Fila Brasileiro
Temperament:
The Fila Brasileiro originates from Brazil. The dog has a strong protective instinct. He also loves to form close bonds and is usually suspicious of strangers. Therefore, the Fila Brasileiro is particularly well suited as a guard dog. However, he is not a dog for a kennel or a city apartment. The animals need a lot of exercise. Since they are very large and strong dogs, consistent leadership and training is required. The Fila Brasileiro requires love and recognition of the close environment. Therefore he is well suited as a family dog.
Characteristics
The Fila Brasileiro is a big dog. The males can grow between 65 cm and 75 cm. The females grow a little smaller. They reach a growth size between 60 cm and 70 cm.
Males grow up to 50 kg on average. A female reaches an average weight of 40 kg. With good care, the quadrupeds live between 10 and 14 years.
The coat of the Fila Brasileiro is short, smooth and tight. It grows very dense and close to the body. The animals come in all sorts of colors. However, there are no white, gray or spotted dogs. The Fila Brasileiro is usually solid colored or lightly striped. Some animals also have black or white markings on the chest, paws or tail.
The dogs have a thick, flabby skin that loosely covers the body.
The Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) classifies the Fila Brasileiro in the group of the Molossian counted. This is due to his compact rectangular appearance of his body. His head looks beefy, his muzzle strong. Nevertheless, the Fila Brasileiro is well-balanced in proportion.
The animals have a medium-long, strong tail. When the Fila Brasileiro is excited or alert, it carries the tail high upright and slightly curved.
The animals are very sporty and have an athletic elegance. Despite its size and weight, the Fila Brasileiro is a very agile dog.
The front paws of the animals are strong and grow parallel. The hind legs are very muscular.
The Fila Brasileiro is usually very calm. The animals have a High tolerance. It is hard to really tease a Fila Brasileiro. However, he has a lot of Courage and Determination. The animals are Very faithful and reliable. You protect you and your loved ones very much.
The Fila Brasileiro likes to cuddle. Therefore, he will be very popular with your children. Affection and Recognition are very important for the Fila Brasileiro. He wants to become a part of the family. He will gladly form an emotional bond with you.
Towards strangers, however, the Fila Brasileiro usually shows the cold shoulder. With dogs or people that the Fila Brasileiro does not know, he does not want to play or cuddle so much. Therefore, the dogs are ideal as guard dogs or protectors.
His compact build does not prevent the dog from doing sports with you. However, he is not as persistent as some hunting dogs. So you should not overchallenge him. But this will be difficult to do.
The Fila Brasileiro instinctively wants to defend his family or pack. Since they are very suspicious of strangers, they should be well socialized at an early age. Then you will be able to train your Fila Brasileiro easily.
Coat care:
Shedding:
Energy level:
Trainability:
Children suitable:
The right food
The Fila Brasileiro does not have high expectations of what goes into his bowl.
However, they are very large animals, so you can make it easier for your dog to eat with a trick. To do this, place the bowl on a small table. There are also stands for dog bowls. This way, large quadrupeds can dine more comfortably.
Compared to some other dog breeds, the Fila Brasileiro has an increased risk for Hip Joint Disease. Therefore, you should pay attention to it, that your four-legged friend stays slim. Especially in the growth phase you should pay attention to the Pay attention to the quantity and quality of the feed. Too much weight can have a negative effect on the hip joints.
You should give your Fila Brasileiro a rest after the meal. This way you can reduce the risk of Gastric torsion minimize.
In general, it is a very good tactic to encourage your dog to earn his food. So you can do sports or play together. After that, the animal is then rewarded with food. This way you will have more fun together, your Fila Brasileiro will not get fat and you will minimize the risk of gastric torsion.
You should also use treats sparingly. These are snacks that are secretly fattening. Better reward your dog with recognition.
All the treats you give your Fila Brasileiro, subtract from the calorie count of his daily portion. There are snacks that do not contain sugar or clean the dogs teeth by chewing. Of course, these treats are best for snacking.
