       | The Caucasian Shepherd is one of the oldest dog breeds in the world. On the merciless mountain slopes of the Caucasus, these dogs the size of a small bear have, for centuries, protected herdsmen and their families and cattle against the attacks of large beasts of prey. The geographical isolation of the remotest mountain areas of Europe and Asia, as well as natural selection, helped the breed evolve in a way that only the biggest, most aggressive and most intelligent dogs could survive in the austere conditions. |
| Starting from the 1930’s, the Red Star Kennel in Moscow began to breed Caucasian Shepherds for use by the Red Army, mainly as guard dogs. The pride of Stalin’s home country, the fierce-natured Caucasian Shepherd toughened by the harsh conditions did indeed prove to be a more efficient guard for the concentration camps of freezing Siberia than the German Shepherd. From Moscow, these guard dogs spread all over the East European countries occupied by the Soviet Union, and when the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, the DDR harnessed the unique guarding skills of this ancient breed against its own citizens. Those gigantic dogs raised with no human contact would torpedo any defector trying to cross the border at their sector – and would stop at nothing. In the autumn of 1989, a quiet upsurge against the dictatorship of Erich Honecker began in East Germany. What started on the 9th of October as a silent candle revolt of a few hundred people grew in a couple of months into a non-violent, bloodless demonstration of 500,000. Exactly one month later, the Berlin Wall was being dismantled and a guard dog brigade of 7,000 dogs, among other things, had to be gotten rid of. |
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The Caucasian Shepherd, with an average weight of 70 kg, is impossible to socialise if it has been living as a solitary guard dog until its adult life. There is no information available on the fate of the full-grown guard dogs of the DDR. Most of them were probably put down. Puppies were sold dirt-cheap or given for free, and the rest were put down. A Caucasian Shepherd puppy, cuddlier than a cuddly toy, charms just about anyone. But it is very irresponsible for a breeder or a seller to hand over such a puppy to a buyer who is unaware of what the future will bring. The puppy will grow and grow. And grow. One day, it will be fully grown, making its own rules unless it is trained with expertise and adjusted to behave in accordance with the demands of modern society. Regrettably often, a dog like that ends up in an early grave, just because the owner has allowed it to grow like weeds in an unattended garden. It is hard to imagine a better companion than an intelligent and well-socialised Caucasian Shepherd. Yet even when properly trained, it is a challenge and a demanding responsibility for its owner and its family. In America, the Caucasian Shepherd has even been compared to a loaded shotgun with the safety catch off. Defending its family with the instincts of a wild animal, the Caucasian Shepherd flies into a demonic rage within a split second, should it need to attack on behalf of its loved ones. Without hesitation, it will face any threat and, in a fighting situation, fall into a trance that removes any sensation of pain. In the next minute, it is all cuddly and cute again – for its own family members. The Caucasian Shepherd is a guard dog par excellence, with a mythical history as blood-soaked as the history of the peoples of its original habitats. Its fate at the Berlin Wall, its death-defying self-sacrifice and its extremely two-fold behaviour among his own family and strangers make it a most dramatic creature as such. |
