My beautiful Croatia! "Special Edition" (Part 1) - Croatian dogs

Day 1,486, 13:04 • Published in Croatia Croatia • by dRobi1990


Hi there, dear readers.

You are reading first, but not last, "Special Edition" article, made by cooperative work with my friend Agrammon.

Idea was his, he prepared material (text and photos) and I just had to edit it in what you see now.

Same like this, next "Special Edition" article will be surprise.

! Notice: These article is only made to promote Croatia and Croatian nature, culture, cities, heritage, history, art, cuisine, sports and people (either born in Croatia or others) and is not made to usurp, tease or start any sort of controversy, so please have this on your mind when you post comment.

Enjoy!















Croatian Sheepdog (Hrvatski ovcar) have a strong instinct to guard the herd, but they are very well suited to watchdog duties, too.

They are lively, attentive, undemanding and reputedly easy to train.

The length of the body from the shoulder blade to the croup is about one tenth greater than the height to the withers, which produces a somewhat rectangular dog.

The breed slowly but surely spread from its native region of Slavonia in the east of Croatia to the rest of the country and then to various foreign states.

Nowadays, many Croatian Shepherd Dogs are impressive sporting dogs.

Due to their small size, they are very impressive on the Agility course.

According to written documents, the appearance of this breed has not changed greatly from the 14th century.

Probably because it possesses an excellent hereditary instinct for working sheep and cattle, selection on the basis of usability was being carried out spontaneously, which has resulted also in the balance of its look.

History

The earliest written document about Croatian Sheepdogs, named “Canis pastoralis croaticus”, found in the archives of diocese of Djakovo by "father of the breed" - veterinarian Prof Dr Stjepan Romic - is from 1374.

A systematic selection breeding program was started by the same Prof Romic in 1935 with dogs in the territory of Djakovo.

After 34 years of work, breed was finally recognized by Fédération Cynologique Internationale in 1969.











Istrian Coarse-haired Hound (Istarski Ostrodlaki Gonic) is a dog breed from Croatia, developed in the mid-19th century for hunting fox and rabbit.

It is a rough-coated scent hound still kept primarily as a hunting dog rather than as a pet.

Croatian and Slovene breeders created the Istrian Coarse-haired Hound in the mid-19th century by crossing the French Griffon Vendeén with the Istrian Shorthaired Hound, a smooth-haired hound developed from both sight hounds and scent hounds.

The breed was described in detail in 1896 and a decade on they were being sold in the region as “Barbini”.

The long and bristly coat is snow white, with lemon-orange markings and bushy eyebrows.

Istrian Wirehaired Hounds have a robust body with solid bones.

They have a severe, taciturn expression, even somber.











Istrian Shorthaired Hound (Istarski Kratkodlaki Gonic) is a breed of dog from Istria in Croatia, descended from a very old type of scenthound.

The Istrian Shorthaired Hound is the slightly smaller counterpart to the longer coated Istrian Coarse-haired Hound from the same region.

There is no actual proof of great antiquity for today's breed (such as written lineages going back to antiquity), although there is much fanciful conjecture.

The Istrian Shorthaired Hound is certainly a native of the Istrian peninsula in Croatia, although its precise origins are shrouded by time.

A late 15th century fresco depicts dogs closely resembling the breed, while an early 18th century chronicle by Bishop Bakic of Djakovo also mentions the type.

Their exceptional hunting skills led to Istrian Shorthaired Hounds being adopted in neighboring regions and the first registrations in the stud book is from 1924.

The breed was recognized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale in 1949, although the first standard was not published until 1973.

These noble-looking scent hounds have a snow white coat broken by lemon-orange markings, a fine, smooth coat and a clean, long, narrow head.

The supple body is ideally suited to its tasks.













Posavaz Hound (Posavski gonic) is a breed of dog, originating as a hunting dog of the scenthound type.

The Posavac Hound is a solidly built dog with a somewhat long body, close-fitting drop ears, a long tail, and a gentle expression.

The breed has an ideal height around 50 cm at the withers.

The short, flat coat is slightly longer on the belly and backs of legs (feathering).

Coat coulour is a reddish wheaten, sometimes marked with white.

Croatia is the home country for the breed.

History

There is no actual proof of great antiquity for this breed, although there is much fanciful conjecture.

The type is very old, and the modern breed resembles images seen in frescoes as early as 1497.

Hounds from the Sava Valley (Posavina, south-east of Zagreb) were sold as boskini in Croatia in the 1800s.

The ancestry of the dogs was documented starting in 1929, when registrations for the stud book were first taken.

The breed was internationally recognised by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale in 1955, and the name was clarified in 1969.

The breed has been known since then as the Posavac Hound.











Dalmatian (Croatian: Dalmatinac, Dalmatiner) is a breed of dog whose roots are often said to trace back to Dalmatia, a region of Croatia where the first illustrations of the dog have been found.

The Dalmatian is noted for its unique black- or brown-spotted coat and was mainly used as a carriage dog in its early days.

Dalmatians are well balanced dogs with highly distinctive spots.

Vigorous, muscular and lively, symmetrical in outline and free of any coarseness, dogs of this breed are capable of great endurance at a fair pace.

History

The Fédération Cynologique Internationale recognized as its country of origin the region of Dalmatia in the Republic of Croatia, citing Bewick's 1792 work.

The Republic of Croatia was recognized by the FCI. as the country of origin of the Dalmatian; the breed had been developed and cultivated chiefly in England.

When the dog with the distinctive markings was first shown in England in 1862 it was said to have been used as a guard dog and companion to the nomads of Dalmatia.

The breed's unique coat became popular and widely distributed over the continent of Europe beginning in 1920.

Its unusual markings were often mentioned by the old writers on cynology.











Tornjak (Tornjak) is a mountain sheep dog native to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

Tornjaks are big and powerful, well proportioned and agile.

Their long, dense hair covers an almost square body.

The bone structure is neither too light nor too heavy and coarse.

Tornjaks belong to the rare livestock protection breeds, and share many characteristics with other Mountain dogs.

History

The Tornjak is one of the very old breeds from ancient times, and it was mentioned in handwritten papers for the first time in the 9th century, in a Catholic Church's document.

Tornjaks from these documents is the very same as they are today, except for the name of the breed, which was Bosanski Ovčar, meaning Bosnian Shepherd Dog.

It was also called the Hrvatski pas planinac, meaning Croatian mountain dog.

The dogs in these documents was described entirely equal (function and exterior) as they are today: a protective guarding dog which keep and watch all what their humans ask from them, but highly intelligent and selected without sufficient aggression, and they are pleasant against strangers that they meet outside of their own property.

It is considered that dogs of the Tornjak's type have existed in Dinaridi (region of Dinaric Alps), especially in the region around Vlacic(close to the city of Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina) as central area of the region, from the Roman times.

The Romans used their dogs as war and guardian dogs, as well as for fighting in the arena.

Although the Tornjak is a very old breed, with the vanishing of nomadic sheep-breeding also the Tornjak vanished gradually.

In the early 70's, a group of cinologs began to collect the remained dogs which best corresponded to the old writings about their race.