Cao da Serra de Aires

The Cão da Serra de Aires is native to Portugal and was developed to be a livestock guardian dog, sheepdog and a general farm dog. This is a newer breed that is thought to have developed within the last 100 years. Although their exact origins are not really known, researchers believe the Cão da Serra de Aires developed by crossing the Briard with the Pyrenean Sheepdog. Briards were imported by the Count de Castro Guimaraes to be bred with local Portuguese mountain dogs and possibly the Pyrenean Sheepdog. Some locals claim that the Catalan Sheepdog was also used in creating the Cão da Serra de Aires. They were mainly found in the Serra de Aires Mountains located in the Alentejo region. Through most of the 1900s these dogs were seen faithfully serving local shepherds but in the 1970s their numbers sharply declined. Local breeders began trying to resurrect the breed in the late 1980s and by the end of the 1990s their population had rebounded slightly. The largest population of Cão da Serra de Aires can still be found in the Alentejo region guarding and driving large flocks of goats, sheep, cattle, pigs or horses. A group of local breeders developed the breed standard in 1930 and 1932 the Clube Portugues de Canicultura was formed. In 1945 the Federation Cynologique Internationale officially accepted the standard and the breed. In 2006 the United Kennel Club accepted the Cão da Serra de Aires into their registry. The American Kennel Club has not yet allowed them into the Foundation Stock Service.