MONTERIA
"THE SPORT OF HUNTING WITH DOGOS"
by: Gary Rankin 8/94
When Jo-Ann and Debbie told me that the fall edition of the newsletter was going to be dedicated to the hunting Dogos, I got inspired and offered my help. They said it would be informative to have someone, like me, that is actually hunting with their Dogos write a column. So I told them I'd be honored and agreed to do my best to produce photos accompanied with text about this unusual pastime of mine known in Argentina as "Monteria".
Before I start, let it be known that a journalist I am not, but a hunter I am.
FRIENDS FOR LIFE
A brief history of our tradition and how and why we got involved with Dogos.
One cool February evening my dad phoned me to let me know he picked up a new hunting dog, and he wanted me to come over and see him. I asked him if it was the Dogo we had talked about getting. He simply said, "Just come on over and take a look." At that time, I had only seen pictures of a Dogo, so as soon as I hung up the phone I hurried over to his house. It was almost dark when I got there and sure enough there he was, big, white, and friendly. Just like the pictures I'd seen.
As it turned out Leroy & Sue (my father and stepmother) had driven up to Austin earlier that day to pick up the puppy. I say puppy, he was about a year old at that time, but still a puppy. The night was getting cool and the temperature was down around the mid-forties. Not real cold, but cool enough for a jacket. I opened the gate to the kennel where the Dogo was and knelt down to greet "Zulu", my future hunting companion. Immediately, he snuck his cold nose inside my open jacket and under my warm arm. Soon he began to warm up and he quit trembling long enough to pull his face out and give me a big wet kiss. That was the first time I met a Dogo in the flesh, and he instantly stole my heart. I had undoubtedly made a new friend. I sat with him for a long while and finally decided to go Inside to visit with Leroy, Sue, and my Uncle Ken. When I did, Zulu followed me, so I let him come in the house with me.
After we got inside, I teased my dad about buying an over grown lap dog as Zulu lay down in front of the fireplace. My uncle Kenneth and Cousin Lee were still there and we all had a good laugh. Then we talked in length about the future possibilities of our involvement with this unique new breed of hunting dogs. We speculated that if everything we had heard and read about Dogos were true, we could put a pack of dogs together that would change the complexion of hog hunting, as it is known today. It was then that we decided to look for a mate or two for Zulu.
To our knowledge, the only other Dogo in South Texas was a two year old female named Gringa. She belonged to Philip Owen, the person we bought Zulu from. We assumed she was probably not for sale. A phone call to Phil revealed a Dogo breeder up North that had top quality females approaching breeding age. Phil also mentioned that he might be willing to work out a deal with us on Gringa.
After getting to know Zulu better, we, as a group fell in love with this exceptional animal. His temperaments, personality, size, you name it, and we all fell in love with him.
The Rankins in general have been involved with dogs for many generations. Over the last fifty or more years, we have hunted a variety of game with many different breeds of hounds. For the last twenty to twenty-five years our primary quarry has been wild (also called feral) hogs. Using a small pack of hounds we locate a wild hog herd then release a pair of catch dogs, usually Bulldogs, to capture the prey. Naturally, when we first heard of the Argentino Dogo we became very interested in the breed. Upon further research we became more and more impressed with the background and basis of this new breed of dogs. This prompted us to locate, purchase, and ultimately observe, the new breed in action.
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