hello and welcome to animal watch and
this week we're talking the huge
caucasian shepherd Wow
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huge powerful and extremely ancient the
Caucasian mountain dog caucasian
shepherd or of charka is a formidable
dog with immense size presence and
courage originally developed in russia
to defend livestock from dangerous
predators the dog has mustered a
fearsome reputation for being able to
kill wolves bears and defend his family
and flock from all that threatens him
but is this true is this huge an
imposing ancient breed as dangerous as
some sources make them out to be or are
they in fact loyal and warm home
companions and pets do they really kill
wolves and bears or is this the stuff of
stories and fairy tales I'm off to find
out the truth today by visiting one of
the few people in the United Kingdom who
have the honor to share their home with
these incredible dogs
Brendan Monahan of northwest caucasian
shepherds owns one of the largest males
in the UK
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looks like a bear does but of course
these these guys were bred weren't they
in Russia too to defend the herds young
bears and wolves and things like that so
course I've got to be absolutely massive
but is such a pleasure when people say
yeah oh you know what the aggressive for
what they write wrong people yeah
amazing amazing amazing you can see is
like looking out the window and stuff
all the time isn't it just sort of like
what's that oh yeah see this come in
just over twelve months or for now oh
yeah yeah pop up another daddy's girl
the females how tall do they get well
I've seen small ones the seats are ones
eNOS see there's about 28 at the
shoulders she's quite one of the tall
ones she's not much difference with
Maxine how about two inches well you can
get short quite sure yeah you see some
really small walk but mine are really
tall and strong and she's looking at you
she's going daddy they all do
well Brendon we're here with the
incredible Maximus he is huge how heavy
is he he's weighing around 106 270
pounds now he's around 30 31 inches only
two so he's gonna get bigger than this
know what they doing yet yeah because of
course dogs they mature when they're
three years old so male dogs especially
if they're intact keep growing don't
then of course his head is probably
gonna get bigger and bigger and bigger
and it stronger until he finishes yeah
bred in Russia as a sheepdog for
protecting the flock and sheep and the
real real ancient breed as well and they
go back to the same line that you get
the great pyrenees from and some birds
the herding mountain dogs that i are
used to living up in very very cold
conditions I could see how a group of
these say against one wolf if it was
cornered the wolf wouldn't have a chance
no they're too powerful
yeah but the main job really is to not
get into that situation is just to make
sure that the walls and the bears don't
come close enough in order to make a
kill so it's not necessarily this dog
can kill a wolf or can kill a bear it's
it's the prevention which is what we're
looking at people say to me these dogs
are wolf killers they're bear killers
they're aggressive they're formidable
they're dangerous from what I can see is
anything but dangerous but of course
it's the dog in the wrong hands isn't it
really not just a caucasian shepherd
with any doesn't suffer to bolt area
gets a lot of bad publicity but then you
see could a look with kids or anything
so it's the right owner right dog I
definitely get the feeling he's always
with you he's tolerating me but he's
sort of more tolerating me because
you're with him and he he has to keep
his eye on Brendan all the time do you
love anyone who can control him and
command him and because he wants to
please all the time but they do seem to
pair up with it you know whether whoever
feeds amazingly whoever walks him they
just seem to fall in love with that
person they like to chill out but at the
same point any noise or anything
what's he like when you have friends
children come in the house no problem
whatsoever if my sister's kids come
round they'll have a bit of a battle
first like no and then as soon as he
come in he just wasn't the windows new
all the time he's definitely he's on
point for his guards he's on guard you
can feel that he's on guard when he's
out the front of your house with with
the other females that you have do they
guard your problem yeah well the person
get them bars like everyone else are
there anyway yeah he goes more
protective over the females as well once
you get off your territory and you're
walking in a field
how does he interact with people and
other people's dogs if if you're in a
park you're walking along it just are
not bothered whatsoever yeah one side
walks alongside me yeah
don't bother cause of my hundred percent
certain that you won't touch any others
dog you may always get someone else's
dog have a new dog but these these don't
bother very very relaxed and do they run
yeah the wrong neighberhood run about
that would play and then they just seem
to just kick coat it feels like a lot of
the sled dog coats very very dense
undercoat I mean it's not dissimilar to
a long-haired man loops so he would he
would stay very very warm but of course
the responsibility with a dog like this
is a lot of daily yeah do you know
something I just called him ten minutes
once a day even just when we're going
for a while sele more pies I say but
they do need once every six months of
grooming you're like what's he like if
somebody grooms him he's not bothered
he's just look at me anything
oh really what do you actually feed him
what's his diet all my dogs were fed and
Rami Rami and Biscay couple of pound two
ramens and a mix it into with a book
kibble and a feed him in the morning and
then he does stupid bowls a day one of
the things I think is pretty astounding
is his feet they're huge
you know they're they're not just huge
they're white and they've their webbed
aren't they no went little snowshoes and
I've put my hand on his foot and my hand
is easily the same size as his foot the
other thing I want to talk about quickly
as his ears because of course what we're
going to notice that he does actually
have dropped across ears and Brendon
hasn't cropped his ears he came from
Russia with already cropped ears didn't
he so you couldn't do anything about
that but there's a reason isn't it that
they cropped there is a yeah there's two
reasons that I've been told is that is
the frost they keep them caught back
because of the frost damage and if they
are from working lines obviously they've
to protect the flock the walls and
everything can't hang on so anything I
do know for a fact the walls go for it
yeah so that's probably why yeah for
your females don't know I prefer them
with yes I have a little pub and little
Pomeranian my favorite so there you go
they these guys will get on with small
dogs as well it's down to how you train
them how you socialize them and the own
and he's giving me a nice slick now look
there we go finally I was privileged to
see the entire pack running together
outside several Caucasian shepherds a
German Shepherd as well as two teeny
tiny fluffy Pomeranians and a pug
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well I hope you enjoyed this episode of
animal watch on the amazing beautiful a
shepherd's box I've absolutely adored it
well anyway remember to tune in every
single week for our wonderful programs
or wolves wolf dogs dogs animal rescue
and conservation bye for now
if you would like to find out more about
Brendon's caucasian shepherds you can
visit his website here www.norfolk.gov
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you
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