The Can de Chira or is a Spanish breed of herding dog from the mountainous Alto Aragon region in the northern part of the autonomous community of Aragon, in north-eastern Spain.
Accounts of similar dogs used by Spanish graziers to herd sheep and cattle date back several centuries; the earliest photographs date from the early twentieth century. The Can de Chira was formerly widely distributed in the Province of Huesca and in neighbouring areas; it was used by the shepherds of Aragon, and by those of Navarre, Occitanie and Catalonia. In the twenty-first century the small number of remaining animals are concentrated principally in the comarcas of Ribagorza and Sobrarbe.
References
Ricardo Azón Pardo, Rafael Escar Tabueña, Rosa Avellanet Torres (2009). Can de Chira. In: Miguel Fernández Rodríguez, Mariano Gómez Fernández, Juan Vicente Delgado Bermejo, Silvia Adán Belmonte, Miguel Jiménez Cabras (editors) (2009). Guía de campo de las razas autóctonas españolas (in Spanish). Madrid: Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino. , pages 521–523.
Mariano Gómez (November 2004). Los perros de pastor autóctonos y los concursos de habilidad de perros de pastor (in Spanish). Pequeños Ruminantes. 5 (3): 10–13. Zaragoza: Sociedad Española de Ovinotecnia y Caprinotecnia.
Rafael Vidaller Tricas (2010). Encuestas de lecsico natural 2005–2010. Luenga & fablas: publicazión añal de rechiras, treballos e decumentazión arredol de l'aragonés ea suya literatura (in Aragonese). (14): 73–103. .