Post by lahistoriadogo on Jan 29, 2010 15:10:12 GMT -5
"""Bullterrier, Boxer, Mastiff and Bulldog...Those were the breeds that had shaped the Old Cordoba Fighting Dog. That was the conclusion to which Antonio and I arrived, after talking for hours with the “Criollos” and Spanish descendants who roamed around dogfights and pits. The Mastiffs had been brought by the Spaniards, who liked and encouraged dogfights, on the previous century and even earlier. Proof of this lies on the fact that they were used in America’s conquest, to pursue the indians, and in the conquest war.
In USA, Cuba and Brazil, they were used until the past century, for the hunting of slaves who tried to find their path for freedom. In that respect, Dr. José Antonio Güemez, history and philosophy professor at the Universities of Buenos Aires, La Plata and Mar del Plata, stated in his book “Apuntes de Historia Americanística”: “Another great advantage for the conquerors were the dogs. Unknown to the indians in what referred to size and ferocity, some dogs wrote pages of victories and horror. In the entry of Cortés -writes Sahagun- the hounds they brought produced great fear; they were big, with their mouths open, tongues pending, spiked collars, and they scared everybody who saw them. The names of the most famous of them -Becerillo, Lencico, Bruto- were preserved by the chroniclers, and some of their feats narrated as extraordinary things. That is why they earned salary, and sometimes even more than the halberdier, be it for their intelligence, or their ferocity. In the chronicles they are referred to as hounds or Alaunts. During some time I investigated, trying to get a true idea of the dog the Spaniards brought for the conquest and which scared the indians so much. The mystery -which bothered me for many years- was solved by some Italian manuscripts, from 1445 and later, in which, amidst images of war, an Alaunt dog was depicted, equipped with a special harness and a backpack full of fire. This dog was released, in full rage, against the cavalry. The shape and detail of this Alaunt dog are coincidental, in every bit, with those of the Dogo Argentino, which has been produced, after multiple cross-breeding, by the passion and love of the Nores Martínez family. So you could say that, genetically, it has been possible to reconstruct a type of dog that was thought to be extinct”. """
It is interesting that Agustin decribed in detail a dog that he finishes by saying "So you could say that, genetically, it has been possible to reconstruct a type of dog that was thought to be extinct." That the Dogo Argentino is an near EXACT replica of these dogs that were used to catch and fight people!
One could come to the conclusion that they just honed the Dogos traits in a more desirable direction for themselves.
What do you all think?
In USA, Cuba and Brazil, they were used until the past century, for the hunting of slaves who tried to find their path for freedom. In that respect, Dr. José Antonio Güemez, history and philosophy professor at the Universities of Buenos Aires, La Plata and Mar del Plata, stated in his book “Apuntes de Historia Americanística”: “Another great advantage for the conquerors were the dogs. Unknown to the indians in what referred to size and ferocity, some dogs wrote pages of victories and horror. In the entry of Cortés -writes Sahagun- the hounds they brought produced great fear; they were big, with their mouths open, tongues pending, spiked collars, and they scared everybody who saw them. The names of the most famous of them -Becerillo, Lencico, Bruto- were preserved by the chroniclers, and some of their feats narrated as extraordinary things. That is why they earned salary, and sometimes even more than the halberdier, be it for their intelligence, or their ferocity. In the chronicles they are referred to as hounds or Alaunts. During some time I investigated, trying to get a true idea of the dog the Spaniards brought for the conquest and which scared the indians so much. The mystery -which bothered me for many years- was solved by some Italian manuscripts, from 1445 and later, in which, amidst images of war, an Alaunt dog was depicted, equipped with a special harness and a backpack full of fire. This dog was released, in full rage, against the cavalry. The shape and detail of this Alaunt dog are coincidental, in every bit, with those of the Dogo Argentino, which has been produced, after multiple cross-breeding, by the passion and love of the Nores Martínez family. So you could say that, genetically, it has been possible to reconstruct a type of dog that was thought to be extinct”. """
It is interesting that Agustin decribed in detail a dog that he finishes by saying "So you could say that, genetically, it has been possible to reconstruct a type of dog that was thought to be extinct." That the Dogo Argentino is an near EXACT replica of these dogs that were used to catch and fight people!
One could come to the conclusion that they just honed the Dogos traits in a more desirable direction for themselves.
What do you all think?