Molosserworld's Cão de Castro Laboreiro Page
Opening Picture...
Picture by Carla Cruz, Portugal.
Page written by Nanci Pereira, Portugal.
Just like the other Portuguese livestock guardian dog breeds, the Cão the
Castro Laboreiro have his main origin in the large dogs taken to
Portugal by the time of the invasions. Some of those dogs were
taken to the village of Castro Laboreiro and there they mated with
the local dogs.
The local citizens made a natural selection of the dogs, since they needs a dog that can live together with the cattle and protect them against wolves and thieves. They also need a dog that
can protect their farms and houses from intruders.
The village of Castro Laboreiro was, in earlier times, almost totally isolated from the rest of Portugal, and because of this the Castro Laboreiro has an extreme ethnical purity.
There are also a theory that says that the Cão the Castro Laboreiro is
one of the forefathers of the Labrador Retriever.
Kaiser do Casal da Granja – a beautiful male.
Picture by Nanci Pereira.
The Cão the Castro Laboreiro is a very rustic dog, known to be resistant to diseases. One of the best guardian & watchdogs, extremely alert, walking around the property to inspect and is aggressive to the intruders.
The Castro laboreiro is extremely docile and loyal to his owner and family. To the children it is a great friend, always playing with them and protects them of any danger.
This breed is very intelligent and not as stubborn as many other livestock guardian dog breeds. It is a strong dog but it is not very dominant. However, it needs some socialization to adapt well to its invironments.
Picture by Carla Cruz, Portugal.
Today the Castro Laboreiro are still used as a livestock guardian is some areas, and it is
also used as a guardian for farms and country houses, as a guardian for houses in the city, and as a companion dog.
Portugal has a very good and quite large population of the Castro Laboreiro,
but it is still rare outside of its country of origin. Recently some dogs have
been exported to the USA, for protection of sheeps from wolves and coyotes.
Picture by Carla Cruz, Portugal.
The Castro laboreiro is not among the giant breeds. It shows a calm and rather ruff attitude.
The head is of medium size, with triangular ears. The brown eyes are of medium size.
The neck of the Castro Laboreiro is short, the body strong with strong muscular legs and round feets.
The coat is short, hard and rather dull. The colour are different tones of black, with brown stripes, a kind of black brindle.
The height of the males is 55-60 cm.(21,6-23,6 in), females 52-57 cm. (20,5-22,5 in). A tolerance of 5 cm. (2 in) less or more is accepted.
The weight of the Castro Laboreiro is usally between 23-34 kg. (50-75 lb), but speciments weighting up to 41 kg. (90 lb) are not unusual.
