South Russian Ovcharka

The South Russian Ovcharka, or South Russian Shepherd Dog, is a large flock guardian. It developed in parts of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union that are now Ukraine and southern Russia.

History

The breed is thought to come from crosses between local steppe dogs, of both flock guardian and sighthound type, and long-haired shepherd dogs brought from Spain in the late eighteenth century along with Merino sheep. Those Spanish dogs may have looked something like the present-day Gos d’Atura Catala.

A cross-bred dog of this South Russian type won a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867.

Much of the selective breeding took place in the early twentieth century on the estates of Friedrich von Falz-Fein at Askania-Nova, now in Kherson Oblast, Ukraine. The breed standard was approved in the early 1930s. The Fédération Cynologique Internationale gave the breed definitive acceptance on 30 September 1983.

The breed is banned in Denmark.

Appearance

This is a large dog. Males stand no less than 66 cm at the withers and weigh at least 35 kg; females are about 4 cm shorter and some 5 kg lighter. Some dogs are very large, weighing up to 75 kg.

The head is long and wedge-shaped, with hanging, triangular ears. The coat is long, coarse and thick. It may be solid white, gray or pale ivory, white tinged with yellow, or white with patches of gray, pale ivory or wheat color.

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