The HORRIFYING War Hounds of the Conquistadors: How the Spanish used dogs to terrorize the New World 

Found the dog breeder! That’s above average knowledge levels

Absolutely, the presa canario is probably both a descendant and a similar phenotype to those dogs of old.

They crossed alanos with greyhounds and celtic hounds (wolfhounds/deerhounds) to make boarhounds (and crossing bull with sighthound is still how you make boarhounds). The boarhounds that were trained to attack humans would be called "bloodhounds" (not to be confused witht the st huberts bloodhound we know today). Bloodhounds were a big deal across all the colonial empires for terrorising and subjugating both natives and slaves. It wasn't an exact science with rules, so some of the bloodhounds would be just like alanos, others nearly like greyhounds, but most somewhere in between. Somewhere in between could end up bigger and more imposing than both bulldogs/alanos and the sighthounds, because you get the height and length of the sighthound with the strength of the bulldog. I have cousins that still breed boarhounds today, and cross bull terriers with greyhounds or deerhounds, the progeny can weigh up around 120-130 lbs. Bloodhounds in colonial times were recorded to weigh 170 lbs at times, and this is despite the fact bullmastiffs and the like typically were described as weighing maybe 60 lbs, even less sometimes. Fila Brasileiros are an example of a surviving "bloodhound". Most lineages around the world went extinct, as they were considered barbaric and dangerous and also just redundant when slavery was abolished. Cuban Bloodhounds, "Old Southern Boarhounds", Manila Bloodhounds and "Siberian bloodhounds" (really great danes) are referenced in historical texts. The Bully Kutta of India is likely another example of a surviving colonial bloodhound.

@@digs1223 that dog looks insane. Id surrender in a minute if i say an armie of those.

@@digs1223 No the modern presa is not a similar phenotype at all. Maybe a slender, old-line Bardino Majorero. She wrote "a muscular Great Dane". I'd say, looking at period art and modern performance dogs, many also looked like Bull Arabs or bully greyhounds (aka bull-lurchers, Aussie piggy dogs, kangaroo dogs).

So true, we are programmed to ignore dogs, that is how dogs snuck into our camps in the first place, and our tendency to overlook them and not take them seriously persists.

The account of unleashing 20 giant mastiff during the height of the battle was pretty incredible. Imagine suddenly being hit by a wave of such beasts!

Who can forget Shakespeare: “Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war”.

​@@jackwolf3948that's incredible, how the hell did the dogs differentiate between fighters though?

​@@Sawrattandudes in armour vs naked snack.

They didn’t shoot him with a 9mm Glock…derrr😂

Poor Bruto!

​@@KA-om9ozI wouldnt be surprised if they did, its Florida after all

The Spanish were Romans. There was 1000 years between the 2 eras.

@Tickles I was about to say lol

Exactly

But similar to dogs and wolves, we also crave dead flesh

you ever heard of skinwalkers motherfucker? You really think y'all powerful enough to fuck with America like how you think yall do? Your brain is shrinking

I appreciate it! Channel is growing pretty fast and this videos are fun to make. Happy you liked it.

Better off reading a history book, and not getting your education from 8 minute RU-vid videos. It's not the same thing.

another neglected point is clarifying that prior to the arrival of the spaniards, there was no "indigenous" or "native" identity. people identified by the city-states they were from, and they did not all get along. Additionally, just as with the natives of new england, they were forced to make decisions that they thought might preserve the safety of their own city-states and people, and not necessarily the lives of their enemies.

European invasions only destruction

This is true. They used the enemies of the Aztecs against them having beaten them in battle. However we rely on the memory of Bernal Diaz. I think his life was PTSD daily .

@wonka- don’t bother with any real history bro, this clown thoughtlessly swallows & then regurgitates the most debunked anti-European social marxist propaganda prepared as a political weapon against modern white people

Cope harder

Shock and awe is the perfect way to put it. I’m honestly a little upset the terminology hadn’t occurred to me when making the video. Whether the Spanish, French, or modern military and law enforcement, dogs are frightening. Just their presence makes people uneasy. As for the Greyhound bite, my father had a wolfhound (similar build but much bigger) and he told me stories about how the dog would run by and slice the pants of people around the knee. If they want to they can draw blood easily.

