Welcome to Rey Gladiador, breeder of Presa Canario

On this website I would like to introduce you to Presa Canario and help you understand it better. It's the biggest and the best website dedicated to Presa Canario that exists. Through this page I would also like to showcase my dogs and breeding program.
Presa Canario
Here at Rey Gladiador we breed Traditional Perro de Presa Canario working with cattle, guarding, protecting, seizing animals and being our family companions 
Have a question? I'll be happy to help. If you would like to know about currently available puppies or future breedings, need to know if this breed is for you or can't find some information's about Presa Canario contact me via email rey.gladiador@gmail.com or message at +15025921262

QUALITY OF EUROPEAN DOGS WITHOUT RISKS OF IMPORTING

All my dogs were imported. I moved to USA from Poland in 2018 making the biggest move in Presa Canario breeding in America importing 17 dogs at once. 

Few snaps from the airport:

A few snaps from the airport
Why our dogs? 
  • All breeding dogs are temperament tested in different environments to show balanced and stable nerves. They are tested around people, animals, loud noises, unexpected situations 
  • All breeding dogs are tested in protection and with farm work guarding cattle, helping to move them and catching if necessary. 
  • We attend dog shows and working events to meet with other enthusiast of the breed and compare our dogs to other breeders dogs and exchange thoughts on the situation of the breed and what we can improve in our breeding programs. We owned first Courage Champion of the breed as well as World Champions and European Champions among other titles acquired by our Presa Canarios.
  • We breed to preserve the original Presa Canario with it’s history, temperament, looks and type. 
  • We breed to 1989 breed standard believing it was the most accurate description of the breed and all future standards were changed to wrongly adjust standard to changing population instead of breeding dogs according to standard that was already set. 
  • We register our puppies with UKC. All my dogs were FCI registered but UKC gives more possibilities and access to more dogs not discriminating other registries. We believe  in diversity and access to bigger number of dogs available to add to breeding program is of highest value for a breeder. 
  • Our puppies are born and raised in home environment around our family. Half of our house is set especially for puppies and dog moms and they also have access to our living areas playing with us, discovering, being exposed to everyday noises.
  • We raise our puppies and expose them to age appropriate stimulations according to windows of opportunity helping them reach their full potential to become confident, balanced and stable dogs, capable to be both great family companions as well as working dogs. Our goal is a multi purpose Presa Canario capable of adjusting to lifestyle of it’s owner.
 

OUR DOGS ARE FOR PEOPLE: 

  • who are active

  • are looking for a companion dog capable of protecting them and guarding their property

  • looking for dog with whom they can compete in sports, dog shows or use them as working dogs in many fields

  • who look for a loyal friend for life

OUR DOGS ARE FOR PEOPLE: 

  • who are active
  • are looking for a companion dog capable of protecting them and guarding their property
  • looking for dog with whom they can compete in sports, dog shows or use them as working dogs in many fields
  • who look for a loyal friend for life

THE IDEA

A dog breed is a group of animals that through generations of selective breeding has become uniform in performance, appearance, and selection history”

PRESA CANARIO is a multipurpose breed originally breed for guard and protection as well as conduct of cattle. Functional, serious, very intelligent while loving and dedicated towards his family.

I always say when choosing one particular function we can find a better predispositioned breed to do it – but we will not find another one that can fulfil many different functions at high level like Presa Canario do. A dog that can be shaped by his owner towards his needs and capable to adjust into situation. 

Presa Canario is best described by first breed standard from 1989: 

APPEARANCE: Dog of medium size, of harmonic build and rectilinear profile. Of rustic appearance and well proportioned. It’s mesomorphic with body longer than its height in the withers. Females are usually longer than males. Massive head of cuboid shape and of wide skull. Upper lips cover the lower ones. Mucous membranes are black. Teeth are strong, of wide implantation and well fitted. Eyes are brown and of medium size. Ears set high. Cylindrical neck, strongly muscled and covered with thick, loose and elastic skin. Visible but not excessive dewlap. High insertion of tail. Chest wide and of great volume. Belly slightly tucked.  Anterior (front) legs perfectly vertical, of wide and strong bones, with marked angulations allowing good amortization and long trot.  Cat feet. Posterior (back) legs powerful and muscular of medium angulations and vertical towards each other, with cat feet slightly larger than the anterior. Skin elastic and thick. Hair short without undercoat presenting certain roughness. Color brindle, fawn and black. Mask usually black. 

