And then you have those dogs who protect anything they think is their property. It could be their flock, their land, their porch, your clothes line, or your shoes. The Central Asian Shepherd is such a dog, and while you may know the breed as the Ovcharka, a different name doesn’t change the fact that this is a large, dominant breed, and owners should be dedicated to handling them with intelligence.
Central Asian Shepherds work well in pack scenarios where there’s division of labor (some dogs stay close to the flock, others take higher ground to scan the horizon or patrol). Sources report noticing that CASs are quite vocal, especially at night, and establish a wider-than-usual barrier between the charges and possible predatory threats.
Image from Wikicommons under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
The Central Asian is a variety of Ovcharka. Ovcharka is Russian for “shepherd”. As with the Caucasion Ovcharka, which is a long, heavily coated dog, they are bred to fiercely protect family, flock and property. We have a Caucasion Ovcharka ourselves and have in the past as well. This is NOT a breed for most people. They are a giant breed, and the males can go over 200 lbs. However they are HIGHLY athletic and in a short sprint can hit speeds of 45mph or higher. Strong prey drive.
They neutralize a threat, much in the same style of an African Lion. They require fencing that is like a fortress. They are nocturnal barkers, and not a good idea for families with small children, b/c of their size, and potential for prey drive. These are serious guardians for SERIOUS , EXPERIENCED dog people. Here is a photo of our 4 month old Caucasion Ovcharka, “Czort”. He should top out in the neighborhood of 200 lbs.
Thanks for a really informative comment, Kathy (we love how smart NPDD friends are!) Czort is wonderful, and we are filled with questions! Any chance you might approach other Ovcharka owners to see if there’d be interest in featuring the breed as a Purebred of Interest?