The Tornjak was in serious trouble.

In 1993, there were only ten registered dogs in Zagreb, and an unknown number in war-ravaged parts of Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina. By 1997, things had improved to where there were more than 200 registered Tornjaks with pedigrees, but make no mistake, this is a breed still under reconstruction. Interest in them, however,  is growing by leaps and bounds. 

We came across this wonderful description of the breed by Zdenko Cerin. He wrote, ” Tornjaks are very carefully-minded dogs, dogs that think, never search for a fight, but driven to the wall they are ready to accept the match for life and death. Self-consciousness makes them apparently not interested in their surroundings, but they are very much wide awake, not jumpy but with sharpened senses, and exceptionally stubborn in insisting on realization of their instincts or decisions. Their loyalty for their “flock” (their family are their flock too) is not pushy, but it’s beyond questioning, while somewhat wary of strangers. In contact with people and other animals they show no aggression outside their “pen”, while they resist vehemently any intrusion into their teritory. From my own experience I must point to the difference in behaviour between an individual and the pack. All three of my Tornjaks are very similar in character, dear, noble, serious animals, ready next to talk to me. I had observed each individually when meeting a strange dog. While the other dog would run towards him, a Tornjak would wait silently, somewhat tensely, interested in evaluating the other’s intentions. No barking, growling, or hair-rising, just tense attention. In 90% of instances the strange dog stops at 2-3 meters, turns and leaves. A pack reacts differently, much faster and much more endangering. With pack there is no waiting, they go into action immediately, synchronized, with inborn strategy and in events like that the owner got to have strong authoritarian power in order to stop that machine. I can’t imagine and don’t wish for better guardians. In relation to family members there is no difference in behaviour between individual and whole pack, except a cute competition in claiming attention can be notice.”

The Tornjak is currently an AKC FSS breed, and we think it’s a breed to watch.

Image of a Tornjak youngster by Diinnoo and found on WikiCommons.