CATXDOG

Appearance: The Tornjak ("tor" is Croatian for corral/sheepfold) is a dog breed native to Croatia. It is a mountain sheep dog . The Tornjak typically is a large dog, with strong bones, and a better highlighted difference between the sexes. Tornjaks are dogs with long hair in different colors. They also have an undercoat which is of the same color as overcoat. The coat is designed as protection from extreme weather conditions like rain, cold and snow which are all often in mountainous region in Croatia. They carry their tail high. Their head is large with ears hanging down.

History: The first text about Tornjak is from 1067AD in writings from Bosnian-catholic church and later in the manuscript of bishop Petar fom Ðakovo 1374AD about great mountain dog from Croatia . Later a canon from Ðakovo who was the manager of the bishop's estate in Ðakovo, Petar Lukic, wrote in his reports from 1752 about a Croatian mountain dog 4 to 5 palms tall (60 to 75 cm), with different colors that could be black, grey, yellow, brown and red or combined with white. Some have as many as three colors. These documents were proof that the Tornjak is native Croatian breed. This dog is mostly bred in the mountain parts, which is the reason why they are sometimes called "Canis montanis", or mountain dog. On February 24 , 2006 , this breed was recognized by the FCI. Throughout the centuries no one started selective breeding program to improve something, but also nobody crossbred it with any other breed because many owner probably thought that crossbreeding will diminish its' qualities. The breed hasn't been scientifically and thoroughly researched, and without such information it is difficult to start any sort of selective breeding program. Sheep herding in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina was diminishing, and with that Tornjak was disappearing also. As a breed it remained only in some isolated villages. The breed was rescued with creation of Commission for Tornjak breeding in 1982 from KHS. Their purpose was to create plan for breeding the Tornjak further and to expand it over the Croatia . The project was successful, and the result was increasing numbers of Tornjaks in use and acceptance from dog fanciers. There were some rejections to the dogs from the side of sheep herders because they expected from one dog to guard entire herd which was impossible.

Temperament: They are dogs with protective instinct, exceptionally gentle and careful with children but it is not recommendable to leave them alone with very small children because of their size. Like all other shepherd dogs they are very devoted to their family (their human pack), distrustful and reserved towards unfamiliar. Although viewed as sheep dog, Tornjak is not expert in herding sheep but rather in guarding them. Tornjak is extremely brave dog capable of chasing away wolves and even bears but combat is very rare, in disappointment to inexperienced people who expect such thing to happen. Tornjak is much smarter than to allow combat with wolves. Tornjak could spend entire day to urinate around the herd to mark his territory. Wolves generally do not enter territory of great and powerful dog, unless they come in packs. If there are several Tornjaks together there is very little chance that wolves will come close to the herd. If you watch Tornjak while it guard it is easy to see when the predator like wolf or bear is near, because Tornjak become increasingly alert. Its' body start to shake and it urinates uncontrollably. It also needed to know that Tornjak sometimes can get in conflict with ram or billy goat because both of them are trying to protect the herd. If they are not separated there is great chance Tornjak will kill the ram or the billy goat. Although it is possible to keep the dog in the apartment, Tornjak is not dog for the city and apartment. They lived for centuries outside and they need a lot of space, so hosu and backyard is much better for them.