Tornjak

The Tornjaks that live today are a breed restored in Croatia from the last remnants of a nearly extinct population of old shepherd dogs that used to inhabit the whole area of Dinarsko Gorje – from Grobnik in the northwest to Duvanjsko-lipanjsko polje, Kupreska down and the mountains of western Bosnia to the South and Southeast.
The old church manuscripts found in the catholic centers of literacy, especially Djakovacka bishopsee, tell us that during these thousand years that have past since these manuscripts were written the Tornjak has changed little, if at all.
Tornjaks are today, and ever have been during their existence, large, beautiful, longhaired, calm and foremostly modest guardian dogs. Their abilities and instincts to defend their masters’ property were used primarily for defense of herds of sheep from various predators. Tornjaks were, and still are, used as ideal guardians of their homes and families. Their deep attachment to their families is characteristic, almost proverbial, and they are especially known for their gentle devotion to children.
As far as temperaments go, that of a Tornjak is a stable and calm one, not in the least bit aggressive. However, in all the situations that require action from their part, these calm dogs turn into extremely fierce, determined, self-sacrificing guardians that their owner can completely depend on, whether the situation is a visit from uninvited “guests” to the family, or any kind of four legged hungry beast that would prowl around the herd that the Tornjak is charged with guarding.
There are several assumptions on how these shepherd dogs came to this area, but the one closest to the truth is the theory which claims that the first shepherd dogs came to the Balkans in the great migrations of nomadic shepherds from Mesopotamia (about 5000 years BC, or 7000 years ago today). These dogs evolved and developed, somewhat independently, in separate mountain ranges, forming groups (which are separate breeds today) of dogs that were shaped according to the beliefs, customs and needs of the people with which they lived. Each according to his own preference, they chose puppies for further work and breeding.
Another hypothesis might be true – that the tornjaks came to what is now their homeland along with Croats when they migrated into the Balkans from their ancient land, which is thought to have been Persia of Darius, in the same area as Mesopotamia. The story of Silvan was one of many deities, which existed in the religions practiced on the territory of Roman province Illirycum. Illirycum contained most of the balkans, excluding only today’s Romania and Bulgaria. Silvan was revered as the god of fertility and shepherds. For Delmats (the tribe that inhabited the territory south of Krka to Neretva, and inwards to central Bosnia), Silvan was the chief deity. He was greatly revered in the area where Liburn lived, which was at the coast of Adriatic Sea, north of river Krka to Grobnicko podrucje, and inwards all the way to the banks of river Sava. Silvan, god of shepherds and herdsmen is represented embodied as a satire playing his pipe. In the carvings found in the Liburn and Delmat area, his most often presented companion is a strong, medium sized shepherd dog with big paws and upright ears. In these carvings, the dog is seated by the left side of Silvan, following his master’s gaze. One of the most beautiful, and best preserved carvings found to this day is «Silvan from ?uliši?». Archeologist Ivan Pediši? has written about it, and it is kept in the Šibenik city museum. It dates back to about the 2nd century BC. However, its age has not yet been determined precisely, so it is possible that it belongs to a newer antic era.
This monument showing the shepherd dog, as well as the depictions of Silvan found earlier, confirm an interesting assumption: the Liburns and Delmats, who worshiped Silvan the most, lived in today’s Croatia before Croats migrated into it, and were primarily shepherds (they were forced to become farmers when they fell under the Roman domain – at this time, their chief deity Silvan acquired a sickle in his right hand, as can be seen on the later depictions) – had no knowledge of the shepherd dog whose type would match “Canis montanus”, the type of Tornjak – a strong dog with folded ears, as Tornjak is described in the earliest manuscripts that mention him. It is obvious that the ancestor of contemporary Tornjak arrived to this area afterwards, as it was not known till later antic times!
Based on that, we can almost certainly assume that the ancestors of Tornjaks, together with the ancestors of the Croatian Shepherd, accompanied the Croats on their migration from their ancient homeland (assumed to be Persia of Darius). What makes this assumption all the more probable is the fact that Croats were shepherds themselves, and in the cradle of shepherd peoples there were no shepherds without strong, good shepherd dogs…
After settling in this new region, the dogs would later be shaped according to the new geoclimate, and mating to the dogs that were already there, but the base remains the strong, large shepherd dog that Croats brought with them, along with the small shepherd. This duo already worked well as a team: the small dogs would run around the herd, and shape it, and the large, strong dogs were there to guard the herd from predators and thieves that were always plentiful. And as shepherds and their herds were the preferred prey of predators upon their long migrations, it is clear that Croats would not have been able to complete such a long and difficult journey unprotected – it is clear that the large guard dogs were with them.
