Catalan Sheepdog

This breed of herding dogs has the same origin as the other herding dogs of the high European mountains. It thus has as close relatives the Pyrenean Shepherd or the Bergamo Shepherd. Likewise, remains of dogs with similar size and structure have been found at sites dating back to the Neolithic period, around 2000 BC, such as those of Minferri. However, it was not possible to determine at what exact time the first dogs that could be considered as Catalan shepherds appeared, as there are only drawings dating from two hundred years ago to testify to its existence. Within the heterogeneous population of dogs living in the Pyrenees proper, it was possible to select different specimens that gave rise to different standards and breeds, such as the Small Pyrenean Shepherd, the Pyrenean Mastiff, the Basque Shepherd or the Catalan Shepherd himself. And within this group, it was still possible to select isolated sub-groups such as the Val d'Aran Shepherd, the Cerdagne Herding Dog and the short-haired Catalan Herding Dog, although they have no official recognition. In 1919, it was recognized as a Spanish dog breed. It was in 1929 that the first standard was established with two dogs, Tac and Iris, the two winners of a dog show. But this was not enough to stop the decline of the breed. The arrival of tourism in the Pyrenees, where most of the dogs of this breed were found, coincided with that of foreign breeds and the Catalan Herding Dog was no longer considered as anything other than a type of small underestimated dog in the face of foreign dogs that had already been selected and improved for many decades, so that it was abandoned and crossed with other breeds. What is clear is that the breed was waiting for an enthusiastic breeder who would start modern breeding of herding dogs and seek to establish its type. Such a breeder, at the origin of the recovery of the breed, arrived in the person of Ángel Jorba who, in the 1970s, starting from a dog discovered in Solsonès and Berguedà, began, under the affix Laketanya, the selective and rigorous breeding of the Catalan herding dog. It is the blood and characteristics of their dogs that flow in the veins of today's dogs and have forever marked the breed. All current breeding dogs carry genes from these two specimens. In 1982, the Club del gos d'atura català was created, various breeders appeared, and in 1982, a new standard was developed which remains in effect today. Today this dog has been able to multiply because it has proven its usefulness not only as a flock guardian but also as a companion animal and there are more than 4,000 specimens. A figure that is declining, because in this count do not enter dogs that do not come from specialized breeding farms and that are still found on farms, as well as short-haired varieties and Cerdagne herding dogs that do not meet the current standards set by the club for the breed. However, it is now considered safe from extinction. A great sculpture, the monument to the Catalan herding dog, pays tribute to it on the municipality of Castellar de n'Hug.