Castro Laboreiro village is located at the North end of Portugal, being surrounded by Spain at North and East, and at South, by Peneda Ridge. This gives Castro Laboreiro a unique pictorial scenario. Life is hard in this mountainous wild country.Since long its inhabitants dedicate their life to herding. The isolation and the kind of living soon gave birth to a kind of dog with very specific features, which very much distinguishes them from all other Portuguese breed. It is difficult to figure out the origin of the Cao de Castro Laboreiro, but we can say they may have ancestry from Rafeiro Alentejano and Estrela Mountain Dog. If so, they could have come from the Tibetan plateau, irradiating then all over Europe. That was what happened with Estrela Mountain Dog as well. Nevertheless, it seems much easier to explain its origins in other ways: it was the man, the inhabitant of this country since prehistory, who domesticated the wolf and thus developed this breed. Naturally, this domestication was not something planned. Probably, some hunters sheltered some unprotected wolf orphan litter to be used as a meal whenever hunger would hit. Soon those small and shy animals became live and restless toys for the kids. The beast soon lost its wilderness and adapted to the group. Genetic mutations happened: to those weaker or to those man wouldn’t consider so morphologically functional or interesting; due to natural selection; or due to their isolation, which avoided the genetic contamination from other bloods, and obliged them to inbreed crossing.
STANDARD
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A WORKING DOG
It is thus a very old breed which keeps their lupine features still, like some fiercy reactions, and in some specimens their yellowish eye colour. The country doesn’t have huge pasture resulting in very small herds: some sheeps, a couple of cows and a horse maybe. So, there is no need for a shepherd dog, but yes for one who will be able to defend the cattle, which she watches by herself. The tipical behavior of the dog of Castro Laboreiro on job is: She starts by walking around the pasture looking for some hidden enemy, and only then does she lay down watching the cattle. If the herd has sheeps or other smaller animals she lays by their side; she knows they are in worse danger as they are the predator’s favourite lunch. 
PUPPIES
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