[2]: 33  It is recognised by the Clube Português de Canicultura,[3] and was definitively accepted by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale in 1954.

Dogs of this type were used to protect flocks during the biannual transhumance to high summer pastures in the mountains, and then back to the lowlands for the winter.

[1] Among the marked economic and social changes in Portugal in the 1970s was the large-scale movement of people from rural areas to towns and cities, one consequence of which was an abrupt and significant decrease in pastoral farming.

The society and the câmara municipal of Monforte jointly established a breeding centre for the dogs, the Centro de Reprodução do Rafeiro do Alentejo, in the town.

[11] Doubts about the claims were expressed by veterinary surgeons, and Guinness opened an investigation; it found insufficient evidence of the age of the dog, and the records were annulled.