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The Estrela Mountain Dog There are only very few documents about the Estrela Dog's past history, but this breed must be considered one of the oldest ones alive in the Iberian Peninsula. There are two varieties of this breed: the Longhair and the Shorthair Estrela-Dog.. In past times the Shorthair breed was mainly used on the southern side of the Mountains, while on the Northern side of Estrela Mountain there were more Longhair dogs but the Shorthair variety has become very rare. Actually there are more Longhair Estrela-Dogs dogs breeder all over Portugal, but some of the older breeders are still situated in the Estrela-Mountain. There still exists few Shorthair breeders. In the sixties and seventies, when the wolves disappeared from Estrela-Mountains, the need for dogs became less important. Many of the poorer shepherds emigrated to France or other countries in search of a better quality of life, so that the flock became smaller and the need for Estrela dog diminished. The breed also suffered a lot as Estrela dogs often mixed with other breeds, that were little by little being introduced by newcomers in the area. During this difficult old time, some few people started breeding pure Estrela Mountain Dog again as many houses and farms needed to be protected by a good watchdog, a rule for which the Estrela Mountain Dog is outstandingly suited and he is considered one of the best watchdog breeds. Nowadays the Estrela-Mountain Dog is very appreciated as an excellent guardian and the breed is again very popular in Portugal. There are every year about new 1000 puppy registrations, not to mention all Estrela dogs without a LOP registration. His equilibrated temper helps the Estrela-Dog to be considered a good family-dog, calm, intelligent and very tolerant with children. As a flock stock guarding dog, he has a very independent character, a definite territorial behaviour and the ability to interact correctly by himself. He can stay patiently alone during many hours, carefully watching the house and garden of his master and waiting for his return. The Estrela Mountain Dog needs a basic education. Male are generally not very tolerant with other adult males, but females are more easy to educate and both, males and females are very submissive to their master and all his family members. Nevertheless it is advisable, if you are thinking of buying a Estrela dog puppy, that you already have some experience about living with a large dog near you. For any further information and individual questions,
please feel free and contact Licrase: geral@licrase.org
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The
Estrela Mountain Dog is a typical Portuguese Flock Stock
Guarding Dog and has been used since many centuries ago
by the Serra da Estrela shepherds to protect their flocks
against wolves, a danger that was very frequent in this
region until the sixties and seventies. (Nowadays there
live still about 300 wolves in the northern part of Portugal,
as the wolf is now a protected animal all over Europe).
In past time the access to the high Estrela Mountains
was very difficult and this forced isolation was responsible
for the purity of the Estrela Mountain Dog breed.