I feel a strong need to address questions about dogs suited for Personal Protection and weather or not we should breed only these dogs that are proved top be able to do so.
Even thought that description of a Presa character in the standard describes dog " specially suited for guard and defense" The facts are that there is only about 10 % of Presas are capable for Personal Protection work. These founding's are based on temperament tests we conducted in US and Canary Islands since 1997. Situation is not much different if not worst with other breeds like Cane Corso, Dogo Argentino, Boerboel, American Bulldog, Rottweiler, Shepherd and so on...
Dogo Argentino, Boerboel, American Bulldog, Rottweiler, Shepherd and so on...
Presa Canario breed standard calls for a dog " especially suited for guard and defense..
Here is criteria being used by us for evaluation:
Beside traffic (stability) test, we have had protection test, during which dog must be able to protect it's owner by engaging an aggressor. If aggressor could of make it through the dog and attack the owner without dog defending him (running away, hiding behind …) dog would failed the test. Such dog cannot be deemed suitable for protection and should not be used as one as well as should not be bred, since dog displaying such behavior is should be considered to have false temperament according to the standard description. Anyone interested to read about whole test, can find it at: www.iapconline.net
Question was asked " what about these dogs that don't engage the aggressor, but won't run away either?"
Anyone witnessing IAPC Temperament Test will agree that there is no middle position. Test is conducted the way that dog being put in the situation when he has to either protect or run away.
Another question was " What about dogs who are stable but were never taught to protect" We can't sit here and augur " can he do it or can't «. My only answer is –train it if you think your dog can handle it and then we won't have any questions.
Over years there were numbers of breeders saying that there is no need for such test. That their dogs will protect naturally or that their dogs are just as good as these that pass and the only difference is that they just not interested in training. We know they tried, but dogs weren't good enough. And look at where they are now. Their dogs still won't protect and offspring's of these dogs won't either.
If someone decide to be a breeder of working breed (that is what Presa Canario is classified like) then it's their responsibility at least to pass all minimum requirement, including mandatory Temperament Test with protection work as a part of it as called by the standard. Only during tests breeder can learn about his dog's strong sides and weaknesses and after that be able to make an educated decision about proper breeding selection. Don't look for excuses that your dog just as good, but just isn't trained. He either has it or he doesn't. The only one way to know it is through the minimum Temperament Testing similar to one described above, I'm not even talking about excelling in protection at this point, which is a totally different ball game.
Another question was " What direction is IAPC taking ? " Someone said that our previous stand was to breed best TYPE to best WORKER and see what will happen to keep the best. I would like to clarify that we would never compromise proven temperament in our breeding. According to IAPC bylaws all breeding dogs must pass minimum BST (breed suitability test) unless dog we breed to by one or another reason couldn't get all requirements (for example dog out of country or just imported …) In this case such breeding has to be approved by BOD (board of directors) and will be deemed as "Test Breeding" until puppies are fully evaluated.
Speaking about Rank dogs (best of the best) I meant we should strive to breed Rank to Rank. I understand that genetic pull of the breed is too shallow to breed only Ranks, but this is our goal and we should strive for it. Couple years ago it was almost impossible to find Ranks to breed with, now situation is getting better. Tat is why IAPC has different levels of BST. If your dog passed OFA, Temp Test and up to the standard it can be bred by IAPC breeding rules and after approval of BOD. Rank dogs that have more to offer will get BST 1 or BST 2 and breeding of this type is what we should strive for in the future.
I've heard an opinion that " OK dogs can produce excellent dogs while Rank dogs can still produce crap». Yes, that is true, but this is not a rule but rather exception of it.
Look at situation with OFA. When we started to push for OFA years ago, people were saying: " No need for it. Good OFA can produce dysplastic dog while dog that doesn't pass OFA can still produce passing dogs». We at Red Star stood strong in our beliefs that each and every breeding dog must be OFA certified. And look at results now. More then half dogs in the OFA database are Red Star Presas, with us being producers the only "excellent " OFA dogs in the database, whose rating is better then their parents rating. So did it pay off? It sure did!
