THE HISTORY OF THE BREED
The history of the Fila Brasileiro breed comes back to the ancient times. There are several versions of the origin of this exotic breed. All the hypotheses are closely connected with the history, colonization and development of Brazil which was discovered during the second expedition of Christopher Columbus (1493-1496). The main versions of Fila Brasileiro’s appearance like a breed are reflected in “The Fila Brasileiro encyclopedia” by Brazilian authors Prokopiu de Valje and Anju Monte. The first version, consisting of three hypotheses, belongs to Dr. Santos Cruz.
- Fila Brasileiro appeared as a result of cross-breeding with ancient English Mastiff.
- This breed was brought by Portuguese colonizatiors and got changed under the influence of the surrounding world.
- Fila could appear as a result of consequent cross-breeding Mastiff, Bloodhound and English Bulldog.
The authors of “The encyclopedia” are disputing the versions by Paulo Santos Cruz because they are nothing else but hypotheses as for their conclusiveness. There are no persuading evidences and documentary confirmations of these versions.
The second version belongs to Joan Baptist Gomes. Fila Brasileiro takes genealogy from its namesake Fila Terseirense (after the name of Terseirense Island in the Azors). According to Joan Gomes, Don Janns IV having become the king, started conveying to Brazil English Mastiff, which was very popular at that time. As a result of accidental cross-breeding we find a half-breed of Fila Terseirense and Mastiff. The authors of “The encyclopedia” studied carefully the history of Fila Terseirense’s appearance, but their results were not successful. The documentary confirmations of this version were not found in chanceries of Brazil and Portugal.
The third version belongs to Francisc Peltieru di Carose. Fila Brasileiro comes from European ancestors, i.e. English Mastiff, Bloodhound, Bulldog and wild dogs of Brazil. The authors of “The encyclopedia” do not find any logical basis of this version because there is a natural question: “Why did the Portuguese colonizators cross-breed the domestic breeds, having a great meaning at that time, with wild animals?” Besides the latest investigations show that only Aracambe is good for cross-breeding with European breeds.
The fourth version belongs to the author of “The encyclopedia” Prokopio de Valje. Basing on the etymology of the Portuguese word “fila” the author defines the name of the breed like “a chained dog who will not lose, once having grasped”. The author claims that the breed forming was influenced by five factors: wild impassable forests, courage, man, cattle, guard functions. The very these factors determined the appearance and long life of the breed.
According to Prokopiu de Valje, Fila had a continental origin, among its ancestors there are English Mastiff – like dogs, i.e. English Dogen, who came from Great Britain. They were brought by Hollands to Brazil in 1631. The author of this version bases on documentary facts, i.e. notes in lists, memories of travelers, historic works. On the basis of archive materials he claims that namely genes of English Dogen were the ground for Fila Brasileiro breed. Prokopiu de Valje writes: “Having studied ancient engravings we can determine that the dogs had longer muzzles. That helps to conclude that they are hardly to borrow it from Bulldogs”.
Taking into account all the version of the breed origin the specialists came to the opinion that the breed was formed naturally, without special selection. The appearance of Fila is stipulated by the necessity to guard and follow fugitive slaves, it was to guard herds and houses from a very dangerous beast jaguar and only strong, powerful, hardy and mobile dog was able to do it. The breed was formed by nature itself for a few centuries. The result was a Super Dog with power and mass of Mastiff, sharp scent of Seuth-Dog, promptness, impetuosity and flexibility of a wild cat and great endurance.
MODERN HISTORY OF FILA BRASILEIRO.
In 1938 general passion and love for the breed gathered its amateurs and fans at a congress in Rio de Janeiro. Everybody was united by a longing to improve the breed and to get it acknowledged. The first official standard of Fila Brasileiro was written in 1946 by a famous breed specialistDr. Paulo Santos Cruz. The same year the breed was acknowledged by a Brazilian Confederation of Dogs Amateurs (CBKC). At this time there appeared in Brazil the Breed book where Filas from ranchos were registered.
The prototype of full-blooded Filas is considered to be a famous at that time he-dog Lord, belonging to a well known, factory owner Dr. Gomes. Some of the dogs from the Gomes nursery were bought by Santos Cruz who was the owner of “Parnapuan” nursery. There they became progenitors of famous lines.
In 1941 there appeared the first officially registered champions and the first litters with pedigrees.
