their character and the different breeds. As a child I loved to read books about the different breeds; owning large dogs like Rottweilers and Dobermans and even a Great Dane. But strangely enough, I only ever heard about the so-called Canary Dog in 2007! Being somewhat ashamed of my limited knowledge, I decided to make a Blog about this dog that was left out of my passed canine-based education. So I welcome you dear Reader. Whether you own a Canary Dog, or have a passion for them, or are just a passer-by, I hope you will spend a few moments wandering through my postings dedicated to this fascinating breed. I welcome all comments and feedback, so please leave a pawprint or two.