Same in regards to working dogs. Who's dogs you see competing at the trials? Red Star Presas. How were they bred? By selection through Temperament t Testing with bite work. Here you got your answer weather or not we should test and breed only these that pass.
I totally understand frustration some breeders will go through, were they deciding to choose our way. Been there. Done that.
We started in 1994 with two Presas we purchased in US. Back then we decided not to buy a puppy but rather go with tested adult, se we can see temperament and hips. Later we end up using only one of them – Panda Turf Bengal. She received OFA "good" and passed our Temperament Test. Her father, mother and brother were featured in the video " Dog that Protect». AT the same time we purchased two males. Cotan de Alacant Bull from Spain and Turco from Germany. Cotan's father was Spanish Champion Argual, and Turco was out of Stefan Baumgartner stock Stefan and Rudolph Severin were first and the only Europeans who seriously tested Canary Islands Presas for years and were only interested in working protection dogs. Cotan passed OFA and our minimum TT, but never made it to be a superior worker. Turco passed OFA and happened to be awesome working dog, definitely the RANK dog, which proved his genetics on the field as well as through his offspring's. We were always looking for more dogs, but none was better then what we have at the time. Turco and Cotan were both bred with Turco's offspring's caring out his pride and working glory while Cotan's pups in majority making nice pets.
Even here we see that temperament and working ability are highly inheritable.
We don't use Cotan anymore.
Bengal was very stable dog with lack of prey drive. She was good enough for simple leash protection but was loosing interest quickly during more demanding off leash work. That is why she was never bred to Cotan, only to Turco with very good results. Later when Spanish judges came over to US we learned that she was of inappropriate for the breed "blue" color and even thought she never produced blue pups, we got her out of our breeding program. During these times we purchased several dogs from Canary Islands and Spain but none of them worked out due to a health or temperament problems.
We were lucky with two puppies we purchased from Peniate brothers in Grand Canaria. Duna and Batur both passed OFA, Temperament Test and inherited Nala's (their mother) strong working character. Nala was one hell of a dog. She died in 2001.
While Duna made a great producer, using Batur for breeding wasn't so successful and after couple of breeding we got him out of the program, scratching it out as another loss.
In 1998 we found a great Rank dog – Spanish Champion Kyma. She passed OFA, TT and was one of the best Presas we ever seen. Unfortunately Kyma was old and had problems getting pregnant. We only had two pups out of her and Batur. Her daughter Yara passed OFA. Temperament Test and a good worker with super prey drive and confidence.
We found Cona and Linda during our 2000 trip to Canary Islands. Both are awesome Rank dogs. Cona's prey drive and ability to work is amazing. Linda is the toughest female I have tested so far. Both are very level headed and super social.
During same trip to the Islands we purchased a puppy out of Taro de Troikan de Takoronte. Taro is a great dog and was tested by us as well as his brother Spanish Champion Abedul, but Urbo never developed into Rank dog and will not be used by us in breeding, crossing this one out for experience as well.
Lucy is Stefan's dog that we brought home from our trip to Germany in 2002. She is a daughter of famous Capitan, who Stefan imported from Grand Canaria. She has A-1 hips, Temperament Test, endurance test 25 K and was used as a wild boar hunter.
Definitely a Rank dog.
Canario and Tara both were tested by us in bite work and stability during our 2002 trip to Canary Islands. They definitely feet breed description to a T and we brought them home with us.
The most pride thought we have in dogs we produced. Look at Harif, Primo, Yara, Cheetah, Tianna, Tyra, Tannah, Viuga …and especially latest bunch.
All of them (who is old enough) were able to pass BST as well as some of them exceeding their parents in the working field! These are the dogs we will be using in the future and that is why I can proudly say that breeding Rank to a Rank will not be such an unreachable goal. We don't have to play "blind " as we were doing for years anymore. We can test them all here and through serious selection we will find these Rank dogs that will make all of us proud and will take quality of IAPC Presas to the next level.
