The Pastor Garafiano 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 ...

sheep dog A sheep dog or sheepdog is generally a dog or breed of dogs historically used in connection with the raising of sheep. These include livestock guardian dogs used to guard sheep and other livestock and herding dogs used to move, manage and ...

native to the island of

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...

in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

. The name derives from that of the

comarca 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 Garafía, in the north of the island, where the breed was most common, although specimens can be found throughout the island. The breed was officially recognized by the

Real Sociedad Canina de España is the Spanish kennel club. It was founded in Madrid as the on 27 June 1911, and became a legal entity on 12 July 1911; on 1 December 1911 it received the royal patronage of Alfonso XIII, and the word 'Real' was added before the name. It has ...

in 2003.

History

This is a distinct canine population, it is a native to the

of Garafía, on the island of La Palma, where it was used by shepherds to bring the herds of

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

s. Because of this, the animal thrives well in steep and rocky areas. It has very heterogeneous characteristics, because there has only been performed a functional selection. Its core competency is the grazing of goats and sheep in rugged terrain, by the geography of

. Its origin lies the pre-Hispanic times, although the crossings with other races (most importantly the Belgian shepherds) after the conquest contributed to the development of the Pastor Garafiano. For a time, this breed was on the verge of disappearing due to out-breeding with other dog breeds. Successive crosses, especially from 1960s with other breeds of shepherd dogs, demonstrated the necessity to work for its recovery and selection from the few pure specimens of the race that kept the shepherds of the island. A working group for the conservation off the breed was formed in 1980; this later became the .

Characteristics

The Garafiano is of medium size: bitches stand between at the

withers Withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, this ridge is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, catt ...

and weigh from , dogs stand some taller and weigh about more. Height at the

croup Croup ( ), also known as croupy cough, is a type of respiratory infection that is usually caused by a virus. The infection leads to swelling inside the trachea, which interferes with normal breathing and produces the classic symptoms of "bar ...

may be up to greater that the height at the withers.

References

Dog breeds originating in the Canary Islands La Palma Herding dogs {{bots, deny=Citation bot