Thus it came to be that on a proportionally small geographical area of the Balkans different breeds of dogs developed – from our Tornjak and Kraški shepherd in the west, Šarplaninac in the mid parts, and Bulgarian Karakašanac, Carpathian in Romania in the east, and Greek shepherd breeds in the south parts of the Balkan peninsula.
Maybe these shepherd breeds were already formed, when the Tornjak came with the Croats from the cradle of all shepherd dogs – Mesopotamia?
Maybe this is the reason that Tornjak alone is friendly to strangers, whereas all the other mentioned breeds are sharp and weary of strangers?
Breeding and selection of Croatian Tornjak is the work of dedicated Croatian breeders that would not allow this pearl of our national heritage to decay and be forgotten. For three decades they have been consistently planning, selecting and breeding purebred Tornjaks. The first Committee for breeding Tornjaks was founded in Zagreb in 1979, formally affirming the efforts of the enthusiasts and lovers of this breed. The dedication of the first Tornjak breeders was crowned with the formation of the breed book, and to the present, more than a thousand purebred Tornjaks have been entered into it. The intention of the Croatian breeders was to restore an almost extinct breed, preserving all the vital characteristics of these beautiful dogs, holding true to the Standard of the breed which was the result not of imagination, but derived from substantial observation of the actual characteristics of the primary population.
In the last couple of years, Tornjaks have been reinstated into their original function of the herd guardian shepherd dog, thanks to the constant action from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning of Croatia. The results are already visible, as the damages caused by wolf attacks on sheep and goat herds have decreased noticeably in Dalmatinska Zagora. This is a form of balance to the increasing number of Tornjaks seen in the cities, kept as pets and/or guardians of their homes and families.
These beautiful, long coated, many colored dogs can be seen more often at our shows, and in the last few years the numbers of Tornjaks entered has been increasing steadily. We expect the number of Tornjaks to increase as Tornjak has been introduced to other countries, outside of Croatian borders, where their popularity is increasing. The first Tornjak pups have reached the shores beyond the Atlantic Ocean recently.
Such large popularity of the Tornjak is not surprising, as Tornjaks have proven themselves long ago as versatile working dogs, known for their modesty and adaptability to all living conditions. At the same time, they are seen frequently as pets, where they have shown they are perfect members and friends to their families. They are exceptionally emotional and eager to learn, which makes them good students – even children can train them. In addition, they keep their human pack safe. Historical documents and formation of contemporary Tornjaks First written records about Tornjaks Not so long ago, this dog was referred to as “Bosnian Tornjak”, and Croatia as a state did not exist. There was only Republic of Croatia as a part of the Socialistic Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. The borders between single Republics within SFRY and the national awareness of its different nationalities were not emphasized; they were maximally marginalized and sometimes even proclaimed anticonstitutional… This is the environment that surrounded the beginning of the modern story of Tornjaks, over 30 years ago. I say “modern” because the Tornjak have several thousand years of history behind them.
First written records about Tornjaks are found among the old manuscripts of Croatian – Bosnian Catholic Church, that date from the 9th century. At that time Tornjaks were not yet referred to by this “modern” name, they were simply described as Canis montanus in Latin, which can be translated as “mountain dog” (he was referred to as “pas planinac” by the late prof. Stjepan Romi?). Similar descriptions repeat throughout the documents from later dates, from 1067 onwards.
In his scripts from 1752, the Bishop of Djakovica Petar Luki? writes: “the mountain dog is found throughout the highlands of Croatia… his task is to guard and defend the owner and his property, especially the cattle and the home from all intruders, particularly wolves and bears…”; the description of these dogs corresponds well to the Tornjaks we know today: ”the dog is 4-5 pedaljs* in height, with coat in various colors – black, white, gray, yellow, brown and red – or dappled, white with any of the other mentioned colors; there are dogs with three colored coats. The hair is mostly flat, the length is at the border between short and long. The ears are hanging, and the tail is covered with thick, rich long hair…” This description shows that Tornjaks have not changed at all for over a thousand years.
Dogs that fit this description we call Tornjaks today, although other names are used as well: on the mountain Dinara, around Sinj and Kamešnica, they are referred to as “Dinarci”, and people from Sinj call theirs “toraši” as well. Throughout more than a thousand years of its existance, Tornjaks have never aspired to have any kind of special position. They were, and remain still, extremely modest dogs, compltely committed to their human pack. They spent their lives modestly and quietly, performing all their humans demanded of them and never complained… satisfied with a simple crust of bread, or even without it. Name issue You must be wondering how come this dog, who has – according to the historical documents – lived all throughout the mountains of Croatia, from Grobni?ko polje to today’s Rijeka, through Lika and Gorski kotar … all the way to the mountains of western Bosnia and highland downs such as Kupreška, and north to the planes surrounding river Sava, became known as Bosnian Tornjak in the last century of the second millenium.
