[lit-ideas] Dogo Argentino, etc

  • From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "Lit-Ideas" <Lit-Ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:56:55 -0700

I watched a program last night on the dog.  It was described as a creation
of man and the most malleable of all species.  The program began with the
creation of the Dogo Argentino.  Argentine farmers had problems with wild
boars; so some breeders decided to create the perfect dog for dealing with
them.  At least that was one story.  The actual creators of the breed
weren't quite that narrow.  They wanted a dog good for big game and wanted
to start with the "Fighting Dog of Cordoba" and make it suitable to their
purposes.   It took 25 years but the result was the Dogo Argentino.  We were
shown three of these Dogos in their Kevlar vests taking down a boar and
holding it for the hunter to come and dispatch it Argentina style, i.e.,
with a knife.

They also showed a Russian breed developed to sniff out explosives.  The
breeder says this dog is far more efficient than the German Shepherd, the
dog most used in the U.S. for that purpose, because the German Shepherd must
be told to go to work whereas the Russian explosive sniffer is always on.
It isn't likely this dog will make it to the U.S. any time soon.  There are
only 40 in existence.

I was interested in the development of the Dogo Argentino and the Russian
Explosive Sniffer, but the most interesting bit of information from the
program was that the Canine Genome is unique in its malleability.  No other
species could be adapted so radically in such a short period of time, and
perhaps never.  The program suggested that this malleability was intrinsic
in Canis Familiaris and that it all began about 5,000 or 10,000 years ago,
but this doesn't jibe with other studies which suggests that Canis
Familiaris began at about the same time as Homo Sapiens, i.e., about 200,000
years ago, plus or minus some huge number of years.   We have dates for
Mitochondrial Eve and something like that for an Adam, and we also have
dates for the canine mitochondrial Eve, and the numbers are comparable.  The
program didn't deal with or even consider that.  It declared that Canis
Familiaris was a creation of man, but it put the creation date at only about
5,000 years, perhaps 10,000.  Certainly not 200,000, but if it were 200,000
then the malleability might be better accounted for.  For how do you get
such malleability in such a short period of time when it all started with
the Wolf - which has no such malleability?

The program presented a theory I hadn't heard before, namely that the
"primary" reason man first became attached to the dog was simply to have a
pet.   The dog was of obvious use as an early warning system, as protection
for women who went agathering, and as aids to the men who went ahunting.
Yeah, they would have liked the dog, but I can't see having a pet, a term
associated with a certain degree of luxury, as the primary reason.   But the
"pet" theory probably has some appeal to modern man, who created a great
number of strictly "pet" breeds in the last 150 years, the period in which
most of the breeds we recognize today were standardized.   In
hunter-gatherer societies, the dog would have had a job or jobs to do.
Being a pet would have been secondary.  He would have been valued for
something other than being furry and cuddly.   I checked several web sites
on the Dogo Argentino and they showed pictures, even YouTube sequences, of
them fighting boar, but they also showed them being cuddly with little kids.
They need to do their job, but they also need to be safe while at home.
They wouldn't be acceptable if they mauled boars and then came home and
mauled the kids.  So yes, being a pet is important, but only because we need
the dog to come home with us and be safe and protective with our families.
Only in these modern times (I suspect) does anyone want to claim pet-hood as
being of primary importance.

 

Lawrence Helm

San Jacinto

 

Here is something of what went on in the development of the Dogo Argentino:
"It is important to point out that the Fighting Dog of Cordoba, a breed
established in that area consisting of Mastiff, English Bulldog, Bull
Terrier, and Boxer is now extinct. Much of the early work on the new breed
was devoted to eliminating the fighting eagerness and developing the hunting
instinct. An effort that was essential and highly successful.

The formula Antonio started was: 

*       1) the Fighting Dog of Cordoba, to which he added blood from 
*       2) the Pointer to give him a keen sense of smell which would be
essential for the hunt. 
*       3) The Boxer added vivacity and gentleness; 
*       4) the Great Dane it's size; 
*       5) the Bull Terrier, fearlessness; 
*       6) the Bulldog gave it an ample chest and boldness; 
*       7) the Irish Wolfhound brought it's instinct as a hunter of wild
game; 
*       8) the Dogue de Bordeaux contributed it's powerful jaws; 
*       9) the Great Pyrenees it's white coat and 
*       10) the Spanish Mastiff gave it's quota of power.

Other related posts:

  1. Home
  2. lit-ideas
  3. Archive
  4. 03-2008