Venezuela's national dog keeps Chavez legacy alive

The Soviets made space dog Laika a national hero and Americans have fallen for presidential pets from Checkers to Bo. In Venezuela, a rare breed of shaggy sheepdog has come to symbolise the patriotic legacy of the late Hugo Chavez.
Venezuela's former president rescued the mucuchies, named for this Andean town where the breed originated 400 years ago, from near-extinction in 2008 by providing funding to breed the remaining 23 purebreds, and he used to delight in recalling how one early tail-wagger called Nevado fought at the side of his idol, 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar.
"Every time Chavez hosted a foreign leader the president's office would call me up and make sure I brought the dogs," said Walter Demendoza, president of the Nevado Foundation, which works to rescue the breed. "He wanted the dog to be known around the world as a symbol of our country."

Chavez died from cancer last March, but interest in the dog in Latin America surged after ally Argentine President Cristina Fernandez reappeared in public in November after brain surgery doting on a fluffy, white puppy given to her by Chavez's brother.
Overnight the dog Simon, named after Bolivar, became a social media sensation. This month, Chavez's successor, Nicolas Maduro, named a government campaign to rescue street dogs in honour of the The Liberator's best friend.
Thanks to Chavez's efforts, there are now almost 200 purebred mucuchies, and the dog is on its way to joining the group of 343 breeds officially recognised by the World Canine Organisation.

The largest contingent, including the parents of Argentina's new "first dog," live in the high-altitude moorlands known as paramos, at the extreme northern edge of the Andes in Venezuela.
It was here in the village of Mucuchies, 3,000 metres above sea level, that the greatest canine encounter in Venezuela's history took place. Legend has it that in 1813 Bolivar's army was approaching a farm when the independence fighters were stopped in their tracks by a giant, barking guard dog. Weapons drawn, the rebels were about to kill the dog when Bolivar, marvelling at its beauty and bravery, ordered them to back down.