Kubyn / Grether Caucasian Mountain Dog

1. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-1-62187-065-4
Verlag: CompanionHouse Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 155 Seiten

Reihe: Comprehensive Owner's Guide

From the remote mountainous regions of the Caucasus in southeastern Europe comes the Caucasian Mountain Dog, an ovcharka breed whose origins trace back two millennia. Employed by Russian shepherds to protect the flocks from predators, the Caucasian Mountain Dog is a discerning guardian, wary of strangers, that is at once fearless and impressive. The author, breeder and exhibitor, Stacy L.G. Kubyn shares her insight into this remarkable Russian breed as she traces its origins in the countries of the former USSR and its spread to the United States, where she organized the breed's first parent club. This Comprehensive Owner's Guide also offers a candid view of the breed's characteristics and temperament, including sound advice about owning this powerful, demanding working breed. New owners will welcome the well-prepared chapter on finding a reputable breeder and selecting a healthy, sound puppy. Chapters on puppy-proofing the home and yard, purchasing the right supplies for the puppy as well as house-training, feeding, and grooming are illustrated with photographs of handsome adults and puppies. In all, there are over 135 full-color photographs in this useful and reliable volume. The author's advice on obedience training will help the reader better mold and train into the most well-mannered dog in the neighborhood. The extensive and lavishly illustrated chapter on healthcare provides up-to-date detailed information on selecting a qualified veterinarian, vaccinations, preventing and dealing with parasites, infectious diseases, and more. Sidebars throughout the text offer helpful hints, covering topics as diverse as historical dogs, breeders, or kennels, toxic plants, first aid, crate training, carsickness, fussy eaters, and parasite control. Fully indexed.

Stacey Kubyn is a founding member of the U.S. Caucasian Mountain Dog Breed Club.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kubyn, Stacey

Grether, Layne

Weitere Mitwirkende

Francais, Isabelle

Leseproben

The Caucasian Mountain Dog has been at man’s service for more than 2,000 years. The breed was trained to protect both sheep and shepherds in cold mountainous conditions.

“Second century AD stone carvings of tall, powerful dogs…Tales of great shaggy beasts saving their owners from various dangers…The heroic dog, ‘Topush,’ killing over a hundred wolves while protecting the family flock…Aralez, old Armenian beneficent dog-like spirits, licking the wounds of those who fell in battle, thus healing or resurrecting them…”

INTRODUCTION

In times and places of danger, when the conditions of life are harsh, the partnership between dog and man is forged by a special urgency. For here the dog must be large, powerful and unflinchingly brave. The dog must be devoted and incorruptible not by training but rather innately, or by the necessity of a hard existence.

The Caucasian Mountain Dog is such a dog: a wall of determination bounding forward, always placing himself before the threat, charging forward with a fury and determination that harken back to a primitive epoch, when the dog might any day or any night be called upon to fight to his death in the service of his partnership with man. The Caucasian Mountain Dog is a dog with over 2,000-year-old roots in the remote mountainous region of the Caucasus in southeastern Europe, the legendary land of towering mountains, winding valleys and endless steppes, where one can envision Greek mythology leaping to life: Prometheus, demigod of the Titans, chained by Zeus as punishment for giving fire and the arts to mankind, and Jason, leader of the Argonauts, in search of the Golden Fleece.

IN HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE…

The Caucasian Mountain Dog breed is called “Nagazi” in the Georgian Republic, one of his countries of origin.

OUR BREED IN THE 21ST CENTURY

The Caucasian Mountain Dog is known by many names around the world. Though the Russian name for the breed “Kavkazskaya Ovcharka”, translates most directly into “Caucasian Shepherd Dog,” we decided to call this book (and breed) Caucasian Mountain Dog to adhere to the popular US name for the breed and its AKC-chosen name. Just as the breed is known by different names, type varies around the world, too. The Caucasian is a breed in transition from native landrace to breeding in accordance with the modern breed standard. The photographs in this book reflect the wide variety of type in today’s Caucasian population around the world, including the author’s own breeding, the heavier Russian-bred dogs, as well as many European-bred dogs, show dogs and pet dogs.

The Caucasian Mountain Dog is a dog of legends from a time when age-old stories were passed down around the campfires among the inhabitants of remote villages. And so they would sit, our European forefathers, and tell the stories of the great bear-like dog that would strike down an enemy, sacrificing himself to protect the flock and family. During the 20th century, the Caucasian Mountain Dog was removed from his remote Caucasus homeland to Asia. In the former USSR, the breed was utilized for guarding factories and military establishments. Today this noble ancient breed links the past to the present and has captured the hearts of dog fanciers throughout the world.

As I write these lines from the comfortable study of my home in Ohio, two of my Caucasian Mountain Dogs lie here by my side, still on guard, still my partners. I see their watchful readiness and feel the confidence and security they bring to my home—the same qualities that the shepherds of the high Caucasus villages admired two millennia ago. The Caucasian Mountain Dogs have not changed so very much in all of that time, but the world of men surely has. Although the days of passing legends are far behind in our modern world, perhaps these pages will at least be a small window to this piece of canine history.