CHARACTERIts appearance shows extraordinary power. Sever gaze. Especially suited for function of guard and defense and to conduct cattle. Strong temperament. Skillful fighter what shows as an atavism. Bark serious and deep. Noble and gentle for his family, distrustful towards strangers. In the past frequently used as dog of combat. 

 

THE GOAL

To understand what good Presa Canario is we need to understand not only breed standard, but also history and function of the breed and how it shaped the dog we see today

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION

In the past dogs were breed to do a certain job, selection towards specific traits shaped dogs of different sizes, forms and characters with time. This is how breeds started to form. Their function started to determine how they look. In XIX century people decided to put those characteristics in writing and first breed standards were formed. Function was present but looks that followed started to go into first plan and after this dog shows were formed and quickly gained popularity. This approach slowly changed the dogs, witch indead started to look more uniform but with time majority of the breeds fall into the trap of chasing trends and exaggerations slowly created completely different dogs than their original forms (just think of Bullteriers, Great Danes, Mastinos Napoletanos – among many others).

 

Presa Canario started to become a breed in the modern way in the 1970’s. In 1989 first breed standard was officially accepted

Here in REY GLADIADOR we believe in keeping the original PERRO DE PRESA CANARIO as it was in the past. We didn’t accept changes in breed standard done in later years at least a few times. We believe in keeping this dog as honourable heritage of people from Canary Islands and a living relict from the past. After almost 20 years of changed standards now Government of Gran Canaria also forced changes in this modified standards and is forcing combecak to the original form from 1989 along with canceling name “Dogo Canario” and coming back to Presa Canario. 

Pedigree: What your dog is supposed to be.

Conformation: What your dog appears to be.

Performance and temperament: What your dog is.

THE PASSION

Presa Canario is may passion and my life. This is not a kind of dog that anyone can define and describe in some empty captions. This is a unique dog with unbelievable charm. Those that once felt in love with this breed will always stay faithful to them.

Me... now and more than 255 years ago
Ewa "Rey Gladiador" in 2010 and... 25 years ago. Who would guess, ha? 😉

Learning what Presa is, is an ongoing adventure. It’s meeting new people, traveling all around the world and many many hours spend on studding and finding articles, photos and even some small notes written somewhere in history. Through this site I would like to share my knowledge and experience with other fans of the breed. I stay in contact with breeders and owners of Presas all over the world, also from Spain and Canary Islands to have the opportunity to share my observations and learn from others.And there is always something new to learn and discover! 

One of my other passions are pedigrees. This made me create “Presa Canario Pedigree Database”, you will find there hundreds of pedigrees. * update * This part of the website was taken down after somebody else copied all of my work and created another database. I decided to move on and after some time joined their project as after all the most important thing is to help the breed.

Future of the breed are people who are educated and buy this dogs with full knowledge and responsibility

This is why through this website I will share my knowledge and articles about the breed along with informations about our life, our dogs and our breeding plans.

United we stand, divided we fall – we can’t go far alone, we need each other. Breeders need other breeders. We need to exchange our bloodlines, our knowledge, we need to educate public about Presa Canario and we simply need to help each other instead of dragging others down. This is why I created this new project: 

www.presacanarioclub.com

www.presacanarioclub.com/forum

It is just getting started, most of the things are missing but I hope slowly we will create a place when breeders, owners and future owners can connect outside of facebook, and also breeders will be able to advertise litters, and those interested in the breed find breeders in easier way. Recently facebook has been shutting down pages of breeders, groups being closed, any form of litter advertising is being deleted and people blocked. We need a new place to discuss and share our passion for the breed and this could be a good way to go back to the ruts when most of us met on old forums many years ago. 

* it is called Presa Canario Club but it will not be associated with any official or unofficial Club for the breed. It will be a place when all Clubs, all different points of view and approaches and events can be advertised and shared.

Berke de Rey Gladiador
Berke de Rey Gladiador, sold to Spain to kennel "del Rabizal"

It’s important for me that my dogs are placed with people who will love them and take best possible care of them till the rest of their lives. This are ultimate animals breed to keep sound mind, functionality and good type.

My dogs were exported all over the world and can be found all over Europe, North and South America, Africa and Asia. 

They are kept as companions, working dogs and attended dog shows. I believe in total dog. Paraphrasing Antonio Martinez “father of Dogo Argentino” I want to have dogs that can go straight from the show ring into the field and work.

