A Brief History
The Estrela Mountain Dog or Cao Da Serra Da Estrela as the breed is known in its native Portugal, is a guarding breed who originates from the Estrela mountain region in the North of the country. The breed is old and is thought to have evolved from the Mastiff dogs the Romans took with them into the Iberian Peninsula, this theory can not be proved or disproved it is safe to say the breed is very old.

The development of the breed was in the hands of the local farmers who highly prized the dogs' guarding ability. As the sheep and goats were often the sole source of livelihood for the farmer, only dogs who excelled in guarding were kept and bred from, this meant that the breed could be quite formidable and not to be taken lightly.

As transportation in the mountain region was difficult, the breed was kept fairly pure by the use of only dogs that occurred locally. The breed has developed over hundreds of years and is still a good guard as well as a family pet. The Estrela had to be capable of dealing with a full grown wolf and so it developed into a strong powerful dog who is supple and agile, and should show no signs of being cumbersome and slow, the breed has a fair turn of speed.

They are also very capable of clambering over very rough terrain. In the times before the wolf was wiped out, the dogs often wore heavy metal spiked collars to protect them against attack. At one time the breed caught the eye of the aristocracy and were a decorative addition to the villas and mansions where they were bred and sold as pets, in this way they moved out of the mountains and into the country as a whole. Today, there are not many Portuguese who have not heard of the Estrela.

The Breed Standard
General Appearance: A sturdy well built dog of Mastiff type, conveying an impression of strength and vigour.

Characteristics: A hardy guard dog, active and of considerable stamina.

Temperament: Loyal, affectionate to owners, indifferent to others, intelligent and alert. Inclined to be stubborn.

Head and Skull: Head long and powerful with broad slightly rounded skull. Moderate stop midway between the end of the nose and the slightly defined occiput. Muzzle tapers moderately, but narrow head and pointed muzzle are undesirable. Nose black. A pale or partly pigmented nose being undesirable. Nostrils wide. Jaws well developed. Lips black, meeting closely and not pendulous. Roof of mouth intensely pigmented with black.

Eyes: Neither deep nor prominent, of medium size, oval in shape with a calm and intelligent expression, preferably amber or darker. Black rimmed eyelids closing well with rather prominent eyebrows.

Ears: Small in relation to body, thin triangular, rounded at tips, set on moderately high, carried falling backwards against the side of the head with a small portion of the inner edge showing.

Mouth: Teeth very strong. Jaw strong and perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, i.e. upper teeth closely overlapping lower teeth and set square to the jaws.

Neck: Short thick and well set on. What may appear to be a dewlap especially in dogs, should be a thick tuft of hair under the throat. A true dewlap undesirable.

Forequarters: Forelegs straight, well muscled with strong bone, shoulders moderately sloping, rounded forearms and short pasterns which appear nearly vertical when viewed from the side.

Body: Back slightly higher at withers than at loins and preferably short. Chest deep and well sprung without being barrel chested. Loins short and well muscled. The lower line rising gradually but gently from sternum to groin.

Hindquarters: Thighs well muscled with moderate angulation. Hocks well let down. Slightly sloping croup. Vertical pastern when viewed from either front or back. Strong bone, well angulated.

Feet: Well made, neither very round nor excessively long. Thick well closed with abundant hair between pads, which are thick and hard. Claws well protruding but not overgrown, dark and preferably black. Dewclaws customarily removed from hind legs.

Gait/Movement: Distinctive free and easy with a driving purposeful jog-trot. Tendency for closeness behind acceptable without any signs of weakness. Dogs should not be penalised for carrying the head level with topline in motion.

Tail: Long reaching to the hock, well furnished with hair. Forming a hook at the end resembling a scimitar. When excited the tail passes the horizontal.

Coat - Two Types:
Long Coat: The outer coat is thick and moderately harsh, resembling goats hair, laying close over the body, flat or slightly waved, never curly. Undercoat dense and normally lighter in colour than the outer coat. Short and smooth hair on head, diminishes in length from the base of the ears to the tip, is thick and abundant round the neck and chest forming a ruff, particularly in the male. Thighs, lower hocks and backs of the forearms abundantly feathered, as is the tail. Front of legs short smooth hair. A woolly or fluffy coat is undesirable.
Short Coat: Short thick moderately harsh and straight, calling to mind goats hair, with shorter dense undercoat. Any feathering should be in proportion.
Recognised Colours:
Fawn: Which varies from burnt yellow through reddish gold to a deep red, with or without guardhairs. The fawn should never be so pale as to be a dirty white.
Brindle: Any of the previous permitted colours with a addition of streaks or smudges of black or brown varying in intensity.
Wolf Grey: Black and fawn hairs intermingled giving an all over pepper and salt appearance.
All black, all white, skewbald and piebald are unacceptable. Black muzzle or mask is highly desireable. White markings on chest, underside, feet or tail are tolerated but undesirable.

