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We're José António and Fátima and we both have "beirã" roots well neighboring of the Estrela Mountain. Zé Tó in the village of Sabugosa, district of Viseu, and Fátima in the small village of Salvador, district of Castelo Branco; one located west of the Estrela Mountain and the other at east. Together and already for some years we both have a real passion for the Estrela Mountain Dog.
About fifteen years ago we acquire in the Estrela Mountain (at the Tower), our first Estrela. No need to say that it was a dog without pedigree, vaccines, in one word, nothing. However we were lucky, cause buying a dog in the sidewalk is always a big risk, a shot in the dark (in the two months of age phase they're all sweet furballs...). But our RUBI was pretty: a big dog, very sweet and spoiled.
When our first son was born - Luís - Rubi didn't like it very much, cause till then he was the only "boy" in the house.
Whenever Luís cried Rubi always snarled. Afraid that something could go wrong, we gave him away. Some months passed and we went to see him with the new owner, you wouldn't believe how happy he was to see us!
Because the "taste" of Estrela Mountain Dog was already running in our vains, about one year later we acquire one more Estrela Mountain Dog, this time from a breeder. Since we liked so much Rubi, this new four legged friend inherited his name. Unfortunately Rubi2 didn't stay with us for long. He died runed over by a car during our vacations, he was nine months old.
After the "Saga" with two breed males, we decided our next dog would be a female. Therefore we bought Gorda (Fat). She was already five months old, very pretty and sweet.
Unfortunately some time later Gorda started get sick with skin problems. Later on we came to discover that our "girl" had Canine Leichmaniose. By then, in 1997, our second son - Pedro - was on it's way. After a lot of suffering, Gorda dyed.
As we say in Portugal "There's no twice without three times", we did something crazy: we acquire one more female, Lady, and one other female dog, this one was a Saint Bernard, our old Anuska that, even so she wasn't a Estrela, she has all the right to be in our site.
Our Lady, however, was not a a good specimen (she had some defects that could be penalized in the expositions), and we also had a Estrela male whose name was Bethoven, but none of them went to be presented in competition and today they both take care of a farm near Santarém.
In the meanwhile we were attending the main canine expositions and the passion for Estrelas was growing...
In 2000 we acquire Barroca, and with her the great madness of the expositions would start, reason why we created the "Canil Casa de Loas" kennel during the year of 2003.
Thru here, also passed Gonzo, better knowned as Max, who today has in his guard a farm near Torres Vedras.
The "Canil Casa de Loas" possesses, at the moment, some beautiful specimens of the Estrela Mountain Dog.
Beyond Barrocas, we now have Max, Triana, Rainha, Nira among others.
You can get to know them better on our photo gallery.
Summarizing: we're unconditional lovers of the Estrela Mountain Dog breed. We've got dogs that live with us since teen age, but we also have some that nobody would say they were three or four years old when they arrived here. Looks like they've been here since the beginning, cause they are friendly, sweet and very obedient. It's also remarkable them posture with the kids, with who they play and have fun in a reciprocal fellowship.
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