In 1953 the first Fila got to Europe from Brazil. The Duke Albrecht von Bauer bought a he-dog Dunga de Parnapuan by name at the nursery “Parnapuan” of Santos Cruz. Some time later the Duke brought to Germany a she-dog Garoa de Parnapuan by name from the same nursery. These two dogs started the breeding of Filas in Europe. At this time the leading nurseries in Germany are von Den Conquistadores, von Taubenhof. In 1968 the breed was acknowledged by FCI, the breed was added to the Standard.
In May 1976 there was a symposium in Brazil which defined the standards more precisely. The phrase was excluded that an expert must not touch Fila. The dog must allow to be touched. In 70-ies Fila became very popular in cities of Brazil. It was a “good tone” to have such a dog in the house. Some owners started to cross breed Fila with Mastino Neapoletano, German Dogs and English Mastiff secretly in order to enlarge the dimensions and mass of the dogs. Only 20% of the general numbers were full-blooded Filas.
1978. In order to save and keep full-blooded Fila Brasileiro the owners of famous nurseries organized CAFIB under the leadership of Dr. Paulo Santos Cruz.
In 1983 in Brazil there was a congress of famous nursery owners of Fila Brasileiro where the main directions of work with the breed were discussed, the Standard was defined once again. The new version of the Standard was more detailed than the previous. Starting with 1984, January, the 1st it got official.
Since 40-ies the Fila Brasileiro history was closely connected with Paulo Santos Cruz. 50 years of his life he devoted to the unique breed Fila Brasileiro. Being a CAFIB representative he fought for acknowledgment of Fila Brasileiro as a part of culture and history of Brazil.
CAFIB is a monobreed club of Fila and CBKC is engaged with all breeds of FCI. Their standards are different. The most serious discords between two organizations appear in defining the color. Yearly at the CAFIB exhibitions they choose a Champion and a Championess of the breed judging by a number of balls, got during the year.
No other standard except Fila standard pays so much attention to the character of the dog. The first of disqualifying features is aggression towards the owner, the second is cowardliness.
THE HISTORY OF THE BREED (CONTINUATION)
Life is so varied, it consists of different puzzles with variety of shades, it is like a mosaic. There are plenty of pleasant and unpleasant moments. And having learned the deepness of human cruelty we wish an adequate perception of honesty, self denial and devotion. All these qualities are unified in one breed, i.e. Fila Brasileiro. Nobody can say better about Fila Brasileiro than Dr. Paulo Santos Cruz has done: “Fila is devoted because its soul is the devotion itself, it is honest because its soul is based on honesty. It is truthful because its soul can not lie”.
Man has selected many breeds for his necessity. Every of them is unique. Molosses are a big group in FCI classification. An exotic breed - Fila Brasileiro stands apart in the molosses.
HISTORIC CHRONICS.
In historic literature we often come across using dogs in military actions. Conquering Brazil is not an exception. There are numerous confirmations of the fact that dogs participated in battles against Indians. The conquerors of Brazil had arrived from Holland, England, Spain and Portugal. But Brazil was mainly under great influence of Portugese, so it is logical that most of the dogs were brought from the Iberia Semiisland. One of the first written confirmations, that the dogs were brought to the New World can be found in the book “The Decades of the New World” (1515) by Petera Martyra. There are also mentionings that Christopher Columbus brought Librelle, Sabuesos and Perdiqueros to Brazil on their ships during his second expedition (1493-1496).
In Columbus' notes there are mentionings of the use of dogs against Indians. “On May, the 4-th we neared the coast of Isabella at Rio Bueno, our ships were circled by Indians in boats who evidently had evil intentions. Columbus ordered to send a group of followers with big dogs who bit and injured many of them”.
Dog-warriors on their way to the New World
Theodor de Brey wrote in his book (1540) about a Spanish conquerer Vasko Nunes de Balboa (1475-1517) who on September, the 29-th 1513 discovered the Pasific Ocean and called it the Southern Sea: “While crossing Panama we had a battle with aborigines. Balboa captured about 40 persons. Strong dogs guarded them.” Antonio de Herra writes in his book “The History” (1601) about battles between Indians and Spainiards in Espaniola (at present the Dominic Republic): “End of March, 1945 lead Columbus lead a group of 200 soldiers, half of whom were in amours, 20 riders and 10 dogs against Indians. Shots from guns did not influence the Indians but when big dogs were let, Indians were in panic”. One of these dogs was Leoncillo. It was a red Bloodhound with black nose and eyes. He belonged to Vasko Nunes de Balboa. “He earned 2000 peso in gold for his owner” is written by the biographer of Balboa Gansalo Fernander de Oviedo. While conquering Puerto Rico Leoncillo died from an arrow.
