(*Please not this article is currently a "work in progress" we are waiting to hear back from others who have had Dogos in the US for many years, so we can offer a more complete look at teh history of the Dogo in the US.)

In the  1970's Raul Zaballos,(Las Pampas) an Argentine, brought Dogos with him to the United States of America. He eventually worked with another Argentine that came to the USA, Eduardo Lavado(Los Medanos). Raul is believed to be the very first person to bring dogos to the US. The old time hog hunters in Texas tell tales of the big white dogs that Raul brought to Texas, the hunters felt the dogs were too human aggressive to take hunting, so they didn't try any out at that point. Raul relocated to Florida.

In the early 1980's Ricardo Vidal and Ralph Kuris along with Don and JoAnn Carty imported several Dogos: Allipen Quebradas de Elion, Bandolero del Cumpaiken, Caricia Del Cumpaiken, and Hello Facundo de Agallas. These dogs became the foundation stock of Jajome Kennels, and the Cartys and Vidal started the Dogo Argentino Club of America, in the hopes of becoming the parent club for the Dogo in the United States, thereby preserving and protecting the breed.

Dogos began being shown in the US in the 1980's and a few breeders began popping up in the Northeastern states, and in Florida as well.

In the meantime Phil Owen (de la Primera, in Texas) imported some dogos to begin building his foundation stock...a couple dogs that he imported didn't suit his needs/wants, (Due to more pigmentation on the skin then Phil preferred) so he sold them to the Rankins in South Texas...(Gringa Argie Taina & Buitre Blanco del Zulu) these dogos became the Rankins foundation stock, and so began the hunting of the Dogo in the United States.

Now there are breeders of the Dogo Argentino world wide...and the breed has begun to show a wide variance in size, due to breeders "breeding for looks" in order to win shows, such as larger heads, heavier bone & for taller dogs rather than sticking with the uniform, harmonious balance, neither small, nor giant, as the brothers intended.

However, it is interesting to see that one thing has remained the same...Dogos bred strictly for hunting...meaning ONLY dogos who perform their function well, are bred to other dogos who also perform their function well...in hunting circles, the Dogo seems to have remained nearly unchanged, as is illustrated below, Left to right, Day de Trevelin with Amadeo Bilo,  Marcelo (Dogoman) with an Argentine bred- Dogo hunting pack, and the Rankins with their US bred- Dogo hunting pack:

If you observe the photos above, (Or any number of vintage photos and videos of Dogos) you will see they all look very much the same. One could certainly argue that this is what the Dogo was meant to look like, this is what a Dogo that is bred for hunting looks like. The brothers intended them to be "harmonious and balanced," with "no one feature standing out more than the rest." Carefully inspect the photos above...note their heads are not huge blocky heads, note their height is not excessive nor are they short, note that their bone is neither heavy, nor slight. No one thing on these dogs stands out above the rest of them, structurally, and some of these dogs are amongst the most famous dogos.

YES the massive heads, impressive bone mass, and towering heights of the Dogos that routinely win shows ARE impressive to look at, but they are NOT what the brothers intended this breed to become.

If you look at old writings from the brothers,  they state repeatedly that the Dogo is strong, healthy, immune to most canine diseases and issues...they state that the Dogo is "harmoniously balanced," with no one feature standing out apart from the rest...the above photos illustrate the harmonious balance, of a fully functional Dogo. Would these dogs win dog shows in modern times? Probably not...and mores the pity, because what the Dogo is becoming is not what it was meant to be. Any purist would have a hard time arguing against this point, because all you need to do is look at the old photos, watch the old videos. They look very much like the dogs pictured above.

Unfortunately people have changed the breed in many ways, and most bring with it grave consequences. No longer does the Dogo enjoy "immunity to most canine diseases & issues," now they are highly susceptible to these canine diseases, as well as allergies and other genetic  or structural issues that would have been eliminated if ONLY the functioning, tried and true dogs were bred. Now, with the breeders out there cranking out litter upon litter, breeding bigger bigger bigger, things like surgeries to repair ACL issues, dogos blowing out knees, elbows,  etc. from moderate exercise. This is a huge consequence of the "bigger is better" mentality, and unless people start understanding this, and correcting this, the Dogo will continue to deteriorate and it would truly be a sad sad day to see the Dogo 10-15-20 years from now be nearly physically crippled because of this "bigger is better" mentality.

In the hands of purisits who truly care about maintianing the function and the originally intended form as well as devoted hunters, the photos above show that things have managed to remain consistant for over 20 years... let us not forget that the Dogo is and was meant to be a hunting dog, and that bigger is not always better!