01/03/2026
Part I.-
THE WHY, WHAT FOR, AND HOW
For the development of this section, I confine myself to what was written by Antonio Nores and his brother Agustín in the books I reference by transcribing their own words.
Antonio Nores Martínez (1907–1956), whose dearest pastime was his love of big and small game hunting and fi****ms in general, seeing the need to create a “dog for big game hunting,” devoted himself to forming a new breed that would make this possible with few dogs. He himself named it the Dogo Argentino and said, “…in homage to our country I define it as: The most dog among all catch dogs and the one with the strongest catch among all dogs of other breeds.” Clarifying, “…so that they would be of general use for catching, guarding, and destroying wild animals, that is, a faithful companion for our home in the city and in the countryside, as well as in our big game hunting pursuits.”
This is verbatim from “THE DOGO ARGENTINO – By Dr. Antonio Nores Martínez, creator and promoter of the breed,” edited by his son Abel Nores, where he reproduces the two writings prepared by his father for the magazine Diana in 1947, narrating the goal pursued, which breeds he used, and the benefits each one contributed.
We know he began his work in the early 1930s, and in 1947 he publicly announced its culmination in the now-defunct magazine mentioned above. Previously, he had already shown his dogs in corral capacity and quality trials held in Córdoba and in San Luis, recorded in films of the time, and in hunts where he brought his Dogos and others he had given to relatives, friends, and fellow hunters.
Fortunately, and unlike most breeds created by man, Antonio explains that his love for big game hunting drove him to seek that, HIS DOG, detailing the virtues he would obtain from each breed, as well as the defects he needed to eliminate through rigorous culling. He also left his Standard in writing.
In the chapter “Brief Historical Review,” he points out each of the breeds and why he chose them; he told us the methods he used in forming several families, how he selected the breeding stock, and the qualities he expected from each breed.
CORDOBAN FIGHTING DOG (VPPC): As he explained, it was not a breed identifiable by similar external traits, since the visual identification (phenotype) of most was very different in shape and colour. What he essentially sought in them was the genetic information of each individual—the genotype—being of little use for any other activity than dog fighting.
These VPPCs were animals distinguishable at a glance by their compact body volume, prey-type heads with strong jaws and short muzzles in relation to the skull; rather low in height (40/50 cm) but wide, averaging slightly more or less than 30 kg for adult males. That is, ideal for fighting each other; as we say today, “not very far from the ground,” which allows them to get up more quickly and easily and makes it harder to topple them. All internally united by what their ancestors had carried in their viscera from hundreds of years of use for that purpose. Extremely hardy and adaptable to the environment; naturally resistant to pain and, above all, courageous.
These initial genetic conditions contained in the pure fighting breeds that gave rise to them, perfectly detailed by Antonio, as we will see below, mark the beginning of an idea. That is what captivated him. He himself tells us that as a child in that early-1900s Córdoba, he witnessed numerous fights, “…whose memory and admiration the patina of time has not been able to erase from our memory…”.
It was said in those years that among them he chose sires and dams of similar formats and of white colour, which common folk called the “Nores Type.”
He notes that, “…starting from that base I set out…to fix a new breed that would gather the necessary conditions to be a useful dog for big game hunting…”.
From this, it follows that he prioritised courage and resistance to pain, and from there inserted the other pure breeds with which he would shape his dog, “brave above all else.”
Little by little, patiently and scientifically, he achieved racial homogeneity and genetic determination.
Those animals, he tells us, came from crossbreeding between the English Bulldog and the Bull Terrier. From the former, its courage and strength; and the same traits plus better scenting ability, white coat, and long jaws from the latter.
He opted for white-coated dogs for his future Dogo Argentino for better visibility in the field, day and night.
Some fighters, he recounts, would cross them again with the Bull Terrier, while others used the (German) Boxer or the Dogue de Bordeaux, “according to each enthusiast’s criterion,” which gave them greater height and weight.
He then obtained, with these last two, greater height, strong jaws and excellent masseter muscles, and more agility, while maintaining their bravery, pain resistance, and fighting ability. He also tells us that a dog crossed with Mastiff (possibly Spanish Mastiff, in Agustín Nores’ expert opinion) was used by some breeders of those fighting dogs, for the same intrinsic conditions as the others.
From these crosses, he continues, “a fairly standardised dog was obtained,” of which he “PERSONALLY” selected “those of white colour; with black eyes and nose, heavy skull, muzzle as long as the skull, sunken and hooded eyes (lion-like type), broad and deep chest, short body and sculptural musculature, thick long tail that somewhat spoiled the harmony of the set, with exceptional qualities for fighting.”
Up to this point is what Antonio takes as the starting point of his project, whether from third parties or bred by himself, which, I repeat, he calls V.P.P.C.
From them, he began his arduous work.
With those great gladiators, to provide “greater height, without losing their bravery and at the same time giving them a countryside instinct, I had to carry out a series of crosses using stallions and dams chosen from the purebred BULLDOG, GREAT DANE, PYRENEAN MASTIFF, BULL TERRIER, AND BOXER, always keeping as a base and guide the old Cordoban fighting dogs, which I so many times saw perform feats of courage in the fight, excellent due to the atavism of so many generations of fighters.”
With them and their descendants, selecting them generation after generation, he formed “…several families of specimens that, in my judgement, possessed the somatic and psychic conditions I sought to fix; and eliminating every unit that did not respond satisfactorily in a deep fight…”.k
Horacio Rivero
