Ca de Bou - Origin.

The history of Ca de Bou breed according to Mr Pascal Asensi Peinado.

Asensi Peinado is from Spain, he's the breeder of Ca de Bou and Dogo Canario, international judge, expert of Spanish molosses, author of the book about Ca de Bou.

Unfortunately Spanish literature about this breed is the same as other Spanish breeds, which means there are only a few photos remained. Also technical description of this breed is very poor. In compare to this, origins of the breed are very well-known, explaining very well purposes of creating this breed. Closed island environment as Majorca quickly had given chance to develop a few similar morphologically types of dogs and in the end we have a breeds like ca de bestiar, ca eivissenc, ca me, ca rate and CA BUFO.

There are two main hints of Cao de Bou to exist in the past:

Restricted geographical region as base of the breed and usefulness of dogs in protection and hunting. It seems that in the past an existence of this breed was related to other points too. If we are talking about a breed, dogs must be in the same type, which is hereditary and which is distinguishing them from other animals of the same species, having certain characteristic features achieved by selection.

It is a type of a dog similar to breeds, which were selected in order to achieve a strong dog during times when they were used in active work. This type is probably connected with other breeds at a stage of developing a separate breed - for example Dogo Canario, Corsica Dog and other.

In order to understand the beginning of these dogs at Balearic Islands one must learn about piracy and robbery which was plaque at the Mediterranean Sea. In XIII century simultaneously with Catalonian-Aragian military expansion was conducted trade expansion. Raw wool was imported from Aragonia, hand-made products from Catalonia and from Near East spices and so on. In general there was lively economic interaction. People living in the pool of Mediterranean searched for fortune and adventures. Spaniards have during that times a strong sailor verve and a presence of dogs on ships wasn't something strange - it was of course dogs protecting it's owners property. It is impossible to give an exact date of arriving this dogs to the Islands due to their commonness on the ships. While reading books from this century you can notice a passion of princes, leaders and regular soldiers for this type of the dogs.

If we were forced to give a date of arriving this dogs I would say it was in 1229. It is a date of conquering Majorca by J. Jamie. It was when one of his squadron consisted of Knights Hospitaller which was the bravest one, conquered the Island. In this squadron were fighting also dogs. From that times outlasted "white hound" order, which was given to the greatest knights.

 

English influences:

In the 1708 Minorca had been occupied by England to the 1802. This state ended by peace treaty in Utrecht and therefore there was trade bloom between English tradesman and islands. Englishmen brought their lifestyle, animals and among them there was also great battle dogs. In this age dogs fights and dogs versus bulls fights were a great passion. At the islands Englishmen organized common dogs fights, which was observed with big curiosity by islanders. Gradually they also started to do this and not so long after that shady business taken over the whole island. Soon they started fights between dogs imported from England and native dogs. And from this mix of Spanish ca de pastor and English bulldogs born a new breed of country dogs, quick-tempered and dangerous type called ca de bou. Dissuading dog from his hunting impulses and redirection it to fights with their own kind was successful only on Balearics and Canaries, that means on the grounds under strong English pressure.

Ca de Bou came into being at Balearics as side effect of popular dog fights on the Islands, as effect of worse or better crossbreeds of incoming with colonizers dogs. This type of dog started to bring pressure onto community of these times - dogs, who were winners, were also popular. Inhabitants were knowing their surnames and even composed songs about them as well as stories and anecdotes. For example dogs like Trigo, Calces Blanques and other were very famous.

 

Bloody rules of dog fights:

In the 1773 Amengual brothers, who were butchers, settled on the island in Palma and devised bestial fights rules, which were modernized in 1811. Regulations included two ways of fights: with free bull and with tied bull

Fight with free bull meant to be fight between a pair of Ca de Bou dogs and one not restricted by anything bull. Dogs were supposed to overthrow a bull to his knees in time not longer than one hour. The winner was dogs pair which done this the quickest.

Battle with a bull restricted in some corrals have the same bestial rules, but time to done this was cut in half.

Battle with tied bull - same as before.

Free battle differ only in evaluation of dog's temperament and actions. There were events where dogs finished their "job" in a 2/3 of whole time.

Battle on arena had taken place in circles with about six meters diameter, fenced with cane to prevent an escape of any of sides. Arena's ground was covered with sand and a limit of time was 30 minutes and dog could be withdrawn from battle, but then considered as looser.

Fight to life or death had taken place in circles with five meters diameter, fenced with mat on a dry, hard ground and only way to win was killing an opponent. In this fights one couldn't withdraw his dog and there wasn't any time limits. A lot of people from foreign countries bet their fortunes on this kind of battles. Sometimes in the fierce battle both of dogs died, one straight away and second due to received injuries. During fights were forged great bets and so in 1915 a value during some fights could scored to 50 peset. In 1919 had taken place (in)famous battle between INCA and PUEBLA which attracted about four thousand of people on the Campenet square and a value of bets were larger than 2.000 peset.

After many years of bloodbath during one of the first dog show was presented also Dog from Majorca! Shown dog was short, strong, with golden shade of fur - his force and charm was almost perceptible. This event started discussions, hopes and unrest: Spanish dog with official FCI metric? New situation meant necessity to come out and fight for acknowledging a new breed. If it was accepted it would be a great treasure. However gap between existence and non-existence is not an act of goodwill. Nevertheless that dog really existed and was openly shown at the show in Madrid - four years old male with surname Tito (who is ancestor of the most of Ca de Bou dogs in the whole world). That dog had naturally vestigial tail, which is proof of crossing native dogs with bulldogs from England.

Short morphologic description:

It is a strong dog, with good shaped head, broad skull, which circumference is higher than dog's height, flat forehead with strongly developed craggy. He has a strong and prominent muscles, stop is clearly visible, nose is black, eyes big and perfectly set in cranium, white of the eyes are unseen. Ears are set high, relatively small, shaped in a rose petal with visible hearing duct. During times when these dogs were used in dogs fights their ears were completely cut out. Neck is short and muscular. Line of spin is slightly going up in hind quarters. Chest is broad and deep, abdomen is compact. Tail is strong with a longer hair than on the rest of body. Sometimes tail is naturally deformed near a base. Legs have strong bones (especially frontal). Foots are square and close, fur is thick, color mainly dark-stripped or fawn, but there are also black, white and spotted dogs. Described there are a features of Ca de Bou acknowledged by FCI in 1964.