MEET THE CAUCASIAN MOUNTAIN DOG

The Caucasian Mountain Dog is a breed belonging to the ancient molosser group of primitive flock-guardian or livestock-guardian dogs and is closely related to the flock guardians of Tibet, other parts of Asia and the European mountains. This flock-guardian subdivision includes the Tibetan Mastiff, Spanish Mastiff, Anatolian Karabash, Great Pyrenees, Estrela Mountain Dog and Kuvasz. The Caucasian’s age-old duty, like that of his flock-guardian brethren, is to defend sheep and village from four-and two-legged predators—wolves, big cats, bears and human thieves.

The Caucasian Mountain Dog is indigenous to the Caucasus region, an isolated mountainous finger of land extending 750 miles from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. The main range, the Greater Caucasus, is a majestic chain of snow-capped peaks. Several passes divide the North Caucasus, which slopes down to the Kuban steppe, a major grain region, from Transcaucasia. The Lesser Caucasus is an extension of the Iranian plateau with pastures and forests in the uplands and orchards and vineyards in the valleys.

The breed hails from the following countries: the Georgian Republic, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan and surrounding areas. While Russia is considered the modern motherland of the Caucasian breed, the many peoples of the Caucasus have held a working partnership with the breed for thousands of years and are diverse in culture and language, different from Russian, and not of Slavic origin. To these people, the dogs are known as “Nagazi” or “Shepherd Dog” (in the Georgian Republic) and “Gampr” (in Armenia). The peoples of the Caucasus also refer to their dogs according to the work they perform, their appearance or their characteristics. Thus one may hear the dogs referred to as “Mgeli Dzaghli” (wolf-dogs) in the Georgian Republic or “Kurt Kopek” (wolf-dogs) in Azerbaijan, while black-masked dogs are called “Topush” in Armenia.

OVCHARKA BREEDS

The Caucasian Mountain Dog, known as the Kavkazskaya Ovcharka in Russia, is one of the native flock-guardian dogs known as “ovcharkas.” The word “ovcharka” is a Slavic-based word, meaning “shepherd dog” or “sheepdog.” Among the breed’s ovcharka cousins are the Central Asian Ovcharka and South Russian Ovcharka, the former of which is leggier and less coated than the Caucasian and the latter of which is densely coated and usually colored in solid white.

Central Asian Ovcharka.

Only more recently has the breed become known as an “Ovcharka,” the Slavic-based Russian-language word that translates roughly into “shepherd dog” or “sheepdog.” In Russia, the country of origin as designated by cynological organizations, the breed is referred to as the Kavkazskaya Ovcharka, which translates most closely as “Caucasian Shepherd Dog.” But because the breed is a mountain-type guardian of the flock and not a herding dog, many modern fanciers refer to the breed as the “Caucasian Mountain Dog,” as we do here.

COLOR RANGE

The Caucasian Mountain Dog is one of the few flock-guardian breeds that is typically agouti gray or fawn in color. Only 3% of the breed is all white.

EARLY ORIGINS

Lack of written records leaves questions regarding exactly how and when the flock-guardian dogs of the Caucasus originated. Several theories are proposed, but none can be proven, and it is possible that flock-guardian dogs entered the Caucasus through several routes. One romantic theory suggests that the Caucasian Mountain Dog is a completely independent and unique breed, originating in the Caucasus as a domestication of local wolves by the settlers of the region. The theory more often promulgated is that the Caucasian, as with the other molosser-type dogs, is a direct natural descendant of the Tibetan Mastiff, which entered the region through trade routes.

Other writers speculate that the Caucasian Mountain Dog was created by purposeful crossing of mastiff-type dogs with sheep-herding spitz-like dogs to produce a hardy breed, resistant to the cold, with sufficient size and fierceness. Yet another theory suggests that the breed developed from pariah dogs of Mesopotamia, which accompanied the nomadic people during their trek across the Asian continent. Over the centuries, parts of the Caucasus and surrounding regions were invaded and conquered by different cultures that may have brought their own dogs with them.

We do know that DNA evidence proves the wolf to be the ancestor of today’s domestic dog. Skeletal remains of a strain of wolf, Canis volgensis, were discovered along the river Volga, Transcausasia, Yakutsk region, and in northern China. A commonly held theory is that 14,000 to 16,000 years ago, a mutually beneficial, cooperative effort began between individuals of a wolf population and man, signifying the beginning of the domesticated dog. The first agricultural pursuits and the domestication of sheep and goats also coincide with this timetable. The dog’s first job for man may well have been guarding livestock from his hungry wolf ancestors.

Dog skeletal remains dating to 4000 BC, depicting dogs with massive skulls and a gradual transition from muzzle to strong jaws, were discovered near the Russian town of Bologoj and the Ladoga Water Canal. The Bronze Age dog, Canis familiaris matris optimae, or, as translated from the Latin, “dog of the best mother,” was large, with a wedge-like skull and a long muzzle. It is thought to have been common in the steppes around the Black Sea and northern Caucasus by 2000 BC.

CROPPING TRADITIONS

Herdsmen crop a puppy’s ears horizontally and bluntly close to the head to...