Flock guardian in the Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela

The Estrela Mountain Dog or Cão da Serra da Estrela is a Portuguese breed of large flock guardian dog indigenous to the Serra da Estrela mountain range in central Portugal.

History

The breed has been developed in the mountains of Serra da Estrela, in what is now Portugal. A breed society, the Associação Portuguesa do Cão da Serra da Estrela, was established in Lisbon in December 1986; the statutes of the association were published early the next year in the Diário da República, the official gazette of the Republic.

Description

Use

In the twenty-first century, some of the dogs have been used to protect flocks from Iberian wolves – which are themselves a protected species.