For a slim line of your four-legged companion is also suitable a Food with a high meat content. You can tell because meat is listed first on the package. Lots of meat means lots of protein for your Fila Brasileiro. This will make him big, slim and strong without suffering from overweight.
However, you should avoid food with a high grain content.
Fila Brasileiro Care
The Fila Brasileiro is not very demanding when it comes to its care. However, there are some points that still need to be considered.
For the Coat care is that enough weekly brushing off. You should take a special look at the Floppy Ears have. You should check them regularly for deposits and dirt and clean them.
Especially before the acquisition you should be aware that a Fila Brasileiro is a very large animal. This also needs a lot of exercise and employment. Therefore, a Fila Brasileiro is probably rather not suitable for a city apartment on the 5th floor. Especially if there is no elevator in the house. It is quite difficult for such large dogs to walk steeply up many steps.
Maybe you can carry the puppy in the beginning. But since a Fila Brasileiro can weigh up to 50 kg on average, this will soon change.
It is good if you give the animal regular freewheeling and much movement can offer. A large area where he can distinguish himself as a guard dog would be ideal. Nevertheless, you should of course exercise your Fila Brasileiro regularly. Also you should keep the dog mentally exhaust.
The Fila Brasileiro is an animal that values social bonds and friendships. Therefore, he is well suited as a family dog. Allow him to make close friends. He will like that. Constantly seeing new companions or other four-legged friends by his side will please him less.
Since the Fila Brasileiro is very emotionally attached and needs a lot of exercise, it is also not possible to keep him in a kennel. He would wither away in that.
When training your Fila Brasileiro, you should make sure that you let him socialize as early as possible. This will make it easier for you to raise him later. The only hurdle is namely his aloofness to strangers. Therefore, these animals often show a too committed protective behavior. Be consistent and try not to let this behavior get out of hand. Then you will have no social problems with your Fila Brasileiro.
However, you should always be aware of how much power such a large animal has. He should obey you unreservedly at all times. It is not an advantage to have no control over such a bundle of strength. Physically, you will hardly be able to put a stop to this beast.
Take good care of your Fila Brasileiro and show him enough appreciation. Then the four-legged friend can live up to 14 years.
Suitable accessories
When buying accessories, you should first of all keep in mind the future size of your companion.
Therefore buy him, for example, a Stand for his food and water bowl. Baskets and blankets you should also buy already in the size for the later adult animal. His sleeping place or resting place should be well padded due to his high weight. This way you can prevent bed sores.
Buy a Brushto comb the fur of your four-legged companion.
leash, collar should also be part of the basic equipment. Also a sturdy transport box.
Otherwise, with large dogs you must always use the Consider financial aspect. This is best done before the purchase. Such large dogs, for example, consume much more than their smaller counterparts.
Origin & History
The Fila Brasileiro comes from Brazil. There he is considered National dog. It used to serve owners of large plots of land as a Watchdog. Farmers appreciated the dog very much. The Fila Brasileiro was an attentive and faithful protector. He defended the property and the animals against all kinds of predators or intruders.
The Fila Brasileiro was even versatile. For example, it was also suitable for driving herds of cattle to the desired destination. This is a difficult task. Sometimes he was even used for hunting wild boars. He also tracked and pursued the scent of escaped slaves.
However, the Fila Brasileiro was only used in such a versatile way in South America.
In Europe, he served exclusively as a faithful companion and guard dog. He was also very suitable as a family dog. This is the origin of his present calm disposition.
In the year 1947 the breed breeding of the Fila Brasileiro was started. A short time later he appeared in Germany.
The FCI finally recognized the breed in the year 1960 gets the spotlight.
1961 the first club for Fila Brasileiro was founded in Germany. However, this had to close and was in the year 1986 was founded again. This association takes care of the breeding of the Fila Brasileiro breed until today.
Accordingly, this breed of dog also has a long tradition in Germany.
