In the 1920s Antonio Nores Martinez, a young student of
Córdoba in central Argentina, set out with his brother Augustin Nores Martinez to create a new breed of big game
hunting dog, especially wild boar. He wanted it to have the fighting qualities of the
Old Cordoba Fighting Dog, but with greater size and strength. He started with a
Bull Terrier bitch with considerable fighting ability, which he bred to a spotted fighting dog of
bulldog type. He selected and inter-bred their offspring, selecting for white coat colour and rejecting any animal that was
retrognathous (undershot). In the eighth generation he introduced a
Pyrenean mastiff bitch; by the twelfth generation his dogs were breeding true. They became well known for their success in the ring. Nores Martinez later introduced
crosses with a variety of other dogs including the
Irish Wolfhound,
Boxer,
Great Dane,
Bull Terrier,
Dogue de Bordeaux, and
Spanish Mastiff. In 1947 he presented his breed to the Club de Cazadores ('hunter's club') of
Buenos Aires; in 1948 a
breed standard was published in the magazine
Diana. Antonio Nores Martinez was murdered in 1956; however Augustin, now an international
ambassador, would continue to promote the Dogo during his travels. The Dogo was definitively accepted by the
Fédération Cynologique Internationale in 1973. == Characteristics ==