Dancing with Pyrenean Mastiffs

    I have enthusiastically written a respectable amount on Pyrenean Mastiffs origin and development over the past 20 years.  I have researched their recovery and general historical information as an original Aragonese dog breed both inside and outside of Aragón as well as beyond the Pyrenees.  I have opined on the necessary basic care and commented on the standards, among many topics related to our beloved Pyrenean Molosser. I thought that for a change for the new version of our website my contribution as a Pyrenean Mastiff fan should be less global and just tell how the privilege of sharing my daily life with such dogs has marked me.

Yvonne Blasa de la Tajadera del Tío Roy	Yoni Bi Gud de la Tajadera del Tío Roy

    Since I was a child the Pyrenean Mastiff has always been present in my life in one way or another. With a distant perspective of my childhood memories of those big spotted dogs that my family owned in Cuarte and Loarre (in the province of Huesca) together with my adult life as a Pyrenean Mastiff breeder next to 'la Tajadera de Roy' (the 'tajadera' really exists and it is an irrigation control gate in the high moor where I live; I added 'el Tío'...) it can accurately be said that I have always been surrounded by these beautiful Mastiffs.

Aria de la Tajadera del Tío Roy

        It has become apparent over the years that dog breeds would not exist without dog breeders, if we understand that breeders are those people who devote their spare and sometimes not so spare time to the difficult art of selecting and improving a dog breed using perserverence, intuition and patience.   This is not commonplace.  In breeding Pyrenean Mastiffs we have had an additional problem; the absolute absence of reference material or mentors.  Do not think that I am complaining, as this has been well compensated by the enjoyment of discovering new aspects of our dogs and in those of my colleagues in the Club del Mastín del Pirineo de España (CMPE) who, without exception, have always lent a helping hand as needed and vice versa.

Gobernuda II de la Tajadera del Tío Roy

      But the fact that one has responsibility as a breeder should not overshadow the enjoyment that he or she can gain from the company of these dogs. There is no doubt that living life with his or her dogs enables a breeder to better know the breed, to better observe the virtues and defects that our four legged friends have, and, if he or she feels such a responsibility, to look for a means of enhancing the former and correcting the latter.  Furthermore, if a breeder's entire life (supposedly an animal lover) is reduced to only dog shows, gaining championship points and technical judgments, then finally the breeder ends up losing perspective, dreams and even friends, since there are not many people who are interested in abiding such a boring person.   

Azerolla de la Tajadera del Tío Roy