Caucasian shepherd dog history

Caucasian shepherd dog history - Mastiff Caucasus: the drafting of the article on the Caucasus Mastiff is undoubtedly complex, more so when even in Russia the literary references about race are rare in antiquity.

To find the origin of the race, we must have the hackneyed story of Tibet Mastiff or Bulldog. According to her, this dog is the predecessor of all races of molosos mountain. According to many cynologists, this theory remains the most valid explanation to the origin of all molosos mountain. There are others however who disagree with this theory, others have hypothesized that the dog predecessor of all mountain breeds including the Dogo Argentino is the moloso of Assyria. 

Some Russian cynologists however argue that the Caucasus and Central Asia in particular are the oldest in the world and before the Tibetan mastiff breeds. I will not dwell much on these hypotheses because none is easily provable scientifically, and hey, I did not live two thousand years ago and I can not tell you that hypothesis is true if any is true.

Tibetan with Tibetan mastiff

The truth is that we have a very primitive dog, against an ancient race, according to some cynologists with more than 2000 years old and according to others between 3000 and 6000 years.

Literary references about race in antiquity, are rare but they exist. There are references to these dogs in Armenian manuscripts and in the mountainous area of ​​Azerbaijan there are carved figures very similar to the Caucasus dogs.

Tsar Tigran II Armenian who lived in the first century BC huge Bulldogs used dogs to repel the attack of the Roman legions. During the conquest of the Caucasus by the Russian army in 1765, there was a special supervision order which included mastiffs Caucasus in services surveillance and fortified strong points.

According to Russian cynologists, the Caucasus used by Tigran II in the first century BC are very similar to those used by the army in 1765. In the war between Turkey and Russia, the Turks used mastiffs Caucasus and Anatolia to monitor strong , camps and convoys and even as fighting units that let loose against enemies.

Some say that sometimes the Caucasus were crossed with wolves to win fierceness. This may be part of the legend, and also hybrids with wolves are not aggressive with humans and are not worth as watchdogs.

Apparently, the Caucasus Mastiff ancestors came from Asia, with nomadic tribes mainly by the passage of Derbent, Dagestan today.

The truth is that in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, when it begins to establish the concept of race, our dog occupied the mountainous and steppe Caucasus and North Caucasus, that is what is now Georgia , Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya and extended to the Iranian Plateau. 

We have a dog intended to guard flocks against predators and thieves, a faithful and loyal dog to his pastor but aggressive and distrustful of strangers are men or animals. a natural selection where only kept alive the strongest prevailed. These special conditions and secular geographical isolation is the fact that today we have the best guard dog in the world.

The race had a lot of varieties, or subtypes as detailed in Article 2.28, and surrounding areas was very mixed with breeds such areas as Central Asia or Anatolia. In fact in the area of ​​the plateau of Iran they had more hybrid specimens Asias Caucasus or cigars. According to some Russian cynologists, in the high plateau of Anatolia in Turkey, one of those branches split off to form an independent breed, the Anatolian shepherd or Mastiff., caucasian shepherd dog history

The first attempts of Russian cynologists to describe and systematize the race were undertaken after the Civil War and continued in the early 30s of the twentieth century. In 1931 V.Vaisman makes a standard on race. In 1932, n.a Ilich in his book "The genetics and breeding dogs" introduces data type Akhaltsikhe Caucasus and Tushino and dogs Terek river basins. A Mol, describes in detail the dogs of the steppes and the area premontane North Caucasus and emphasizes its clear difference with the dogs in the Transcaucasus area.

Mastiff Caucasus with his pastor

In 1930 the Caucasus began to be exposed in agricultural exhibitions throughout the Soviet Union. In 1936 some copies are presented at the International Exhibition of Paris. The French press defines as "red giant" or "death of capitalism." A. P Mazover, expert in Russian races makes a description about race in 1954 that Article 2.28. We found a race with a variety of subtypes, depending on their origin, and is the kind of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia or Dagestan or we can make classifications with different dividing types in Guerguetski type, Garbanski type, Kazbekski and type Ajaltsijski. Other classifications appoint up to ten types, although the most common is this in four types. The differences were such that even for many different types cynologists were different races. However, I do not dwell more on this topic already explained in detail in section 2.28.

In 1968, P.A Zavodchikov in his work "The dog working in agriculture", describes the race and says it "both to monitor, to take care of all kinds of objects, the Caucasus is the best."

