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Romanian Carpathian Shepherd

The breeds · herding

AKC Foundation Stock Service · UKC Guardian · FCI standard 350

Romanian Carpathian Shepherd.

Livestock guardian from the Carpathian Mountains. FCI 350 utilization: sheepdog used by Romanian shepherds in the Carpathians for centuries to defend the herds while at the same time an excellent guard dog; a natural, courageous guardian with instinctive and unconditional attachment to the herd and his master; dignified, calm and stable. FCI lists it in Group 1 (sheepdogs), not with the molossoids. AKC breed page: watchdog and protective nature 5 of 5, barking level 3, openness to strangers 3, trainability 1 of 5. Wikipedia: a large breed of livestock guardian dogs from the Carpathian Mountains of Romania; historically each farmer bred the dog to his own need and there was no standard. Journal of Ethnobiology 2020 (abstract): Romanian Carpathian livestock guardian dogs are as old as the pastoral presence in the region; their main role is to protect livestock from predation by large carnivores, and the Carpathians have always held considerable populations of wolf, brown bear and lynx; shepherds there rely on themselves and their dogs, and by watching their dogs' behaviour they foretell the movements and presence of large carnivores nearby; the breed is promoted by international conservation NGOs as a non-lethal way to ease conflict with large carnivores.

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.

0INHeightdogs null, bitches null. An ideal from the standard, not a range.
70–100LBWeight, all linesbreed dogs 70 to 100 lb; breed bitches 70 to 100 lb.

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

dogs 25.6 to 29 in · bitches 23 to 26.4 in

Breed clubFCI Standard N° 350, 2015

Low and high span the FCI printed ideal range and the AKC page band; center blank.

Weight

dogs 70 to 100 lb · bitches 70 to 100 lb

Breed clubAKC

Breed-wide bands from AKC and Wikipedia, counted in both sex rows; they agree within rounding. FCI prints none.

Coat

FCI 350: harsh, dense, straight, moderate length, abundant; dense soft undercoat; short and flat on head and front of limbs; profuse on neck, back of limbs and tail. Colour pale fawn overlaid with black (wolf-grey), lighter on the sides, darker on top; white markings on muzzle, forehead, neck, chest, limbs and tail allowed. Brown, brindle, yellow or flecked coats are disqualifying. Ash grey skin. Wikipedia: double coat, shorter on the head and front of legs, longer on the tail, back of legs and chest; wolf gray

Breed clubFCI Standard N° 350, 2015

Shedding

Shedding 3 of 5 (AKC breed page trait score)

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Heat tolerance

3 of 5 · FCI 350: harsh, dense, straight coat of moderate length, abundant all over, dense soft undercoat, short on head and front of limbs; wolf-grey (pale fawn overlaid with black)

DerivedFCI Standard N° 350, 2015

Derived from the coat description (3 = medium double). The standard says nothing about heat.

The dog at home

What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.

Exercise need

AKC breed page: energy level 2 of 5; mental stimulation needs 5 of 5. FCI 350: agile, vigorous dog used for centuries by Carpathian shepherds to defend the herds

Breed clubAKC

No Royal Kennel Club page, so no numeric minutes band; exercise_need_min is omitted.

Energy

2 of 5

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Grooming load

2 of 5

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Grooming

AKC breed page: coat grooming frequency 2 of 5, shedding level 3 of 5. FCI 350: harsh, dense, straight coat of moderate length with a dense soft undercoat; longer on the neck, backs of the limbs and tail

Breed clubAKC

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

Livestock guardian from the Carpathian Mountains. FCI 350 utilization: sheepdog used by Romanian shepherds in the Carpathians for centuries to defend the herds while at the same time an excellent guard dog; a natural, courageous guardian with instinctive and unconditional attachment to the herd and his master; dignified, calm and stable. FCI lists it in Group 1 (sheepdogs), not with the molossoids. AKC breed page: watchdog and protective nature 5 of 5, barking level 3, openness to strangers 3, trainability 1 of 5. Wikipedia: a large breed of livestock guardian dogs from the Carpathian Mountains of Romania; historically each farmer bred the dog to his own need and there was no standard. Journal of Ethnobiology 2020 (abstract): Romanian Carpathian livestock guardian dogs are as old as the pastoral presence in the region; their main role is to protect livestock from predation by large carnivores, and the Carpathians have always held considerable populations of wolf, brown bear and lynx; shepherds there rely on themselves and their dogs, and by watching their dogs' behaviour they foretell the movements and presence of large carnivores nearby; the breed is promoted by international conservation NGOs as a non-lethal way to ease conflict with large carnivores

Breed clubFCI Standard N° 350, 2015

FCI names no predator for this breed; the peer-reviewed abstract names wolf, brown bear and lynx for the Carpathian LGDs in general and the Carpathian Shepherd Dog by name as the promoted breed. The study covers 12 sites in Banat and Transylvania; the abstract does not give breed-by-breed behaviour.

More

akc bands

AKC breed page trait scores (1-5): Energy Level 2; Mental Stimulation Needs 5; Trainability Level 1; Barking Level 3; Watchdog/Protective Nature 5; Good With Young Children 4; Openness To Strangers 3; Good With Other Dogs 3; Shedding Level 3; Coat Grooming Frequency 2; Drooling Level 1; Affectionate With Family 3; Playfulness Level 3; Adaptability Level 3.

Breed clubAKC

Fourteen AKC bands in one row; the selector reads each by name. Breed-club ratings: a tendency, never a measurement.

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. 2 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called
Ciobanesc Romanesc Carpatin, Romanian Carpathian Shepherd Dog, Carpatin

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