Right now we are at the comfortable level when we can put together a team of several IAPC Presas against any highly prized rare breeds such as Corsi, Boerboels, Bandogs …on the protection field and have confidence to call them out without fear to be defeated.
And that is what brings joy to our lives and that is what our goals as breeders are.
Program like this will produce few Rank dogs but most of them will be placed as a solid proved family companion/protectors in the families who are seriously looking for such dog and understand necessity of proper development, fair treatment and professional training.
Some people getting confused by high expectations we put on our dogs. Often we hear question like " Can your dogs be pets? " Answer is they all are!
Talk to their owners and you will see that all these dogs are family members, not a kennel kept working machines. They all are social housedogs used as companion /protector. It is because of a testing we do dogs that pass are guaranteed to be of stable temperament. But why limit yourself to "just a pet?
Why not utilize full potential of your animal?
We go way beyond " just pet" mentality. We want to make sure that our dogs are capable to handle any task owner ask them to do, be it family pet, protector, service dog, competition dog…. Anything that creators of the breed would be proud of.
Breeding with goals of bettering breed requires knowledge, space, funds and full time devotion. It's highly unlikely to expect to get two or three dogs (that is what most people, who are not professionals in the dog's related field can afford, considering living conditions, time …) and expect them to be great breeding materials.
If someone wants to be a breeder on the small scale with couple of dogs and no kennel expenses, be prepared to go through buying and placing many dogs, until you find one or two worth breeding.
If you want to do things right on professional scale, be prepared to take a loss in business up until you have built a good foundation, have enough time and kennel /training space as well as waist training experience or someone working with you, who can provide you with all your training and testing needs.
Regards
Alex Vyatkin of Red Star Kennel
June 2002
In above article "Breeding Selection (temperament)"
I briefly talked about the importance of selecting for breeding suitability based on in-depth temperament testing in combination with working your breeding stock and their resulting offspring. I have yet a few more things to say about "breeding quality Presas".
Observing some latest trends in the breed, I can see that "working" as a term is getting interpreted in so many different shapes and forms that it ends up loosing it's original meaning. These days a phrase such as "I work my dog" can describe anything from a recreational activity such as Frisbee-catching and jogging all the way to the so-tough-sounding but almost always spontaneous and misleading "sleeve hitting".
Every time I see breeders bragging about their dogs' "working/protective qualities" while supplementing their excitement with pictures of dogs biting a running by or running away decoy, a certain picture comes up in my mind - that of a lazy obese recreational fisherman waving a twelve pack of Budweiser and a big old cigar about, proudly calling himself a SPORTSMAN. What a shame!
I understand that the above picture is ways better than that of an adult man or a woman dressed after a Barbie-doll, proudly prancing around the show ring with their sloppily-build overweight pets under a well noticeable sign of a "WORKING GROUP" , but nevertheless I take offence when I see dogs being addressed as "working protection dogs" during some kindergarten attempts of catching a running away prey.
When I write an article, as a rule I try to express myself in a language that is easy to digest and comprehend. I'll try to do so now, but please bear with me if it gets a bit too complicated.
There are several misconceptions that people tend to develop when observing a dog's behavior.
First and most common:
HE IS AGGRESSIVE AND VERY PROTECTIVE!
Aggression always comes way too close to fear. Fear-biting behavior, when the dog is trying to protect himself from an outside intrusion, often has very impressive display and therefore gets confused with "great protectiveness" way too often. These dogs are easily tested for lak of confidence - just keep coming straight at them, and they will brake away in panic. These dogs I would classify as sharp shy.
Unfortunately such dogs are often portrayed as outstanding natural guardians, because no one has yet pushed them outside their comfort zone.
Second, better but not by much, is the category of sharp dogs with "thin" nerves. These dogs are easy to agitate; they hold their ground quite well in prey mode but will become hectic and chewy under slight pressure. Dogs like these often have problems with foreign articles above their heads (sticks, canisters, large stuffed bags...) and will brake in panic with slight frontal pressure. You can train this kind of dogs to hold on under moderate pressure, but will never be able to get them to the level of full confidence in a confrontation.