@@datesanddeadguys I guess this why they used the greyhound mastiff combo, to devastating effect.

Something way more primal about a dog chasing you hellbent on eating your face rather than a human on horseback 😂 couldn't even imagine war hounds. Buddy had a wolf/shepherd mix, named Benny. While sitting on their couch Benny found it amusing to put his front paws on back of couch behind you and literally put your head in his mouth, just standing there.. was senior in highschool and first time was utter fright.

The lost Roman hounds sound terrifying the Mastiff is the closest breed today but way smaller, these dogs were 200lb as a minimum whereas the Mastiff maxes out at 200lb and that's very rare. They also had spiked collars and blades on their forelegs pointing backwards to stop people grabing them.

They were docked tails and ears, absolutely cruel as fuck but that is how they were bred. They may or may not had skull caps depending on sources.

I appreciate the support! I’m excited about it. Its growing pretty fast and the topics are fun to research and put out there. Thank you.

It must have felt very alien.

Dont forget they had a lot of native allies (they were the main Manpower)

Absolutely. I have thought about diving into that before. The rival nature of these groups really prevented unification. Famously native groups like the Tlaxcala and others in Mexico were thrilled to team up against the Aztecs. The Westo in South Carolina eagerly sold their rivals to colonists as slaves. The Crow teamed up with Custer against the Lakota. Without help, conquistadors and colonists would likely have been forced out, at least for a time.

@@datesanddeadguys Divide & conquer, a tale as old as time.

@@datesanddeadguys Divide et impera

That's why a lot of breeds have 2 variations, the "contest" and the "workforce". Contest are more standarized, while workforce if more focused in doing tasks right. You wont ever see an spanish mastiff contest looking like in a farm. Farm dogs are way more lean. Shepards share they best shepards dogs, not the more good looking. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-G2fMkPsInQs.html&ab_channel=NazaretMart%C3%ADnC. In this video you can see a girl making puppy grew up with the sheeps so the puppy is part of the herd.

It’s terrifying. Put it up there in ways I would least like to die.

They used a breed of Spanish Greyhounds used for hunting.

@@datesanddeadguys They also used Alanos extensively.

That is a frightening looking dog.

The greyhound originates with the arabs in north africa they were used a hunting dogs, they were much larger and much more robust than modern greyhounds

Pawprints of history is hilarious title. A lot of the book is available online, including most of the section on the conquistadors. You can check it out on Google Books here: books.google.com/books?id=ndYgity6bNwC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

@@datesanddeadguys thank you for the link.

INDEED....well put... IT'S not relative to one side ..it's nature.

You ok? :(

Nice fairy tale; were they also vampires..?

@@joseanfigueroa8785 You obviously ignore how powerful are the leaves. Same effect as the shit You shove up your nose and brain

Spanish didn't have unknown territory they invasion/slavers/colonist.

If you want to learn, don't think that this guy's talk is accurate. Pure Yanky anti Spanish propoganda!

​@plusultra6199 nope all its all true Europoor keep coping😂

No te fías de los Anglosajones , ellos inventaron la “ leyenda negra “ para desprestigiar a los Españoles!! 👍

Cuban doggo and Uruguayan Cimarron are some of the dogs that can be traced to the original that the spaniards used in America, naturally bred with native wild dogs. Irish Wolfhound is a really big dog 😅

One more note, one ancient civilization that used big mastiff type dogs to hunt and go to war was the Assyrians, they predated the Roman empire. To do a little research on the gamest dog breeds Google or search RU-vid for Doctor Carl Semencic creator of some of the first American Bandogge lines.

just like most dogs live and love to do what jobs they were bred for and trained to do.

Poor dogs! Being exploited by asshole human animals, to do their dirty work! The domestication and farming of all nonhuman animals is, was, and will always be, WRONG!!!

It's impossible. I had that dog breed. They have huge stamina and jaw power but they come to a point where they overheat and lie down, mouth wide open, chest expanding and collapsing like fireplace bellows and you can even hear their heart beating from a relative distance. On top of that, they are guard dogs for herds of sheep, their instinct doesn't even cooperate.