A scene from Herra’s History
The next memories about dogs are found in notes of Garsilaso de Soto. The biggest number of Lebrelles and Sabuesos were in the detachment of de Soto. The most favorite dog of de Soto was a dog Brutto by name, whose heroic actions were described by de la Vega. Don Guttierz de la Vega – an editor of an old Spanish book about hunting and dogs – writes in his book that the Spaniards and Portugese used Librelles and Sabuesos in conquering the New World and they cross-breeded them very often. The whole their history the dogs were used only with military aims. And starting with 18-19th centuries there appear mentionings about their peaceful use
EFFORTS TO EXPLAIN THE FILA BRASILEIRO ORIGIN
Fila is sure to be a dog of ancient origin but with recent history. Fila is a part of Brazil which interlaces with its people, temperament, culture and nature. The exact origin of the breed can not by followed, only supposed. Fila is likely to come from cross breeding European dogs, brought by conquerors from Europe. All the specialists agreed that there was no aimed selection and the breed is the result of rather long process of the natural selection. Claims that Fila has the blood of aborigine dogs are doubted because of some historical documents.
The first picture of the land was described in the first message to the King of Portugal: “They have no cattle, always surrounding the man”. The Italian traveler Amerigo Vespucci also wrote the same: “The variety of faun is great. Noah’s ark wouldn’t find a place for every kind. But there is no cattle”.
In 1781 Don Felice de Arara investigated the whole South America during 20 years and described dogs. “A dog , named Librelles here, has very big ears. The dogs fur is mainly beige, red, black, tigerish.”
A Spaniard Sebastian de Cavarrubius wrote the following about the dog in 1611: “It is a well – spread dog having come from the Netherlands. They are called Librelles here. They protect their masters from wild animals and hunt with hunters, because they are alike dogs, hunting hares. They are also called Caldo”. Alongside, Librelles there was English Dogen. Peter Florian Pauche writes about it in his book: “There is a great number of dogs in Brazil and Paraguay. They are black and brown English Dogen. Big dogs who can fight with jaguars, who are not afraid of them and suit for this struggle. I have a dog Soldato by name, who can not be kept when it meets a jaguar”. Speaking “English Dogen” we mean a mixture of Mastiff and Irish Windhound. The depiction of this dog can be found on Velasces' pictures.
Bloodhounds found their use in the world of slaves trade. If slaves ran away they found them and returned back sound and safe. Bloodhounds were widely spread at that time in Europe. The term “bloodhound” can be found in earlier literature. It couldn’t be referred to a concrete breed. It meant a dog, suitable for hard work. Mentioning bloodhound is met in the literature of the VIIIc. – a hound of St. Hubert, its blood is in Basset and in Bloodhounds. Hector Boece described this breed in 1536 in the following way: “A big dog with red or black color and small spots. They are so clever that can find robbers by scenting a stolen thing. They not only find the thief but also attack him with cruelty”.
Alongside Bloodhound the conquerors brought Alano to the New World. Alano did not have large dimensions but was strong, aggressive and cruel. Alano comes from a region between the Caucasus and the Don (the Sarmat tribes lived there at that time). In 1644 Don Alonso Martines del Espinar described Alano in the following way: “The Alano’s corps is stronger than Librelles it has a big head with wide muzzle, its eyes are full of blood and its gaze horrifies. It is an ideal dog for hunting a roe, an alk or a bear”. There are messages that Alanos were ancestors of Perro de Rresa Canario, Perro de Rresa Mollorquin, Dogo Argentino and an extinct breed of Fila de Teceira.
Suppositions that Alano participated in the Fila origin like a breed can be neither proved nor rejected. But this theory is not supported in Brazil. Basing on historical proofs the Fila Brasileiro ancestors were Bloodhounds and Hesthounds. Their influence on the Fila origin is noticeable. High and heavy Hesthounds gave Fila an athletic corps and massive head, characteristic features of Bloodhounds can be found in physical and psychological characteristics of Fila Brasileiro. It is head form, low-set ears, short fur and melancholic glance. The natural selection, the inhabiting places, using the dogs for guard and hard work for centuries have made a Super Dog forming such a breed like Fila Brasileiro.
On materials of the book "O FILA BRASILEIRO", The author Roswita Hirsch-Reiter
