Libro Razas Españolas

Spanish Alano The Spanish Alano comes directly from the catch dogs arrived to the Iberian Peninsula with the Alan tribes in the 5th Century, after the collapse of the Roman Empire. This kind of dog was very versatile and was used for war, hunting and cattle catch. Later, the Spanish Alano was crossed with different kind of dogues and hounds. For years, it was the favourite breed of nobility and royalty in Spain, and a comprehensive description of the breed was done in the treaty “La Monteria” wrote by the King Alfonso XI published in 1350. Its temperament, courage and loyalty also made the Spanish Alano the favourite breed of the Spanish Army, intervening in the Conquest of America, where it influenced in the development of local breeds such as the Argentinean Dogue or the Uruguayan Cimarron. At the end of 19th Century, the breed was seriously declining and although it slightly increased with the foundation of the Real Sociedad Canina de España, it will be in the last decades of 20th Century when a recovery action started, searching for an important group of dogs in the area of Las Encartaciones and also in Avila, Zamora, Salamanca and Extremadura, where it was still used to work with cattle. Nowadays, the breed is in a moment of rise and consolidation, basic in the process of its international recognition. Las razas caninas españolas - Spanish canine breeds 151