Perro de Presa Mallorquin Information & Dog Breed Facts

The Perro des Presa Mallorquin, also known as the Ca de Bou is a Molossian type of dog that has a strong and powerful body. The name Ca de Bou literally means ‘Bull-Dog’ in the native Catalan language and the Perro de Presa Mallorquin is the Spanish epithet, appellation of the name. Some historians admit the existence on the Canary Islands of dogs resembling by description Perro de Presa even in times of the settlement of the island by Celtic Iberians, long before Rome's conquest of Spain. This rare breed originated from the Spanish island of Mallorca, one of the bigger islands that comprise the Balearic archipelago. However, there are several theories about the breed, one which believed that the Perro de Presa Mallorquin dates back to the 11^th century and was recreated from an extinct Spanish breed of dog. On the other side, some people think that it developed from the remaining specimens of the Marroquin bulldogs.

Historically, most people agree that the breed resulted from the crossbreeding of different breeds such as the Alano Espanol, the Fila de San Miguel with the local fighting dogs that were brought to the Balearics by traders and invaders. During ancient times, seafaring traders from the east and the west that traded in the Mediterranean regions resulted in the exchange of domestic animals. Traders and settlers have brought their large strong dogs who were used to guard and protect the harbors and the settlements against marauding pirates and robbers coming in by sea. Among these dogs, there were mostly large, strong with big heads and powerful teeth, and one type distinguished itself and stood out from the rest. It was the mastiff of the Iberian Peninsula, which in Spain was used for various areas for example hunting or as a fighting dog against bulls and other dogs. This breed accompanied King Jacob I on his conquests and arrived in the Balearics about the year 1230.

Later in the 17^th century, Minorca and other areas became under British possession, following the Treaty of Utrecht. The British brought their own guard and fighting dogs with them into the Balearics and crossed them with the native mastiffs of the Iberian Peninsula, which also occurred in the Balearic Islands. Furthermore, because of the popularity of dogfighting at the beginning of the 18^th century, the British were looking for a breed that could be held suited to such fights. The trend of dogfighting spear across Europe and the colonies.

Moreover, it was probably in the late 18^th century that the Ca de Bou acquired its look and typicity as the first written mention of the breed was in 1907. The president of the “Dogue de Bordeaux club” spoke of the breed when the best of each dog met in Madrid for a fight in the 1920s. By 1923, the breed was registered in the Spanish studbook, and the first official entry was in 1928 and in 1929 when the Perro de Presa Mallorquins were shown at the Barcelona Dog show. The famine of the 1920s and 1930s did not help any breed just like this one. However, the standard was created by 1946 but it was not recognized by the FCI until the 1960s. Some suggest that by that time there were no pure specimens left due to the trends for new breeds such as the German Shepherd and Rottweilers.

Some people had faith and power to bring the breed back to life in the 1980s when it had been crossed with the Ca de Bestiar and breeders attempted to fix the characteristics as close as possible to those written down in the original standard. Not so much later in the 1990s, other nations also took an interest in the breed, for example, Poland and Russia, where they were a success. Overall other countries including France, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden also have breeders but not that many.