Rare and fairly unknown outside Italy, the Dogo Sardo was developed in the villages of Sardinia as an all-around working Molosser. Equally adept as an aggressive watchdog, protective cattle herder and a dedicated farmdog, the Dogo Sardesco is so valued by the Sardinian people that they routinely refuse to sell their puppies to strangers. Because of this attitude it is also hard to determine the breed's heritage. It is almost certain that its ancestry lies in the same root stock as the rest of the old Cane E Presa population of Italy, from which the mighty Cane da Branco, U Vucciriscu, Mastino Napolitano, Cane Corso, Bucciriscu Calabrese and others come from. The Dogo Sardesco is rarely seen outside its native region and no written standards are known to exist. Added confusion is created by reports of two separate Sardinian breeds under this name, one being the Pastore Fonnese Sardesco, a typical bearded sheepdog, while the real Dogo Sardo is known locally as the Cani Pertiatzu and is a shorthaired bully breed, similar to the Cane Corso. This confusion comes from this name wrongly being used for the Mastino Fonnese, which is the smooth-coated variety of the Pastore Fonnese, achieved by crossing the Fonnese Sheepdog with the Dogo Sardo. The Dogo Sardo is a very muscular and athletic working dog, differing from the Cane Corso in some facial features, having a longer muzzle and tighter skin. Some rural dogs have fairly lupoid muzzles, but their purity is questionable. The body is lean and strong, with a powerful neck and sturdy legs. The ears are usually cropped, sometimes completely removed, while the tail can be both docked or left in its natural state. The coat of the Canis Pertiatzus is short and smooth, usually red, grey, black or brindle in colour, but some working specimens are also common in other shades, as well as having slightly rougher coats. This rugged dogge rarely exceeds 24 inches in height, but since there are no set size limits, a variety of heights can be encountered.
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Sardegna has two breeds. This is the Dogo Sardo. A small molosser used
for protection of sheeps and as guarding dog.
As far as I know the Sardenians have a good population of these dogs. They are only breeded as woreking dogs. And as far as I know the Sardenians will not sell their dogs to people from outside Sardenia. It is belived that the Dogo Sardo is a mix of Pastore Fonnese and Canis Pugnax
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Still on the Sardenia Island there is another breed called Mastino
Fonnese or Pastore Fonnese. These dogs are more likely to be herding
dogs than molossers. They are excellent shepherds and extreemly
protective. No wolf or sheepthieves will have any luck when a Pastore
Fonnese is protecting.
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| It is very
interesting that this breed was the last to be repported as being used
as wardog. This happened in the year of 1912 in a war in Libya against
the "Senussi" revolt. The only other information I have on
these dogs is that the breed is in no danger of exstinction. They are
very agressive and protective. Like the Dogo Sardo it is only breeded
for working dog and the breeders do not sell to outside Sardenia
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In Abruzzo The most common herding dog was the Mastino Abruzzese. Some
people say that this breed is the same as the Pastore Maremmano. But
people from the Abruzzo area say that the Mastino Abruzzese was larger
and more massive than the Maremma. I have heard someone saying that the
original breed is exctinct. But this is not the case-- I saw one in
August but the pictures unfortunately didn't become good.
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Note Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.
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Dogo Sardo 
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