hello and welcome to animal watch and
this week we're talking baby caucasian
shepherd
the caucasian shepherd otherwise known
as the Caucasian of charka or russian
bear dog is a formidable giant claimed
by russia as their national dog but
fiercely contested by georgia has been
dogs which were in fact developed in
their country originally bred in the
Caucasian mountains to defend flocks of
livestock against wild predators such as
wolves and bears they have developed a
reputation as one of the only dog breeds
to be able to actually kill one of these
powerful wild predators but is this true
or are they simply deterrents an
effective and powerful dog whose
presence is simply enough to keep wild
animals away from livestock or can they
actually kill a large predator also seen
in many online clips as being ferocious
property Guardians and effective in man
training these animals suggests that
perhaps they are better off suited to
living outside and away from families so
is all of this imagery correct or are we
being sold a particular image of what
some people would like others to view
this breed as perhaps these dogs can be
kept as pets in the home and will
treasure their family and other animals
perhaps they are not wolf killers but
simply sold an image as dogs that look
like they could what is the truth today
I will reveal the answers to all of the
above and more I am visiting UK
caucasian Shepherd expert Brendan
Monahan who keeps one of the UK's
largest male Caucasian Shepherds and he
has a little surprise for me or so I
should say a few
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hi Anika don't no surprise for you today
hello
look at this caucasian shepherd puppies
Wow
and then aw yes coming out with a big
surprise for you how the just seven
weeks now seven weeks of long people's
full grown dogs are that size hey you
guys are so cute
he weighs about stolen him already
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hello I'm here with Brendan Monahan and
look what we've got we've got a massive
pile of caucasian Shepherd puppies and
of course I visited you didn't I good a
month or so ago where we met the father
of this litter Maximus
he looks like a gladiator dog if ever
I've seen one he's huge we've got quite
a lot of comments that came up on the
forum below the last video so we thought
that we've talked a little bit about
some of the things that people were
saying that you can click the
information bar at the top of the page
which will take you to the last video
and you can see the adults and you can
hear about what we spoke about last time
one of the first things that was brought
up was the origins of the caucasian
shepherd obviously they came from the
Caucasian mountains and there's been a
little bit of a debate whether this is a
Russian dog or a Brendan what's your
take on this well after a lot of
research there's obviously this this
breed was back to in a thousand years
maybe longer first founded in the
Georgia Mountains like you just said but
the u.s. people they found it in brought
into their Kennel Club in 1930 and start
to show it in Germany in the 1930s so I
think they just thought like claimed it
as their own a little bit but originally
the air from Georgia and surrounding
areas of Georgia but now you can find
them anywhere Kalia
and also the Russians and they show them
quite strongly don't ya they're a big
big breed in Russia as we were speaking
in the last film you know they have got
a reputation for being wolf killers but
I wanted to go over a little bit more
about that because the reputation of
being a wolf killer versus the reality
is it's very very complicated look at it
this way these dogs were bred to be
flock guardians that doesn't mean wolf
kill at all they are a deterrent so of
course you would have wolves in the area
and the idea is you put the dogs in with
the cattle and the walls won't touch the
cattle that's the idea so these dogs in
the sense of just being present
hopefully would stop a wolf coming in
but everybody out there you are right a
wolf a very very large wolf versus one
of these dogs a wolf would certainly
take out the dog there's absolutely no
doubt about it
and a lot of the sources that you might
find on the Internet a lot of them I've
got to say look like they're dramatized
documentaries yes staged but also there
seems to be a human always involved
sometimes it looks like it might be a
wolf that's got trapped inside a pen
with cattle and then maybe the human has
injured the wolf in some way whether
he's Club to the wolf or shot the wolf
and then he set a pack of these dogs on
the wolf and the dogs have actually
finished the wolf off
I'll tell you what I've noticed with
this breed as well having them for all
these years is whether German Shepherd
well if he hears a noise little bark
these seem to put the nose up in the air
and smell and that's to do with smelling
for wolves or predators or jackals are
bears they're not just Maxon Xena doing
if they smell it's all differently in
the air they got mad and one of the
other things that was brought up on the
previous film a lot of people seem to
feel that these dogs should not be
represented as pets but we want to talk
about that because we disagree with that
now I've met Brendan's dogs they're
laid-back they're incredibly loyal they
stick to you like glue I would say what
I noticed in the last video is the
guarding instinct it's very very parent
with them it's like anything else or any
other breed if you don't put the time in
that they're gonna be aggressive I'm out
with mine every day meeting people
talking to people educating people on
the breed so at the end of the day I
don't meet different types of people but
when my dogs come home to where they
live you know the obviously little guard
that's what they do it's like any other
dog you ignore it you don't socialize it
you don't have it meet children you tie
it up outside the house it's a farm dog
and it does nothing else gonna be a
dangerous dog that it will become a
dangerous dog so certainly this isn't a
dangerous breed as long as the owner
puts in all of the work that is needed
and you can see these puppies
I have socialized these from like say
past 5:00 in the morning I'm with these
yeah it's around o'clock 10 o'clock at
night yeah and so I mean you know people
come down all the time to see them yeah
all the wrong people on site for a dog
like this it needs a good space it needs
to be taken out and he's been walked
least twice three times a day like any
dog they're very much the same trainers
I found was having them for years as a
German Shepherd these are a little bit
more docile but obviously in the wrong
hands
dogs will always look for pack leader so
when you get a caucasian shepherd that
weighs a lot you need to be a very
effective this this breed
this breed doesn't want to be in charge
it wants to follow yeah but as soon as
they stop following and once being
charged and you know problems of course
I mean this is when you get a lot of
progression with dog is when they
actually feel that the human is not an
effective leader anymore so they feel
they actually have to do the job that's
a challenge if you're the pack leader
whatever you say I'll do so it should be
okay when you've knocked on my door and
I've had Maximus here it's awesome
Brendan's he let you in so that's fine
by me if I wasn't in obviously then it's
a different story once a magazine or a
Maximus if people come round here which
my sisters and families do the dogs is
part of the family you know they're not
aggressive towards him or anything you
said to me they tend to bond quite
heavily with like one person a lot of
the time
this breed could have been for six or
seven months in the mountains we just
one shepherd yeah you know and it's
loyal to that man so obviously stats
still in their DNA even thousands of
years later did love family the she the
cattle you know that's their family so I
won't have any comments underneath my
film saying that they're aggressive or
nasty dogs I won't have it
it's it's you as an owner makes the dog
and yes so I hope we've cleared up some
of the questions if you would like to
ask any more questions please feel free
to write your
comments underneath and we will do our
best to to answer it and likewise if you
would like to find out more about
caucasian shepherds and contact brendan
he's got a website which is northwest
caucasian shepherds contact me and ask
me any questions or anything you want if
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