The general appearance is of a normally proportioned, deep chested, muscular dog with a broad head and medium length neck, straight back, and long legs.

[1] Traditionally, the tail is docked, and the ears cropped and rounded off on top,[1][2] although these practices are now illegal in many areas.

Today, dogs from São Miguel are exported to North America and other areas of the world where they are bred and promoted for the rare breed market.

Minor kennel clubs, and registries maintained by individual breeders, write their own versions of the breed standard, which may vary from the breed standard developed on the island of São Miguel and recognised internationally by the FCI.

This breed is said to be intelligent and to bond strongly with its keepers and to generally be gentle, even docile, when trained well.