Rastreador Brasileiro - Brazilian Tracker

Appearance
The Rastreador Brasileiro is a strong and athletic, rustic looking dog with appearance similar to Coonhounds. These dogs are relatively thin with long legs and straight back. The Brazilian Tracker has pretty long floppy ears, long muzzle and dark almond shaped eyes with lively expression.

The average height of the Rastreador Brasileiro is between 56-65 cm, which is 22-26 inch and weight should be between 50-60 pounds, which is 22-27 kg. The females are slightly smaller than males.

The coat is short and smooth, lying close to the body. It is a very dense coat and it comes in several color combinations which are tricolor white, black and brown, bicolor white with only brown or black spots, black and tan with black being ground color and so called blueish color, which is white background with blue spots, either with or without tan legs.


Temperament
The Rastreador Brasileiro was developed as hunting companion, which formed the dogs personality. As a hunter, the Rastreador Brasileiro must be confident, alert, independent, smart and agile dog with high prey drive. These dogs also have extermely well developed sense of smell.

But today, many of brazilian trackers are family companions and not hunting dogs and they make okay companions for active and experienced dog owners. If you will provide this dog with enough physical and mental exercise, than they tend to be pretty calm, docile and affectionate. They definitely create a strong bond with its family and are attached to their owners.

If you will have this dog as a pet, extensive training and socialization from the puppyhood is needed. These dogs require very consistent, firm and patient training to become completely obedient. They are not the best choice for families with other household pets, because they might try to chase them. But they will happily live with other dogs.

Interesting Fact
The Rastreador Brasileiro is known under some other name, such as Urrador, Urrador Americano, Brazilian Tracker or Brazilian Coonhound


History
According to the official breed standard, the Brazilian Terrier was developed by Osvaldo Aranha Filho in 1950s from American Foxhound, by genetic selection and adjusting the characteristics and adaptation of American Foxhound to Brazilian climate and terrain.

The Rastreador Brasileiro was recognized by the FCI in 1967, but shortly after the recognition, an outbreak of disease, compounded by an overdose of insecticide, wiped out the breed's entire breeding stock. All the other dogs throughout the country were heavily mixed with other stray dogs.

Since then there are big efforts to to revive and restore this amazing breed. It is quite hard to find purebred Rastreador Brasileiros, since this is extremely rare dog breed and the breed is still in the process of being reconstructed., but their numbers are slowly raising. In 2013, the breed was recognized once again, this time by the Brazilian Kennel Club.


Health and Grooming
There is only very limited information about the breeds health and there are no available studies about Brazilian Trackers health, but according to some owners this is usually very healthy dog breed with average lifespan between 12-14 years.

The grooming and overall maintenance is quite easy. Even without any brushing the coat will stay in good condition. Just like with all dogs you should regularly check the dogs ears, eyes, nails and teeth and clean them or clip them if needed.