@@veewsol7078 Some other people here are saying that they weren't really using mastiffs. That's just a modern comparison. Apparently they were actually using Alanos which were bred for just this purpose.

not the same breed@@veewsol7078

Peru and Mexico did not exist in that era yet

It’s very interesting. I lived in Lancaster PA for a while and the Amish have a very utility based relationship with their animals. A lot of the horses are very gaunt and worked. They are not pets. They are tools. It is a very different thing than what I am used to.

Dogs love their owners 💯 but they were first domesticated not as pets but as tools to help us. We owe dogs alot. Beautiful creatures with hearts of gold

@@sanderson9338 Tools, yes but they've always been our companions as well. It's kinda like children were laborers in nearly every family up until a few generations ago. They were still loved and cuddled, but whupped if not up at 530 to milk. bonding thru love and affection 30k yea ago is how we selected the wolves to breed to turn into what we have now. They were not doted on the way they are now. The dog has always selflessly worked and fought and bled for food, warmth and for one thing above all else: for scritches and for the honor of being called good boy or good girl

This is still the case for many hunting/game dogs here in the states.

Same with my grandpa.

They are fun to make and research. Good to hear people are enjoying them. Thank you.

Also: The Caribs were simply small island Tainos; they were not the innocent victims presented in historical fairytales...

lol dude get the fuck out of here im of Taino descent and even i think your weak ass ideology is stupid. how you justify a colonization and extermination Job because they did some viking style raiding 😂

@@joseanfigueroa8785Hey, I’m grateful my Spanish padres raise me to care for my children. Not sacrifice them, lol.

Actually this was proven to be untrue. Stop the nonsense!

@@coleburns5497so you’re glad your people were murdered, raped, and colonized by the Spanish? That’s the dumbest thing I have heard this week. SMH 🤡

I agree. Humans arent as tough as wild boars but they don't rip apart that easy, that fast.

A Boerboel can be that. While still in shape.

And yes such kind of dog will rip you appart that easy. 1 Bite to the head, belly, neck or any point where a artery is and it will be game over. Even a small wound from a tooth especially in that time would finish the job from infection after.

The Spanish Mastiff are huge dogs as well. And keep in mind these dogs are down scaled in modern times and made to be less agressive. In that time it was the other way around.

@@ColdestRage303 I googled them, they look like big a**holes.

Exactly and these Spanish invaders were “Christians”

@@j.porlando5091 Weren't they Catholic?

@@tangle70 yes you’re right I need to stop categorizing Catholics with Christians. So my bad I’m that But the Spanish Catholics were “men of god” but committed every sin known. No wonder god allowed the British to crush them

@@j.porlando5091 The Spaniards liberated natives that were oppressed by the Aztec that would rip their hearts out.

@@uptown_rider8078 false. they enslaved the natives they “liberated” working them to death

Mine was 45 kg at it's peak, male. About half of what was claimed in the video. Standing upright he could touch noses with someone 170ish cm tall. According to the vet he was on the bigger side of that breed. Claims are completely exaggerated. And the whole armored dog thing would overheat them in no time, specially in that climate. Also there are two kinds of spanish mastiffs, one is modern the other is the work dog. The modern is bigger, with floppy skin, really low stamina and can't really work or fight.

There is NOTHING fascinating about the domestication and farming of nonhuman animals! You would have to be a descendant of the colonizers if you think like that. Boooooo!!!!

Actually the oldest dog breeds known to humanity come from the native Americans and Mexicans. They domesticated dog breeds aswell 🤣 They used to have their own small packs of dogs in many tribes

Every people's throughout time had and loved dogs

I'll add that they didn't use them for dishonorable combat or to dispatch the innocent but rather great defenders and hunting partners ect. Euro used dogs trained to bite genitals and kill children. Sadly. But they also had badass armor for their dogs. The Spanish dogs. They looked like Roman armored dogs.

@@DEATH14269 dishonorable combat? Grow up kid

@@jimbob465 you sound like a child not knowing how the animal kingdom works. Children know nothing of honor. You are probably a big fat beer bellied man child... Disconnected from nature much?

Tiny terrors but definitely less stressful than a mastiff.

Chihuahuas are North American.

@@theATkid yes I believe Cortez first recorded their existence and named them after Chihuahua New York 😅

​@@speakupriseup4549 Mexico is part of North America dipshit

Laughed way harder than I should have.