Size: Dogs 25.5-28 inches (65-72 cms) Bitches 24.5-27 inches (62-68 cms). A tolerance of 1 inch or 4 cms above these limits is allowed.

Faults: Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree. Male dogs should have two apparently normal testicles descended into the scrotum. The above is the breed standard approved by the Kennel Club, and is the benchmark which should be used at shows to judge the dogs against. Some points of the standard do need clarifying these are as follows:

• Although the Estrela is of Mastiff type, it must be remembered that it is not a Mastiff, and should not be too heavily boned or built. The Estrela is an active dog who is very agile and so should never be cumbersome. When the breed was in its developmental stages in Portugal, it must be remembered that it was owned by peasants who were often not able to feed their own families adequately, let alone a dog. Even today in Portugal many of the dogs survive on a very frugal diet, the pet food business not being what it is in the UK. The dogs are fed a lot of bread and rice, sometimes not seeing any meat for weeks on end.
• The mouth and jaws are extremely powerful, you only have to see how quickly an Estrela can demolish a bone to realise how effective these dogs would have been against wolves.
• The tuft of hair under the throat (especially in the male) is also for defence, coupled with the spiked collar the dogs often wore when on the mountains guarding flocks, this gives the dogs added protection.
• The eye should be amber in colour which in a black mask is very striking, but care must be taken that horrible yellow or even worse, greenish eyes do not creep in, as this will detract from the correct soft Estrela expression and give a fierce look to the dog.
• The ears are carried back against the side of the head (somewhat like a Whippet) giving the dogs excellent hearing. Ears set too high on the head give the impression of wearing a bonnet. Pendant, hanging, dead ears are also to be frowned on as this would seriously compromise the dogs hearing and devalue his ability as a guard.
• The body should be square and compact with no sign of weediness. The tail ideally should have a hook at the tip, some of the very best tails have a natural break at the end. There is no explanation for this occurrence and it does not seem that it can be bred for, it is random and is very rare indeed. The tail will often be carried over the line of the back when the dog is in motion or excited, but it should never resemble a 'Spitz' tail.
• With regard to colour, there has been a lot of controversy about this subject. Most Estrela pups are born with some white on chest or toes, this disappears very quickly most of the time, especially on toes. Sometimes the white will stay on the chest but gets duller in colour as the pup grows and by the time the adult coat appears it may well be indistinguishable. If you dig deep in the chest hair of many adult Estrelas you will find a small white spot, this is normal and allowed, unfortunately there have been some dogs who have been born with white patches on body or face, most will fade with age, a careful check must be kept on these dogs as care must be taken that they are not allowed to pass on this highly undesirable trait to progeny.
• Another problem which is cropping up with regards colour is the appearance of dogs which are almost black, often with bad eye colour as well. This is not acceptable to the letter of the breed standard, and I feel should be carefully looked at.

Owning an Estrela Mountain Dog
The breed is wonderful to own - but then I am biased as I have owned them for 23 years, longer than anyone else in the UK - and am totally hooked. At present I have 18 Estrela who all live outside in kennels which does seem to suit the breed, but saying that, most of the dogs in the UK live as household pets.

As a breed they are wonderful with children, I believe that an Estrela bitch would protect a baby with its life, which makes them the perfect guard or companion dog. Estrelas love human contact but they are not a demanding breed and will adapt to your household quite happily and fit in with you. The guard instinct is strong and so the breed can be noisy - which as far as I am concerned is their only drawback - this is controllable, however.

Being an agile breed it does require good high fencing to keep them in, but I have found that if they have never gotten out then they do not try. An Estrela pup grows rapidly and so they do cost a lot to rear, if it is done properly. As an adult they do not eat a huge amount, and in fact getting weight on them is often a problem. The breed seem to do well on quite a low protein diet, and they do not tolerate very rich food well.

Training should start as soon as you get your new pup home, start as you mean to carry on and you will have a great relationship for many happy years. The average lifespan is about 10 years which is good for one of the larger breeds, there have been dogs older than this, and at the moment I have two litter sisters who are 12½ - a very good age indeed.

I hope this has given you an insight into this lovely breed, and in the future if you are looking for the perfect breed for you, I hope you bear the Estrela Mountain Dog in mind.