The Lobero

This first mention, though it does not name the wolf dog directly, records the oral tradition that has reached our own day, which holds that the crossing of bitches with wolves was common. The likelihood that the author is referring to today's lobero is high:

«Las perras estando calientes se toma muchas vezes de lobos, y de la casta que sale de aquellas mezclas y ayuntamientos salen muy buenos y rezios perros […] Son los tales perros muy buenos, muy ligeros y vigilantes, y ladran mucho, y los que nacen de los lobos y perras, son muy enemigos de los lobos.»

Published in Madrid at the Royal Printing House, Juan de Arfe y Villafañe, a native of León, lists the wolf dog among the main canine varieties, pairing it with the shepherd dog for sharing its figure, coat, pointed muzzle, erect ears and guarding instinct:

«[…] podemos determinar como mas semejantes entre sí en primer lugar el perro de pastor y el perro lobo, pues no solo son bastantes conformes en su figura y pelo, en el hocico puntiagudo y en las orejas derechas, sino que su propio instinto los mueve á seguir y guardar el ganado.»

«Perros de Pastor: El Español» · 19th-century illustration · Source being identified. «El típico perro de pastor de nuestra Patria tiene algo del lobo, del mastín y del perro común, y es guarda incomparable.»

The Marquis of Amezaga, in a letter from Paris dated 3 December 1782, sent the naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc (Count of Buffon) the description of a specimen brought from Cádiz by the Duke of Bourbon. The description, published in the Complete Works of 1832, is extraordinarily precise in its morphology:

«El Duque de Borbón había traído de Cádiz este perro que, aunque muy joven, tenía con muy corta diferencia el tamaño y la figura de un lobo adulto, bien hecho y de grande estatura […] Su cabeza es estrecha y su hocico prolongado, conformación que le da una fisonomía fina […] Las orejas son muy cortas y parecidas a las de los perros de pastor […] he inferido que traía su origen de la raza primitiva.»

The morphological match between this 1782 description and today's PLE type is remarkable: elongated muzzle, erect ears, bicolour coat with a woolly tawny undercoat, and a plumed tail curled forward.

Comparison drawn up by the association: Buffon's description (1782) of a specimen from Cádiz, set against a present-day Spanish wolf dog from Sotopalacio, Anievas, Cantabria (2014). The morphological match is extraordinary.

First press reference to the wolf dog: a notice for a lost specimen, with a black leather collar, cropped ears and large size. The date is more than half a century before the creation of the German Shepherd.

Diario Constitucional de Palma de Mallorca, 13 November 1837 · «Ayer se estravió un perro lobo con un collar de pellejo negro, con las orejas cortadas, de tamaño grande: se gratificará su hallazgo con 15 sueldos.»

Account of a royal hunt in the woods of El Pardo where a dog was shot «in the belief that it was a wolf» because of its similar appearance. This confusion, far from anecdotal, was frequent until recent times in the areas where the lobero survives.

Diario El Español, 1847 · Chronicle of a royal hunt in the woods of El Pardo: a dog was mistaken for a wolf and shot.

This work describes the Wolf-Dog as a distinct native species, drawing on Buffon and on Linnaeus, who named it Canis Pomerania. The description matches the present-day type:

«Es algo menor que el Braco y tiene el hocico oblongo, las orejas rectas y puntiagudas; la cola horizontal o levantada, y enroscada hacia su cara inferior; el pelo corto en la cabeza, y largo, sedoso y lácio en el cuerpo; su color es blanco amarillento, rara vez pardo, negro o leonado. Muestra bastante apego a su amo, y está dotado de un valor superior a sus fuerzas.»

A further mention that groups the wolf-dog with the livestock dog and the Siberian dog as kindred varieties, acknowledging its existence in Spain as a type distinct from the mastiff and the greyhound.

The writer and journalist Manuel Murguía publishes in this liberal newspaper a literary description that captures the silhouette of the native lobero with precision:

«En el portal hallaréis un hermoso perro, un perro de la raza aborígena del país, con su cuerpo delgado y esbelto, con su hocico puntiagudo, con su larga cola, con sus piernas delgadas y musculares y con sus orejas erguidas, que os hará recordar la figura del lobo que en las mañanas de invierno llama a las puertas del aldeano con su ahullido prolongado y triste.»

Published in Madrid, this treatise cites the wolf-dog on page 97, after the mastiff, the greyhound, the pointer and the water dog, with a functional description still valid today:

«El perro-lobo que puede servir lo mismo para custodiar la casa que para guardar un ganado.»

A work of great value: the author makes direct observations of the wolf dog in Spain and places it within the European stock of wolf dogs found in England, Holland, Germany and Thuringia. He precisely notes its qualities as a guardian:

«El perro lobo es muy vivo, sagaz y diestro, aunque inclinado a morder; pero es un buen guardián […] Todos los perros-lobos tienen las mismas cualidades; amantes en extremo de la libertad, de nada sirven cuando se les sujeta. Son tan fieles como incorruptibles, y excelentes para guardianes, pues vigilan de día y de noche. El perro lobo no abandona la casa.»

The writer mentions the wolf dogs of the Rural Guard in Melilla, which had gained a certain fame among the officers posted there:

«Estos guardias rurales llevan para su defensa escopeta, faca y un perro con aspecto de lobo. Tales perros han tenido una cierta notoriedad, y raro será el oficial á quien le haya tocado prestar allí sus servicios por algún tiempo que no recuerde a los célebres perros de la Partida.»

From 1900 onwards, the Spanish press ran notices of lost or for-sale wolf dogs. Tellingly, some notices distinguish between «perro lobo» and «perro lobo alsaciano» (Alsatian), showing that the advertisers themselves told the native lobero apart from the newly arrived Central European breeds. By 1912 there are already mentions of police dogs coming from northern Europe.

In an interview with the Basque novelist, the journalist notes that a wolf dog greets the visitor at the door of the writer's house, describing the animal as the author's «magnificent companion».

One of the most notable references: the pursuit and killing of the bandit «Pasos Largos» in Sierra Bermeja, in which the Guardia Civil used the wolf dog «Tommy» as a scout. The episode was reported in the press in 1933 and analysed in the Revista Técnica de la Guardia Civil in May 1934, under the title «El perro como auxiliar del guardia».

This shows that the wolf dog was the first dog used by the Spanish security forces, before the founding of the canine training schools: the National Police began with 8 German Shepherds in 1945, and the Guardia Civil Training School was not created until 1951.

«El perro como auxiliar del guardia» · Revista Técnica de la Guardia Civil, May 1934 · Sergeant Antonio Gil Ramírez and his men pursued the bandit «Pasos Largos» through Sierra Bermeja «validos de un perro explorador» — the wolf dog «Tommy».

One of the main establishments breeding and selling working dogs in post-war Spain. In its commercial letter, Perreras Castellanas expressly offers «Lobos del País» (native wolf dogs) and «Lobos Policía Alemán» (German police wolf dogs) as separate products. Its catalogue, still in 1960, lists at separate prices the «Lobo Policía» —the native lobero— and the «Lobo Policía Alemán». The company's heir confirmed that they used to sell both breeds separately.

This document is direct commercial proof that the Spanish lobero and the German Shepherd were perceived and marketed as distinct animals well into the 20th century.

Commercial letter from Perreras Castellanas · It expressly mentions «Lobos del País» and «Lobos Policía Alemán» as distinct products.