KENAI
Sarplaninac

The breeds · working

UKC Guardian · FCI standard 41

Sarplaninac.

Livestock guardian of mountain stock. FCI 41: guardian and protector of the cattle herds against predatory animals; the original type is kept only where intense cattle breeding still prevails and the dog can play that original role; named for the Sharplanina range in the south-eastern mountains. UKC: ancient livestock guarding breed of southeastern Yugoslavia (Roman Illyria), still widely used in its homeland to protect flocks against predators; to be judged as a working livestock guardian able to protect stock in mountainous terrain; extraordinary strength and large teeth, a formidable adversary of predatory animals. UKC temperament: highly intelligent and independent, devoted to family and wary of strangers, calm and steady but fearless and quick to react to perceived threats. FCI temperament: even disposition, reliable, protective but not snappy, incorruptible. FCI files it in Group 2, molossoid, mountain type, without working trial. Wikipedia: livestock guardian type named for the Šar Mountains; traditionally used to guard cattle or sheep; under the transhumant system dogs moved with the flocks, summering in the Šar Mountains and wintering in Thessaly, where they were known as Greek Shepherd Dogs (Ottoman times). German Wikipedia: kept for centuries by shepherds as a herd guardian to protect sheep and goat flocks from predators such as wolves and bears; acts largely on its own judgment; today also used as a guard and protection dog by military and police. dogbreedinfo.com: a flock guard that needs to be working; sheep and goat raisers find most predator problems disappear with one; will confront adversaries larger than itself.

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.
55–99LBWeight, all linesbreed dogs 55 to 99.2 lb; breed bitches 55 to 88.2 lb.

The body

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

Height at the shoulder

dogs 22 to 24.4 in · bitches 21 to 24 in

Breed clubFCI Standard N° 41, 1980

Same logic as the male row: UKC minimum, FCI average; high is the FCI average, so larger bitches are not excluded. Center blank. High is raised to 24.0 in because dogbreedinfo.com's breed-wide 22 to 24 in counts in both sex rows; the FCI average (22.8 in) is below it.

Weight

dogs 55 to 99.2 lb · bitches 55 to 88.2 lb

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2009

UKC and FCI agree (66 to 88.2 lb). Low is 55 lb because dogbreedinfo.com's breed-wide 55 to 88 lb counts in both sex rows. Center blank.

Coat

UKC: double coat, long straight somewhat rough outer coat 4 to 5 in at the withers over a finer, thicker undercoat; short on head, ears and front of legs; ruff, frill at the nape, breeches and tail plume. Any solid colour from white to near-black; iron grey most common; tiny white marks on chest and toes allowed but not desired; brindle and spots disqualify. FCI 41: hair 10 to 12 cm at the withers, not under 7 cm; solid coloured, greenish (iron) grey and dark grey preferred, white markings not allowed beyond tiny chest and toe spots. Wikipedia: double coat, guard hair long, flat and coarse, undercoat thick and fine; any solid colour, iron grey or dark grey preferred. dogbreedinfo.com: coat about 4 in (10 cm) long, dense, evenly distributed

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2009

Heat tolerance

2 of 5 · FCI 41: thick, long, rather coarse coat; hair 10 to 12 cm at the withers (not under 7 cm) over an abundant short dense fine undercoat. UKC: double coat, outer 4 to 5 in at the withers (no shorter than 2 in), shorter finer thicker undercoat

DerivedFCI Standard N° 41, 1980

Derived from the coat description (2 = heavy double / long). Neither registry says how the breed copes with heat.

The dog at home

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

Exercise need

dogbreedinfo.com: needs a lot of physical exercise; on a farm running free it takes care of its own exercise, but a dog not working stock needs a daily walk or jog

Editorialdogbreedinfo.com

Single editorial source; no registry or club states an exercise need. Text only; exercise_need_min left blank (no RKC band for this breed).

Grooming

dogbreedinfo.com: the coat will benefit from occasional brushings

Editorialdogbreedinfo.com

Single editorial source; no grooming_load score assigned (no RKC band).

The work

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

Role

Livestock guardian of mountain stock. FCI 41: guardian and protector of the cattle herds against predatory animals; the original type is kept only where intense cattle breeding still prevails and the dog can play that original role; named for the Sharplanina range in the south-eastern mountains. UKC: ancient livestock guarding breed of southeastern Yugoslavia (Roman Illyria), still widely used in its homeland to protect flocks against predators; to be judged as a working livestock guardian able to protect stock in mountainous terrain; extraordinary strength and large teeth, a formidable adversary of predatory animals. UKC temperament: highly intelligent and independent, devoted to family and wary of strangers, calm and steady but fearless and quick to react to perceived threats. FCI temperament: even disposition, reliable, protective but not snappy, incorruptible. FCI files it in Group 2, molossoid, mountain type, without working trial. Wikipedia: livestock guardian type named for the Šar Mountains; traditionally used to guard cattle or sheep; under the transhumant system dogs moved with the flocks, summering in the Šar Mountains and wintering in Thessaly, where they were known as Greek Shepherd Dogs (Ottoman times). German Wikipedia: kept for centuries by shepherds as a herd guardian to protect sheep and goat flocks from predators such as wolves and bears; acts largely on its own judgment; today also used as a guard and protection dog by military and police. dogbreedinfo.com: a flock guard that needs to be working; sheep and goat raisers find most predator problems disappear with one; will confront adversaries larger than itself

Breed clubFCI Standard N° 41, 1980

Livestock guardian, not a herder. FCI says cattle herds and UKC says flocks; both stand. Neither registry names the predators (wolf, bear) the dog faces. Wikipedia and dogbreedinfo.com are editorial. The wolf and bear naming is German Wikipedia only; the registries do not name predators.

Also used on

UKC: growing numbers of American and Canadian ranchers have used Sarplaninacs successfully for predator control; the first to reach the U.S. was carried down from the mountains by mule, and export from Yugoslavia was not legal until 1970. Wikipedia (German): military and police guard and protection dog, and a family dog when its origins are respected. PLOS ONE (Krueger et al. 2025, 25 German farms): Sarplaninacs are among the guard breeds kept and bred in Germany; on one observed farm 5 Sarplaninacs guarded 65-75 goats, 7 horses and 2 donkeys, and on another 6 guarded 1300 sheep, 6 donkeys and 1200 poultry (farm protocols); observed Sarplaninacs (N = 4) stayed within 1 to 3 body lengths of the guarded animals with a median 0.17 per hour (min 0.11, max 0.22)

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2009

UKC history paragraph plus Wikipedia and one peer-reviewed German farm study (small observed sample, N = 4 Sarplaninacs); the study is a behaviour snapshot, not a breed norm.

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

Also called
Sharplaninac, Sar Planina, Yugoslavian Shepherd Dog Sharplanina, Illyrian Shepherd, Šarplaninac

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