Having the opportunity I would like to say – thank you – to Paweł Kasprzak, Omar Sobarzo Medina, Antonio Griñan, Manuel and Valeria Curtó and Ghostdog – for their help and good advises and also for letting me use their materials. The list got longer through the years but this were the people who were here in the beginning. 

REY GLADIADOR & RIVER CITY PRESAS

Who is a better match for a breeder than another breeder?

Me and Jim met through the dogs, same passion led to a new chapter in our lives and some huge changes. We married in 2017 and on April 19th 2019 we welcomed our precious son Evan. 

Me and Jim lived on two different sides of the world. Traveling can get you only this far so some decisions had to be made, language barrier for Jim meant that I made the move and so we did it.

Throughout the year we did probably the biggest and most expensive move this breed have seen and moved through the Ocean from Poland to USA 17 dogs of mine and of course me to. From than on Rey Gladiador is located in beautiful Kentucky, and our dogs have 100 acres of farmland to exercise and work at. 

I (Ewa) breed under kennel name REY GLADIADOR. Jim breeds under kennel name RIVER CITY.

We share the passion and we do share some dogs. But we are both individuals with our own approaches and goals, and even though they are very similar we decided to keep two separate breeding programs. 

To see Jim’s work and dogs visit his website: 

www.rivercitypresa.com

On this cute picture with Evan you can see puppy from our cooperation. This female is breed by RIver City, parents are Debo de Rey Gladiador and Kropka de Rey Gladiador. Parents of Debo are Hooch de Rey Gladiador and Ivy del River City – Ivy coming from many generations of Jim’s breeding program. 

 

REY GLADIADOR – DOG SHOWS

Junior Europe Winner - Yerba Yaisa de Rey Gladiador
One of the most titled dogs breed by me - Yerba Yaisa de Rey Gladiador. Pictured here in Geneva, Switzerland where she won Junior European Winner title
Foundation female Parisienne "Pari" de Presa Awangarda, ne of the most titled females of her time. Among other Junior World Winner. Pictured here in the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain
Marsha de Rey Gladiador and Hirrikirri de Rey Gladiador after World Dog Show in Milan, Italy where Marsha places 2nd and Hirrikirri 3rd from numerous entries. Photo was made in Venice, Italy on our way back.

SHOW TITLES:

  • World Winner – Junior
  • Europe Winner – Junior
  • World Winner Baby AMDA
  • Champion of Champions
  • Champion of Poland
  • Champion of Russia
  • Champion of RKF
  • Champion of Eesti
  • Champion of Lithuania
  • Grand Champion of Russia
  • Club Champion of Russia
  • Club Champion of Latvia
  • Club Champion of Poland
  • Veteran Club Champion
  • Poland Winner
  • Slovakia Winner
  • Lithuania Winner
  • Vilnius Cup Winner
  • Russia Club Winner
  • Best Puppy Eurasia
  • Junior Club Winner Latvia
  • Eurasia CAC
  • 2 x Junior Winner on international shows in SPAIN
  • Junior Club Winner
  • Junior Poland Winner
  • Junior Champion of Poland
  • vice Junior Europe Winner
  • Nominated for CRUFTS
  • Best Puppy in Poland
  • Best Baby
  • point missing to Champion of Slovakia
  • point missing to Champion of Lithuania
  • Multi Champion
  • Multiple Best of Breed
  • Best in Show Veterans II (Molosser Club Show)
  • BEST IN SHOW Junior IV – Moloss Club Latvia 2014
  • BEST IN SHOW Junior III
  • Best of Group II Junior – International Kielce
  • BEST IN SHOW BABY II
  • BEST IN SHOW PUPPY II
  • BEST IN SHOW VETERANS IV
  • BEST IN SHOW JUNIOR I (Club Show)

We had to stop dog shows due to ban on showing dogs with cropped ears. I believe   in continuing tradition of having cropped Presa Canario so we stepped out of show rings. We plan to come back to showing in USA.

REY GLADIADOR WORKING DOGS

WORKING TITLES:

  • Courage Champion
  • Courage Tests IV
  • Courage Tests III
  • Courage Tests II
  • Courage Tests I
  • Passed Temperament Tests (all breeding dogs)
    * Courage Tests were held by Dogo Canario Club CZ
    * Temperament Test made by Polish Kennel Club
  • Russian Ring
  • IPO BH
Multi Champion of Show and Work – KINGO – King Size de Presa Awangarda – my first Presa Canario

Tobatacaya de Rey Gladiador

March 2009 – me and 11 month old TOBATACAYA de Rey Gladiador, daughter of Kingo and Pari.