Third category, higher then second, but not anywhere near Rank (I explained what I mean by "Rank" in the article linked above). Sharp with strong nerves. These dogs are relatively easy to agitate. They handle moderate pressure relatively well, but still have some problems, mostly with environmental stress.
I.e. you can see them being very confident on the bite and under the pressure of foreign objects and obstacles like sticks, canisters, stuffed bags, water ... But they still will brake under continuously rising environmental stress. For example, they will easily go over foreign surfaces (some wreckage, for instance) but will brake while working on top of it for an extended period of time.
Next and last is the "Rank" category. Stable nervous system with strong nerves. These dogs are the best of the best of the best of the protection dog world, and are VERY hard to come by. They can take any amount of pressure with a smile and, given proper drive combination, are unbeatable on the working protection field. Sometimes they take a while to agitate, but once they are "on", then, watch out - they make for a cold-blooded executor!
All these "profiles" here are very simplistic and basic. I would be foolish to think that I can address all different types of nervous system and drive combinations in so few paragraphs. To me describing them is a separate science and an art - I'll leave it for the later time and another article.
My major purpose with this one is to emphasize, however, that if you want to refer to breeding "working dogs", you MUST understand all these differences – subtle and unapparent to the unprofessional eye. And if you are a breeder of a working breed like Presa, you need to test thoroughly to know your dogs' weaknesses and strong points – test to understand as to what they are really, truly "made of".
I hope breeders will realize someday that breeding a dog that "hits the sleeve" to another one like that, doesn't mean you can claim to breed a working protection dog!
Another question was asked not so long ago on this forum; one about wild boar hunting and whether it should be a relevant test for checking Presa's temperament. I do not do wild boar hunting myself, but from my experience with dogs that have done it, I can tell you that catching a boar has very little if anything to do with the dog's protecting its master or its family.
I understand wild boar hunting in its nature as being very close to dog fighting. Protection work is not. Best dog fighters were never selected or suited for protection work.
While Hog-catching is a great test for physical ability and a serious check of the Prey drive, it cannot be considered a breed specific test to determine breeding quality of any given Presa Canario. Same is with weight pulling or agility (I believe I talked about it already in a previous articles).
I know some people will be offended by my point of view but my opinion is based on first-hand experience. I have tested some great hog-hunters and dog-fighters, only to see them hide away from an angry man who is assaulting their owner.
At the same time, as a performance breeder, I can't say enough about how sour it feels, you guys, to see a young dog you have produced, that is a great looker with good hips, built like a machine, that fires up easily, comes full speed at the decoy with good commitment and full bite becoming panicky when getting jammed with "frontal driving " with hit sticks over a strange surface.
That is the tough time when you realize that something went wrong in the selection and breeding, that genetic material you have in front of your own eyes is only good for being a stable, protective pet, but will never make Rank.
And even knowing the fact that most people will be more then happy with a dog like that, still costs you in countless efforts and sacrifices in the quest for better combination, the one that will result in the majority of the litter being as good as the third and some, maybe, as the Rank category! Those are the times when you know you are really lucky - when you as a breeder get what you want, and then you know that all the hard work and all the good quality specimens discarded aren't wasted for nothing – it happens when you find a litter that gives you pleasure and a sense of pride after you worked it.
I can tell you that such times leave a deep imprint on a breeder, and that is when I begin to feel truly sorry for those who, in hopes for the best, eagerly justify breeding junk to junk by saying that the gene pool is too shallow and we need to breed sub par to sub par quality to further the breed.
Breeding crap to crap for the most part will produce more of the same - CRAP. And if someone is happy to get a pick of the crap litter to use for future breeding, I hope they understand that they got a pick of the CRAP.
So my question stands:
DO YOU TRULY WORK WHAT YOU BREED?