The natives of the area called in many cases both the Caucasus Asias as generically as Volkodavs, translated into Spanish "wolfsbane". In some areas they had specific names, as Gampr Nagazi in Armenia or in Georgia. Ovcharkas never call them, the name ovcharka later, and was Russian artificial invention, as they called ovcharkas or translated into Spanish shepherds the Caucasus, Central Asia and to a very different as the central russia dog. This also unrealistic and inaccurate designation has resulted in many mistakes by the literal translation in many countries in the name of the breed shepherd, when not a shepherd dog, but a dog or mastiff mountain.

Of course, as I mentioned in Article 2.31, fights had an important place in the history of both the Caucasus and Central Asia, by strong popular tradition that were fighting in many areas of the Caucasus, North Caucasus and Central Asia. Sometimes dogs are also fighting for cogieran experience for fighting against predators.

But let us continue with the story. Many peoples of the Caucasus suffered repressions and were deported to Central Asia and Kazakhstan especially between 1930 and 1940. This situation was aggravated by the Second World War, and it made the situation of the race decayed in many regions of the Caucasus. Many of these people deported to Asia, later returned to the Caucasus and Central Asia of many Mastiffs were brought, which made around these two races were very cross.

Mastiff puppy Caucasus

In the first half of the century, a new lifestyle comes to the Caucasus and gives a sudden change in economic activity, which is no longer based on livestock. Furthermore, the number of predators descends, and low consequence the need dogs to protect flocks. Along with the new people who came to the Caucasus, foreign breeds reach the area. All these circumstances make the population of the Caucasus mastiffs to decline in many areas and the Caucasus are occasionally blended with foreign breeds. So besides close races who had always crossed central Asia or Anatolia, the Caucasus is mixed with more distant breeds such as St. Bernard and even some German and scarcer occasion with Leonberger pastor he says. This makes less and less pure specimens exist and cease to distinguish different subtypes or varieties previously mentioned, caucasian shepherd dog history.

Really this that story is nothing new, as has happened with almost all mountain breeds, the very clear letdown of copies that occurred in the first half of the twentieth century by changing the types of life and less absence of predators and hybridization with foreign breeds.

In the case of Mastiff Caucasus, the situation worsened further with the law of the Soviet Government "On the fight against stray dogs" of the early 50s, this makes many dogs were euthanized and the people of Caucasus descend.

Anyway, in some enclaves they followed preserved pure Mastiffs Caucasus but certainly the population declined much.

It was the Russians who recondujeron the situation of a race that was dying, the situation is similar to what occurred with the Mastiff of the Pyrenees and many other mountain breeds. After World War II, the Soviet army and other authorities begin to use the Caucasus as a dog for security services and so dogs Caucasus, especially the three Transcaucasian republics, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia are brought. powerful dogs, longhaired, solid and fit for work were brought heads. According to many sources, the Russians the best representatives of the race away. Shorthaired the Caucasus and North Caucasus participated in much lesser extent in breeding race for its less imposing regarding long-haired dogs.

A mid-twentieth century, the Mastiff Caucasus had always been a breed that is bred in a natural and wild way and without any breeding program, but by natural selection, is becoming a race breeding, and therefore a more standardized and homogenised race.

In the Transcaucasus area, however the race situation worsened by the worsening political and economic situation. Between 1970 and 1980 there is a tendency for re-export from the Caucasus to their original areas, in fact most of the existing mastiffs Caucasus in Georgia, come from famous Russian breeders. It is what I have said on other items, people believed in remote mountainous areas of the Transcaucasian republics there are better examples than in Russia, normally this is not, as the situation of race in these areas came under minimum and recovery was due to the reintroduction of specimens from Russia.

In the North Caucasus area, very social and politically troubled area, the population of Caucasus has fallen much by the existence of declining cattle ranches.

Increasingly Volkodavs North Caucasus are used for fights, this activity becomes a sport of prestige for wealthy people. These Volkodavs usually resulting from crosses shorthaired Caucasus to Central Asia. They are usually clipped the tail. In November 2000, an expert committee of the FCI and RKF made a study of these specimens North Caucasus, are systematizing the collected material to make the racial breed standard and to recognize the Volkodav race in the North Caucasus as separate breed Mastiff Caucasus.

Moloso mountain in its natural habitat

However some native dogs North Caucasus were reintroduced by some cynologists of St. Petersburg in the mid and late 80s, the results were not very good, except a copy shorthaired called Data which was achieved Pharaoh source a whole line into the race.

But about the evolution of the history of race in Russia. Dogs brought from the Caucasus had no genealogical record. Before World War II, Russia had only copies the army and some individuals.

The enthusiastic lover A Moll race, director of the club of the Moscow region during the war begins to gather mastiffs Caucasus quality queadaban, and thus gathers copies as Belka, Kalif, Nora and her children Kalif, Tauva, Dina, Kertu and Khanum, the brothers Jan and Grozny. These dogs plus other individuals purchased as Lormi, Murab, or Taiga Mura were the basis of race.