It was mostly propaganda. The Spanish was pretty well known to embellish things to make the Spanish empire back home happy and continue funding their travels

It sounds absurd on it’s face but there are things that make me wonder. The Mastiffs are likely bigger than the natives. And the witness made a point to address how he thought it was possible which makes me think he felt the numbers he through out there were crazy too and he felt the need to explain why they were not. I would still bet there was some exaggeration but regardless it seems like a straight horror show.

@datesanddeadguys ya the natives couldn't have been very big.. the guy I know who breeds them is 7 foot tall and 350 pounds and he was struggling to hold his 150 lb female and the male he has is over 200 lbs with a head that more than rivals a basketball on steroids.. I fully belive it was a slaughter

May I ask your thoughts on the Argentino Doggo?

@dubuyajay9964 don't know much about then... im sure it's a hand full

It's how they used the dogs, a fear weapon

they worshiped jaguars because they feared them skip forward a couple hundread years,the direct decendents of the same breeds of dogs the spanish used as war dogs (Dogo Argentino) were and are specifically bred to hunt puma/jaguar/panthers. so i think that fact alone kinda speaks for itself. i grew up hunting boars in the jungle with pitbulls, if you have ever seen a 100lb pitbull trained correctly unleash its speed and power on a 200lb armored, tusked, hellpig , you would understand why they were a brutal tool of war.

@ Deezy907 a 100lb pit bull dies very quickly with simple objects. A spear. A club. Do you believe the natives didn't have weapons? Tell me, what are the odds of who wins a fight, a 180lb man with a baseball bat or a 100lb pit bull? And be realistic...

@Unlucky Guy they might have, but dogs aren't very frightening to soldiers, even in ancient Roman times. I'm skeptical of dogs being effectively used in any battle.

@Unlucky Guy I mean, look at the story, "in one hour, each dog tore apart no less than 100 Indians." Do you believe that's possible? Lol

100% correct !!!!!!!!!

I would simply go back to Spain and build my life there.

​@TheRach a life of poverty isn't appealing to conquerors

I appreciate it. The Spanish colonization of the Philippines started in the same time frame as some of the South American and Caribbean conquests so I would have to assume to some extent they did use war dogs. But I took a quick look and found no glaring references to it so I can’t be sure.

@@datesanddeadguys I have not heard of any local history about the Spanish war dogs in the Philippines, I wonder how the Juramentados would fare against them if ever they did clash back then.

Probably less effective against enemies with steel weapons and armor(to an extent) like the Moros had.

The Philipiines was conquered with the aid of Tlaxcalan warriors.

I generally agree with your sentiment. The Roman’s for example fed people to lions as punishment for crimes and had their beast hunts in the coliseum for sport. As a cultural practice I can see it through the lens of the time. There is endless nuance to history. But I can’t get past sending a dog after someone as part of gambling or sport. That is evil and some in the ranks of the Spanish like De Las Casas spoke out against it. But I will concede that in different cultural circumstances we would behave far worse and they may behave far better. That makes the question of evil a really hard one to contextualize.

@@datesanddeadguys I appreciate your open mind to my comments. I agree sending a dog after someone is cruel, but we sitll do it in our military today if needed. Working dogs are a tool to protect human life. I don't like it but I understand it, I do not believe in hunting animals as a sport, so can def see your perspective

@@BG-lb1fb I agree, human history is brutal, some people actually do horrific things thinking they are in the right, this isn't evil. Torturing and raping babies is certainly evil but I'd be very careful what else I would throw in

Actully what the spanish were doing was even evil for time and yes we can judge them if we want. Are you really this ignorant to say what they were doing was not evil just cuz it was 500 years ago like a bafoon

No other nations committed atrocities anywhere close to the scale of Europeans. Under their control the globe has rapidly declined to the brink of complete nuclear destruction

The 11 Hispanic legion was the best; most of the beat elites Romans Warriors where Spaniards and Italians.

Great soldiers indeed

I can’t speak to your first item but on the second I know a little. The practice of dogging fell out of favor because the priests objected to it. I don’t recall if it was outright banned but that is what diminished it.

