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Antonio and Agustin Nores Martinez
had gathered ten Cordoban bitches as their nucleus and began bringing in the first of the contributing breeds as studs until
the early offspring showed promise in the desired direction.
After a thorough and minute character study and selection,
through different generations, Dr. Antonio Nores Martinez accomplished his purpose, obtaining the first family. Its strength,
tenacity, sharp sense of smell and bravery make it the best dog among those used for hunting wild boars, peccaries, pumas
and other country predators which can be found in the vast and heterogeneous areas of the Argentinean territory. Its harmony,
balance and its excellent athletic muscles are ideal characteristics for enduring long trips in any weather conditions and
then fighting fiercely with the pursued prey'.
The breed's first public appearance took place at the "Hunting Dog Show,"
organized by the "Buenos Aires Hunters Club" on grounds of the Argentine Rural Society, September 28, 1947.
The original
standard for the breed had been published in the May 1947 issue of Diana Magazine, No. 89, pp. 28-40, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Antonio
Nores Martinez passed away tragically November 2, 1956, his dream somewhat to be fulfilled. Agustin Nores Martinez became
sole guardian of the breed and, under his direction, additional breeding among the original Dogo Argentino families already
on the ground was undertaken during the following fifteen years. Simultaneously, most specimens were being tested in the Argentine
wilderness, proving themselves as excellent big game hunters. The Dogo Argentino was fast becoming a legend.
| Agustin with a pack of his Dogo Argentinos |
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Agustin Nores Martinez
wrote:
"... It was year 1925. My brother Antonio and I had yet to reach our eighteenth birthday (he was
a year older than me), and by that time we were both absorbed by a true passion for dogs of all breeds, passion which was
to remain constant through our entire lives, since so it was, till his untimely death, and so it will be, God willing, till
the upcoming of my own... It was during that time when my brother Antonio developed the idea of creating, via the crossbreeding
of various existing breeds, a strain of dogs capable of hunting in our own farmlands and woods, capable of racing towards
the quarry and killing it, or at least grabbing it till the arrival of the hunter. This idea appeared mainly due to the failure
of many European hounds which, by the nature of our vary vast lands, the size and strength of our wild boars, were not up
to the task...
... I can still remember as if it had happened yesterday, the day when my brother Antonio told me for the
first time his idea and his intention of using the dog known as "Viejo Perro de Pelea Cordobes" (old fighting dog from Cordoba)
as a basis for it. This dog was a descendant of Spanish mastiffs brought to America by the colonists, crossbred with Bullterriers
and other fighting breeds for the sole purpose of dog fighting. The idea was to use the extraordinary courage and fighting
spirit of these dogs as basis, adding other breeds which could give them height, sense of smell, speed, hunting instinct,
and, above all, to take away that "fighting eagerness against other dogs" instinct which made them useless for pack hunting.
We wanted them to be friendly and capable of living freely within families and on estates, keeping the great courage of the
primitive breed, but applied to a useful cause: big-game hunting and as means of controlling predatory species..."
The book "The Real History of El
Dogo Argentino", compiled by Dr. Victor Valino, translated by Dr. Marcelo Fernández, 1995
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