 Most dogs brought from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan quality were delivered to the state farm "Red Star" or other breeding companies Moscow. I Sokolov in the hatchery leather factory begins to raise Caucasus from descendants of Murat, among which stand out Frant and Kazbek.

But back to the kennel Estrella Roja who had the best specimens, dogs like Demura, Goriya, Patsiya, Bezare, Rex, Grozny, Berkut, or Dzhoi Bek.

Unfortunately this plethora of excellent specimens was used only for breeding promptly Caucasus and many mestizos were used to raise and to create the Guardian of Moscow race.

Race gradually spread throughout Russia hatcheries born in cities like Ivanovo, Voronezh, Rybinsk and other cities. Indeed between 1950 and 1970 there was a takeoff on the breed pup. Anyway most hatcheries remained state. For example the kennel Red Star took the archicampeón Kazbek or cattery Ministry of world economy had Uran I and Lada, of males born famous as Grozny and Uran II and later descendants as large or R-Semen Frant.

Uran II was unquestionably the leader of the early 70. Another very famous dog was Osman, son of Granat and Nifa, also could highlight Azur and Birma.
In those same 70 years, in the city of Ivanovo said Liman, dog Diza son of Neman and gave excellent offspring.

Another dog widely used in the late 70s was Buran, often crossed with daughters and granddaughters of Uran II.

However, in the years a plague of infectious hepatitis decimated the race. This breed pup in hatcheries began in 1930, long stretches in the 80s and 90s and there are great based centers for breeding in Russian and Ukrainian cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ivanovo, Perm, Novosibirsk, Tambov, Magnitogorsk, Yekaterinburg, Orenburg and Kirovograd.

Still in the 80s the situation of the race was not quite prosperous. It appeared the "perestroika" and in a period of great change. They appeared numerous clubs, societies and centers cinología and there were many breeders, this caused an uncontrolled and unsystematic crossing dogs with negative results. During playback dogs emerged with deficiencies that were transmitting.

On 30 January 1985 the FCI publishes the race still current standard. In 1988 he performed in Moscow the First Exhibition of the Soviet Union national working dogs races.

In the early 90s we start to divide the clubs according to the level of the race of their dogs, thanks to this and to the performance of many race enthusiasts, the situation stabilized and improved.

In 1995, the FCI recognizes the RKF (Cinología Russian Federation). The commission RKF standards performed in 1997 under a standard approved by the FCI, although this date in Russia and is governed by this standard.

Russian cynologists stand out as very positive the integration of the FCI RKF. This coupled with the work of the National Club of the breed formed in the mid-90 within the framework of RKF, has made the situation of the race is good in the Caucasus actualidad.Por course of Russian farms typically earn international exhibitions beauty. Just as the race was retaken by the army and state institutions and factories, currently breeding race is led by private hatcheries.

Anyway, this is the long history of this race. breed originating from the mountains and steppes of the Caucasus, race was raised for years by pastors and that in the twentieth century became a race of breeding, first by the army and Russian state companies are the ones that took her from her plight and they saved from extinction and more than possible that finally is healthy and is carried by private hatcheries Russians, has clearly left the government level.

Unfortunately, as pointed out in Article 2.34, it is increasingly tending to a baby based on beauty. Hopefully the Caucasus still retains its legendary character long.

I could go left over the description of the different hatcheries and copies of the various parts of Russia, but that would be too technical for this website and in addition it will point briefly in Article 2.27. On the dissemination of race in other countries, I also try other items.

HISTORY Caucasian Shepherd - SHEEPDOG

HISTORY KENNEL THEOTOKOS

I live in Colombia in the department of Antioquia in the Andes; itself at the top of the palms located 15 kilometers from Medellin on a farm and 2550 meters above sea level; since the beginning of the 90s .When I decided to move my house to this place as it was particularly dangerous robberies farms using such dogs effect pitbull which threw forward to attack the guardians of these dogs and thus facilitate the heist, decided to study the more than 300 breeds of dogs classified best played as watchdogs, the most rustic, the highest level of immune system, feeding easier, less genetically engineered; discovering that the breeds of dogs that met these conditions were located in geography including Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Herzegovina, molosas all races of great strength and could also defend ourselves with PitBull heist, caucasian shepherd dog history.

Of those races it concludes that the best was the pastor of the Caucasus, a race that the Communist government of the Soviet Union had moved to Leningrad and was adopted as the official race of the Soviet Union. As there was no internet gave me the task of finding a Russian person who could contact me with a hatchery in Moscow and in New York contacted a Russian who took care to locate and bring to New York a couple of different pedigree.