The Valdueza or Perro Montero Valdueza is a modern 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 ...

of large pack-hound. It results from

selective breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...

, principally of large rough-haired

Podenco Andaluz The is an ancient Spanish breed of warren hound used to hunt small game in Andalusia, Spain. It is one of four podenco breeds recognized by the Real Sociedad Canina de España. It is an agile dog generally used to hunt ducks, rabbits, boar and ...

dogs with lightweight examples of the

Mastín Extremeño The Spanish Mastiff or Mastín Español is a breed of dog from Spain, originally bred to be a guard dog and whose specialized purpose is to be a livestock guardian dog protecting flocks and/or herds from wolves and other predators. Historical ...

; some Griffon Vendéen blood was later added. Breeding began in the 1940s; in 2020 the Valdueza was officially recognised by the Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, the Spanish ministry of agriculture, and was added to the list of indigenous Spanish breeds. It is not recognised by the

Fédération Cynologique Internationale The (; FCI; ) is the largest international federation of national kennel clubs and purebred registries. The FCI is based in Thuin, Belgium and has 98 members and contract partners (one from each country). History The FCI was founded in 1911 un ...

History

Breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

of the Valdueza was begun in the 1940s by Alfonso Álvaréz de Toledo y Cabeza de Vaca, the eleventh

Marquess of Valdueza Marquess of Villanueva de Valdueza (), commonly known as Marquess of Valdueza is a hereditary title in the Peerage of Spain granted in 1624 by Philip IV to Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, an important General of the Spanish Navy who prevented the ...

, and was continued after his death by his son

Alonso Álvarez de Toledo y Urquijo Alonso is a Spanish name of Germanic origin that is a Castilian variant of ''Adalfuns''. The original Visigothic name ''Alfonso'' suffered the phonetic change of the phoneme /f/ into the mute /h/ in the Early Middle Ages (around 9th Century), w ...

, the twelfth marquess. The aim was always to create a breed of pack-hound suitable for hunting in mountainous terrain, particularly in the

Montes de Toledo The Montes de Toledo is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in the Iberian Peninsula. They divide the drainage basin of the Tagus from the basin of the Guadiana. The highest peak is La Villuerca, which is high. Description The Montes de ...

, the

Sierras of Extremadura Sierra is a Spanish word meaning mountain chain and saw, from Latin '' serra''. The corresponding word in Portuguese, Catalan and Latin is ''serra''. This name is used for various mountain ranges in Spanish-speaking and other countries (with the ...

and the

Sierra Morena The Sierra Morena is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. It stretches for 450 kilometres from east to west across the south of the Iberian Peninsula, forming the southern border of the ''Meseta Central'' plateau and providi ...

. To this end large rough-haired dogs of the

breed were cross-bred with lightweight examples of the

; some Griffon Vendéen blood was later added by Alonso Álvarez de Toledo. In 2014 the Perro Montero Valdueza was listed among the 'Grupos Étnicos' of 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 ...

, a preliminary step to full recognition as a breed. In 2020 it was officially recognised by the Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, the Spanish ministry of agriculture, and was added to the list of recognised indigenous Spanish breeds.

Use

References

{{Hounds Dog breeds originating in Spain Hounds