The Can de Chira or is a Spanish

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

herding dog A herding dog, also known as a stock dog or working dog, is a Dog type, type of dog that either has been trained in herding livestock or belongs to one of the dog breed, breeds that were developed for herding. A dog specifically trained to he ...

from the mountainous Alto Aragon region in the northern part of the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

, in north-eastern Spain. Accounts of similar dogs used by Spanish graziers to herd

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

and

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

date back several centuries; the earliest photographs date from the early twentieth century. The Can de Chira was formerly widely distributed in the

Province of Huesca Huesca (; ), officially Huesca/Uesca, is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. The capital is Huesca. Positioned just south of the central Pyrenees, Huesca borders France and the French departments of Haute-Garonne, Pyrénées- ...

and in neighbouring areas; it was used by the shepherds of Aragon, and by those of

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

, Occitanie and

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

. In the twenty-first century the small number of remaining animals are concentrated principally in the

comarcas A ''comarca'' (, , , ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain, and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, mark ...

of Ribagorza and

Sobrarbe Sobrarbe is a comarca of Aragon, Spain. It is located in the north of Huesca province, making up part of the autonomous community of Aragon. Many of its people speak the Aragonese language locally known as ''fabla''. Sobrarbe is a mountainous ...

References

Dog breeds originating in Aragon Herding dogs {{bots, deny=Citation bot