page_title: Saint Miguel Cattle Dog
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Saint Miguel Cattle Dog / History
caption_attribution_description: Cão Fila de São Miguel, Azores Cattle Dog (FCI 1)
context_page_description: The Saint Miguel Cattle Dog is a dog breed of molosser type originating on São Miguel Island in the Azores, an island chain which is one of the autonomous regions of Portugal. The breed was originally used as a herding dog for working with cattle.
context_section_description: The breed is named for São Miguel Island in the Azores, settled by the Portuguese, beginning in 1439. Another of the Azores, Terceira Island, is known for bullfights and cattle raising; large dogs used on cattle there were brought to São Miguel Island and contributed to the development of the breed.
  According to the original breed standard, the existence of the cão fila de São Miguel has been documented since the early 19th century. A breed standard was developed in the breed's area of origin and first published in 1984. This standard was recognised internationally in 1995 when the standard was published by the FCI, with the English name Saint Miguel Cattle Dog. Although described (and formerly used) as a cattle dog, the breed is actually a molosser, and is thus recognised by the FCI in its "Group 2, Section 2, Molossoid breeds" as breed number 340. Today it is primarily used as a companion dog.
  Traditionally, the tail is docked, and the ears cropped and rounded off on top, although these practices are now illegal in many areas. The reasons for these traditions are uncertain but believed to ensure tails and ears cannot be bitten by cattle when herding.
  Today, dogs from São Miguel are exported to North America and other areas of the world where they are bred and promoted for the rare breed market. Minor kennel clubs, and registries maintained by individual breeders, write their own versions of the breed standard, which may vary from the breed standard developed on the island of São Miguel and recognised internationally by the FCI. Dogs of the breed may be sold under the original breed name, cão de fila de São Miguel, or any of the many translations and versions of the name in various languages. The term Azores cattle dog has been applied by one breeds-index website, but does not appear to be a common name for the breed.
caption: Female with natural tail and ears (undocked/uncropped)
exif: {"Image Make": "HP", "Image Model": "HP psc1400", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ReferenceBlackWhite": "[0, 255, 128, 255, 128, 255]", "Image ExifOffset": "134", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:03:01 17:41:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1140", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "768", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF DeviceSettingDescription": "[1, 0, 19, 0, 32, 32, 32, 48, 65, 48, 32, 32, 32, 55, 65, 48, 32, 32, 32, 56, ... ]"}