Home / Questions / Alano Español
Yes, drool is part of everyday Alano ownership. Snoring comes with it, along with the larger food and veterinary bills that any 55 to 88 pound mastiff type brings. The grooming side is mercifully light by contrast: a weekly brush keeps the short, thick coat shining. Experienced owners simply keep towels near the water bowl as standard equipment.
The coat record for the breed reads: Short and thick. With a shedding score of 3 out of 5, expect the short and thick coat to release hair year round without the extreme seasonal blowouts.
The skin underneath is the health record of the coat: persistent itching, bald patches or a sour smell are vet questions, not grooming ones, and they deserve asking early.
At 2 out of 5 for grooming effort, the short and thick coat asks very little, which suits owners who chose a dog, not a project. Owners describe a dog out of a tapestry: brave, gentle and entirely serious about its people. Alanos are calm, confident and deeply devoted, notably athletic and agile for mastiffs, with a guardian's judgement and a family's tenderness.
Household arithmetic worth doing once: an Alano Español year holds about $517 of food and $492 to $888 of insurance, before vet care and grooming enter the ledger.
The growth record behind the breed: an Alano Español puppy weighs 8 weeks at about 7 to 11 lb, 9 months at about 37 to 60 lb, 18 months at about 52 to 84 lb, on the way to 55 to 88 lb fully grown at 23 to 26 inches. The breed belongs to the Non-Sporting group and its home ground is Spain.
Grooming of 2/5 and shedding of 3/5 set the housework terms for any Alano Español household. Whatever this page concludes, the figures behind it are the ones a household will actually live with. More questions about the breed are answered from the same record on the Alano Español profile and its sibling question pages.
Whatever the routine, keep sessions pleasant and short enough to end on success. A dog that cooperates with grooming is made, session by session, in the first year.
Match the routine to the record: shedding scores 3/5 and grooming effort 2/5 on our scales. High scores mean several sessions a week for the Alano Español; lower scores survive on a weekly brush. The grooming planner builds a schedule from the breed's coat type. When in doubt, brush: very few coat problems in this breed were ever made worse by an extra session.
For double coated breeds, almost never: the coat insulates in both directions and shaving can damage regrowth. The Alano Español's coat is described as Short and thick; ask a groomer about breed appropriate summer trims rather than reaching for clippers. Shed hair is also information: a sudden change in volume or texture in the Alano Español is one of the earliest visible signs that something else needs checking.
Shorter sessions, better timing and payment in food: two minutes daily beats thirty weekly for a reluctant Alano Español. Grooming aversions built in puppyhood take months to unwind, which is why the first sessions should be tiny and pleasant.
How much exercise an Alano Español needs, what fills the minutes best and how training doubles as exercise.
The Alano Español with children, rated and explained: family life, supervision, other dogs and visitors.
A Otterhound question answered from the breed's own record: temperament, workload, costs and daily life.
Last updated: November 4, 2026