Presa Canaria at Country Show

I was absolutely horrified today. Just been to the Essex Country Animal Show and all of the dogs were meeting each other when a guy walked up with a massive dog with cropped ears and a spike collar like you see on Dog Whisperer. He was really loud and proud and was telling everybody it was a Presa Canaria, and it definitely was.

I am sure these are an illegal breed. I am all for the deed and not the breed but this dog unnerved me a bit. It's body language was a bit weird, no wagging tail and it was massive, I have never seen one before and will prob never see one again. Do people get away with having these dogs, I didn't think you can get hold of them?? It actually made staffies nearby look like fluffy poodles lol.

He started talking to me and telling me how he is very dominant with it and it won't even wag its tail unless he tells it to, so I swiftly smiled and walked off, nutter.

Surely he should be monitored by someone. Sounded like a nutjob.

Urgh the dominance theory. He sounds utterly charming. Im sure that dog has a happy life... I absolutely detest cropped ears ( unless it's for a health reason).

They are not a banned breed though as I only even know what they look like as a guy at work has a family member with one so I looked them up on the net recently. Evidently the girl who owns him is always getting people saying he is a banned breed too and my colleague says her dog is scary (he walks his neighbours staff regularly so he does like dogs).

So apart from that how was the show?

Oh no you are right, I was thinking of the Argentino one. It's the cropped ears that makes the poor dog look mean.

Yeah it was good. There were loads of other dogs. We went to All About Dogs the other week too and it was pretty similar. Nice day out and very cheap.

Poor old Daisy can't come along to these events as she can't walk around too far cos of her poor old back legs (arthritis), but we always bring back a biscuit or two. x

Ah poor Daisy, I'm sure she is more than happy with her biscuits though.

I'd love to take Misty to something like that but at the moment she would be a nightmare, far too many dogs and people. One day we will though, they all sound like great fun to attend.

I would love to take Katy to something like that but always having to watch her with any dog that dared eyeball her would be a nightmare

I've never heard of this breed before so have just googled it. Surprised that it originated in the Canaries as a cattle dog but can certainly see why they would appear scary. The ears in the pictures on wiki look odd so am wondering if this is normal as opposed to being cropped?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perro_de_Presa_Canario

Just read the article again and it does say cropped

if he bought it in the UK someone's broken the law - it's illegal here to crop a dog's ears!

He prob got it sent from abroad. I think it makes the poor dog look mean, it put the fear of god into everybody. It looked like a massive pitbull about the size of a great dane with cropped ears and spiked collar.

I don't get scared of dogs but I even felt very nervous, dog was prob fine, but I think these people get a kick out of getting that reaction from people.

I must say the staffies that attended behaved very well.

My aunt has a presa and he is the sweetest, soppiest dog! He is huge, but she has socialised and trained him so well he is a gem to be around. This guy sounds like a tool and should not be allowed any dog