The breeds · working
AKC Foundation Stock Service · UKC Guardian · FCI standard 328
Caucasian Shepherd Dog.
Guard dog and livestock guardian. FCI 328 utilization: guard and watchdog; historically used to guard herds, flocks and dwellings from beasts of prey and predators; selection work began in the USSR in the 1920s; temperament steady, active, self-confident, fearless and independent; devoted to its master. UKC: guardian of flocks and villages across the Caucasus for centuries; the former Soviet government used the breed to guard factories and government facilities; in the United States it has earned a reputation as a trustworthy service dog; spirited, strong-willed, gentle with family but very suspicious of strange people or dogs; slow to mature and headstrong; UKC says mild dog aggression is a normal characteristic and is not penalized. AKC breed page: a serious guardian breed that should never be taken lightly; bold, fearless and fierce when a threat is present, soft and devoted with family; watchdog and protective nature 5 of 5. Scientific Reports 2024 (Perfilyeva et al.): mtDNA analyses cited there show extremely low differentiation among the Caucasian, North Caucasian Volkodav, Central Asian, Akbash and Kangal breeds.
Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.
The body
What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.
Height at the shoulder
Low and high span FCI, UKC (floor 24) and the AKC breed-wide band 23 to 30. Center blank.
Weight
Low and high span the AKC breed-wide band and the FCI minimum.
Coat
Shedding
AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.
Heat tolerance
Derived from the coat description (2 = heavy double / long). Both registries state climate adaptability.
How long they live, and what they cost
Measured on real dogs, with the sample and the spread. Never a guess.
Median lifespan
Very small sample (52 dogs, only 22 deceased) and the upper confidence limit is printed as NA, so high is blank; treat the median as soft. UK pet population. The AKC page band (10-12) is shown beside it in text, never merged.
The dog at home
What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.
Exercise need
No Royal Kennel Club band for this breed, so exercise_need_min is left out.
Energy
AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.
Grooming load
AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.
Grooming
No Royal Kennel Club grooming band, so grooming_load is left out.
The work
What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.
Role
FCI lists the utilization only as guard and watchdog; the flock-guarding history is in the FCI history paragraph and UKC. No breed-club page could be read.
Also used on
No hunting use is stated.
How common the problems are
Evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock; the numbers are still the best there are.
Hip dysplasia
Voluntary registry: affected dogs are under-reported and evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock, so true prevalence is higher. Current all-data figure, undated. Small sample (119).
More
akc bands
Fourteen AKC bands in one row; the selector reads each by name. Breed-club ratings: a tendency, never a measurement.
What to ask a breeder for
The health clearances the breed’s own club and registry name. Reference only: what to ask for, never a statement about any dog’s health.
- USHip evaluation (OFA lists a CAUCASIAN SHEPHERD hip statistics row)OFA · Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, Disease Statistics by Breed (hip and elbow dysplasia tables, all evaluations on record), read from the OFA statistics service on Oct 5 2026
How to read this page
Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.
Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 5 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.
- Also called
- Caucasian Ovcharka, Caucasian Mountain Dog, Kavkazskaia Ovtcharka, Caucasian Shepherd
Every breed, read the same way.
The breed index grows as entries clear the standard. Gun dogs first.
All published breedsYour caucasian shepherd dog, on the record.
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