Just a little point about the "incredible cruelty" of Spaniards and Portuguese;: First of all I think that when you are so massively outnumbered you MUST be cruel against some to avoid having to kill much more people both between the possible enemies and between the allies that can be persuaded of treasoning you(this is A.K.A psicological Warfare medieval style). Second: the natives were not especially sensitive to cruel acts; they also extirped Hearts, burn people Alive as religious sacrifices, kill babys to Tlaloc, drown other víctims, killing others by beating them with sticks, remové their enemie's skins and then wear them and a long list of atrocities...if you want to "impress" people from such culture you cannot be mild... Third these acts happened mainly in the XVI and XVII centuries, no less than TWO hundred years AFTER that the civilized Usonians used to offer a payment for human scalps in at least one of the states of the Union ( being the scalps of Indian women and children paid at a lower price).

You should not believe in black legends, how about the british, who erradicated the 95% of the native americans? Why the only reserves of native americans are on spanish territory? The diference bwtween spanish empire and british empire, radicates in the greatness of the spanish and the decadency of the british, thats why today near 700 million people speaks spanish and only 300 million english. Being part of the spanish empire was the best that happend to america, we preserve thay history in books and founded the first universities in the continent, also the first human rights declaration, while the stupid english and the bastard americans took almost 400 years to free the slaves.

@@oscarw.alcantara4459 Sorry you should check out when the british genocide started, almost a 100 years after spain reach america, so the argument of the period its just a joke for non well educated person. only 20000 spanish people in the first 100 years of the discovery of america, where sent there, and they conquered from mexico to peru, how? helping smaller native tribes fighting the manhunting mayans etc on their respective parts of america, so the cruelty you are talking was mostly enforced by the natives themselfs against mayans, incas etc. After those manhunt tribes where overtrhow, the natives joined the spanish country as provinces, with a system of goverment called virreinato, wich means that in those new parts of spain surged a underking that controlled the province, wich is a decentralizated form of goverment, and wich mean that they are not colonies they are part of the country as much as any spanish province. The british genocide started a 100 years later, when the fireweapons where easy to get and they could erradicate easily entire races, like the native americans that fought only with arrows. So nobody is talikng about how cruels spanish where, im talking about how other empires where way more cruel than the spanish, and it does not exist any genocide on spanish territory like exist in the british part of america, and i repeat yes in the conquer of america it exist killings from the spanish, wich are a joke compared with the british genocides. Just a quick reminder: Ireland: 1845 - 1 million killed by the british Australia: 1770 - 870000 killed by british (95%) of population India: 1760/1943 - 100 million (some estimate up to 165M) killed by the british North america: combining the british efforts and americans they got the 90% of the population 11 million Please find a document from the spanish empire that states in 1775 that the goverment will pay 50 pounds for every native american killed (25 if it was a woman 20 if it was a child) no it was george 2 Hitler is a joke compared with the british empire, again i state the most easy to understand argument, why spanish have 700 million speakers arround the world and english only 300million? Because we didnt comit genocides as british, we where angles that build the first universities and hospitals in america and preserve their culture, compared to the british that only brought death and poverty.

Incredible cruelty? How were the conquistadors more cruel than other conquerors throughout history?

There are registers of the natives being taller than the europeans of that time.

That's a terrifying thought.

Dogs can be protective. My pit mix is a big baby but my shepherd has my back.

That's a good way to put it honestly

Fucking disgusting!

“Horrible people” is an understatement for invaders who barbarically massacre millions of innocent people unprovoked.

@@trey9775 Conquistadores never went to look for people to conquer. They were looking for a route to do trade with other people and stumbled across a barbaric obscene backward culture and were horrified of what they saw. The 'millions' you talking about never existed in the whole history.

@@ComboMuster any book from primary source accounts will tell u the The sadistic invading Europeans u people celebrate indiscriminately fed natives to dogs, murdered, raped, enslaved and looted in the name of the pedo Catholic Church. They wrote about all of this in their own personal diaries.

@@ComboMuster murderous encounters was exactly their mission. Read history

@@deneenhill5913 I read history, you should too. Conquistadors were the edge of humanity.

@@TM-ch3hl Lol, projection is not a good look. You might want to try another.

I think most people even at the time would have been disturbed by violence like that. The conquistadores were hardened professional soldiers in a time where constant brutal warfare was the norm and if they lost they were likely to be treated just as badly by the Indians. We only see one side because they didn't loose.

No you’re absolutely right. They were good hearted, upstanding men