Dogo Canine

Different pet owners have different tastes in regard to the preference of dog pets. Every dog owner looks for specific desirable features when purchasing the pet family. Argentine Dogo is a dog breed that has been known for several years as a great pet that augurs well with children despite its large and muscular body. The ideal owner for this kind of a dog should be someone who has had prior experience as a dog owner. New dog owners may find this breed to be undesirable. When adopted as a pet Argentine Dogo develops a strong attachment to the family.

Just like then name suggest the origin of this dog is Argentina, where it was first bred for hunting big game and in particular the wild boars and puma. The dog breed is well known for its stamina in that was very helpful in hunting the large game in the early 1920s. The dog was bred from Cordoban Fighting Dog making it acquire the desired aggressiveness for a fighting and hunting dog.

Dr. Antonio Nores Martinez is credited for initially breeding this dog, which was further cross bred with the Great Dane, Spanish Mastiff, Bull Terrier Boxer, English bulldog, Irish wolfhound, Great Pyrenees and Pointer. To improved its body features as well as reduce it aggressiveness to be adopted as a pet. The breed has since been improved through selective breeding for desirable traits.

Historically the dog was involved in a number of activities ranging from hunting, working to fighting. The breed is documented amongst the accomplished hunting dogs that are used to date. It is also reported that, in some places it has been used as a blind guide dog, tracker dog, policing dog, rescue dog, military dog and guard dog. In police work they are very useful in sniffing narcotics.

The modern day breed makes an exemplary pet that is very social. Cross breeding with other breeds have been instrumental in eliminating theaggressiveinstincts inherent from the Cordoba Fighting Dog.

In the past importing of this dog breed was banned in a number of countries including Australia and identified as a dangerous dog by the legislation. Through intensive breeding a more friendly and social dog has been developed. It is unfortunate that the dog was thought to be dangerousdue to theathletic and muscular body. The law also requires you to leash the dog and muzzle him when in public. Some gamblers in the past have used this dog for fighting purposes making them be viewed suspiciously as ferocious while they make very good pets. It is also required that the dog handler while in public be of about 16 years.

The life expectancy is about 10 to 12 years.

The following are the specific breed physical characteristics:

Size

· The dog is average in height and the male measures about 62 cm or24.3 inches from the ground to the withers, while the female is slightly shorter with 2 cm or one inch. The breed maximum height is about 68.5 cm or 27 inches.

· The length of the dog’s body is to some extent longer than the height. Nevertheless, female are normally longer than male.

Mass

· The dog weighs approximately 40 to 45 Kg

Coat

· Thedog has distinct large white short coat on a smooth muscular body hardly with markings.

· The coat is thick and sleek and lacks an undercoat the head may have a characteristic black spot. The dog is good for children that are allergic to dogs that shed heavily since the dog rarely sheds.

· The smooth sleek coat makes it very easy to groom.

Head

· The head is huge with a rounded shape from the anterior to the rear side.

· The breed’s muzzle is to some extent concave on the upper side that slightly tapers. The muzzle is as big as the size of the entire skull

· The jaws are very strong and the teeth make a scissor bite.

· The nose is black and the eye’s colour varies from light brown, mid brown to brown

· . The ears are triangular in shape and remain erect but also droop and stand erect when the dog is attentive.

Body

· The neck and chest are prominently wide and muscular with abundant skin.

· The thighs are incredibly muscular and characterized by short hock.

· The back muscles are well developed

· They have a thick tail at the base with a tapering tail tip.

Limbs

· The forelegs are thick and aligned vertically straight vertical with small closely oriented toes.

· The hind legs are obviously muscular and marked by short hocks.

Generally the dog is very friendly and playful to the member of the family but requires training to tolerate strangers and other pets. Due to the playful nature of the dog having a large yard may be a good idea if you will keep this breed for a pet for it to have ample space to exercise.

As pets they can be really affectionate and loyal to the family. As other pets they yearn for attention you as the owner and have high level of tolerance to your children.

You will notice during their training they have high level of pain tolerance since they were initially bred to be hunting dogs.

Being a hunting dog, naturally the dog is a pack dog. When adopted as a pet they view the family as their pack and will require you to emphasize your position as the pack leader for them to obey your commands.

You should be very persistent when you are training your puppy to show them that you are in leadership. They will not have a problem following you.

In extreme case the dog may fight other pets and this can be corrected by your persistence during training and correction of this deviant behaviour through positive reinforcement training.

The dog is also territorial and will protect the family against any intruder but get along easily with strangers and other dogs if they are well trained. They allow other dominant dogs to lead them and they rarely fight for leadership of the pack. The breed may serve well, the purpose of hunting and tracking pet

The grooming of the dog is very easy due to the thin hair coat and glossy skin. The dog does not have a bad odor but it may be necessary to bath them occasionally.

Clipping of the nails is necessary since the breed tend to grow the nails very fast.

Training

These breed is an outstanding breed when it comes to training and like all mastiff it requires early obedience training to improve its sociability with other dogs and people.

Health

It has been observed that they suffer from pigment-related deafness accounting for about 10% of the deafness causes in this breed. The deafness can be one sided or bilateral where both ears are affected. The dog can be tested of the deafness at an early age using the brainstem auditory evoked response.

Like the Germen Sheppard Dog and other large dog breeds the Argentine Dogo is predisposed to development of Canine Hip dysplasia a condition that paralyses the rear limbs. As the pet owner you should closely work with your local veterinarian to establish early signs of canine hip dysplasia and take the necessary treatment measures. The condition can be identified in during early development in X-rays images.

The dog may also develop eye disorders such as Cataracts, Progressive Retinal Atrophy, and Glaucoma. It has also been observed that the dog is susceptible to sunburn if they spend a lot of time on the sun due to their little skin pigmentation. The sun burns occur mostly on the head where they have a thin layer of fur. Usually most of these dogs are white in colour irrespective of the cross breeding parents. It is advisable that the dogs spend most of the time indoors or under shade to minimize the possible trauma that may be caused by the sunburn. The skin burns are more likely to degenerate to skin cancers.

Argentine Dogo is an outstanding breed of dog that should be considered as a pet. Though there are number regulations regarding the breeding and keeping of this breed as a pet it is a very social and playful dog that makes a great companion and family pet. Ideally it is not recommended you have it as your first dog since it will require someone who is an experience pet owner. All the same if you are daring enough and love aggressive but tamable dogs this will be the best choice for a dog pet. Good Luck