It is actually simple… Tornjak has migrated throughout history with our native breed of sheep, Pramenka, with the shepherds that lived with these sheep, and of these sheep. Although, there are signs that Tornjak has arrived in our parts of the world during the migration of the ancient Croats from their homeland in Darius’ Persia. According to the research of dr. Fra Silvio Grubaši?, known ethnologist from the order of Franciscans, it is almost certain that Croats came here from Darius’ Persia and Tornjak was (then known as Canis montanus) recorded as a companion, first and only with the Croats. We know for certain that this is where our first shepherds came, but we cannot tell with certainty whether the Tornjak came with the Croats, or if the Croats found him here when they came.
Extensive herding of nomadic type used to be the only known way of shepherding, but as civilisation developed, in the world and thus in Croatia as well, nomadic shepherding faded out and gave way to farming, or, more precisely, shepherding by keeping the sheep in large fenced pastures. At the same time, the culture of hunting wolves developed, and Tornjak was left without a job in most parts of Croatia. The help of these dogs was needed only in the farthest, most sundered areas, where shepherds were still nomads. In fact, Tornjak kept performing his duty – to which he was so devoted – only on the mountain Dinara. From Svilaja, and further to the south to Mose?, where dogs of the type of Tornjaks were always the right hands of the shepherds, local population still remembers the domestic breeding of these dogs they called “Dinarians”, and testify that the Tornjaks - “Dinarians” disappeared from this area only about 20 years ago.
There were still some to be found on the mountain Kamešnica, and in isolated areas of Lika, especially in the areas surrounding Oto?ac and Gospi?. Many more could be seen in the Livanj, Duvanj and Kupreš areas in western Bosnia, and on the mountains of Vran and Vlaši?.. In other areas, formerly inhabited by both Pramenka the sheep and Tornjaks, at the end of the XIX and beginning of the XX century neither of the two remained. Tornjak had almost disappeared from the most part of Croatia, in which it had always lived, as ancient testimonies prove. One of these is the document concerning lord Hrvoje Vuk?i? Hrvatini?, that dates before the coming of the Turks into Croatia (Hrvoje's misal from 1404.).
Other clues lead us towards the Franciscan province Bosnia, which from 1291 spread through the territories of today's Croatia, Bosnia and Hertzegovina and later on expanded towards the north-west towards Italy, and north – east, enclosing parts of Vojvodina and Hungary. Franciscans came to these parts by initiative of the Catholic Church and Rome. Their primary task was to bring back to Catholisism Bosnian Christians which now belonged to the heterodox Bosnian Church, which are better known as bogumili and patareni, and which came to Croatia from Bulgaria and acquired followers even in the courts of Dalmatian and Bosnian lords. Bosnian vicariate was founded in 1340, and at the end of the XIV century its territory was from Italy to the Black Sea. However, when Turks came and most of Bosnia fell under the Osman Empire, influience of Franciscans was diminished, many of the Catholic population left these areas, and many became muslims.
Also, starting from the XVI century, Orthodox Christians (mostly Vlasi) began populating these parts, being in the military service of the Turks. Together with the weakening of the franciscan influence, the new political changes caused the division of the fransciscan vicariate in 1514, to Silver Bosnia (under Turkish rule) and Croatian Bosnia which included the free part of wetern Bosnia and most parts of Croatia that were on the free territory. Political events, wars, occupations and loss of territory changed the borders of these Franciscan provinces over the years, but the name remained. Under Franciscan rule, most part of what is today Croatia was called «Bosnia», but «Croatian Bosnia».. And written documents about Tornjaks can still be found only among the Franciscans... the history of Croats, Tornjaks and Franciscans is wowen closely together, and cannot be unwound.
The territories which tornjaks inhabited throughout their history coincide for the most part with this clerical «state» of the Franciscans. For the most of their history, ever since they came to these territories, Croatian catholics (with their faithful friends, Tornjaks), lived together in these parts which were, more often than not united into one state. But times change, and today there are two countries in that same territory, and Croatians are divided into Croatians from Croatia and Bosnian Croats. There is another question: «Why was this beautiful dog called Tornjak in the first place?» Although the name came later, it became so deeply rooted among the people. It came spontaneously and accidentaly. Living with the sheep and by sheep, these dogs were mot often seen next to tors. Tors (or toraks) is the common name for the paddock, either fenced or unfenced, in which sheep are kept, mostly at night and when they are not on the pastures. This name is most common in Dalmatian mountains. Tor is also the name for the area in front of the enterance into the sheep stalls (referred to as «jara»).
Thus the mountain dog, being that he was most often seen around tors, became Tornjak or Toraš. However on Dinara, and in the areas around Knin, he is still referred to as Dinarian. Beginnings of the breed reconstruction A few foreign kinologists, especially Austrian kinologist Laska (1905), and German kinologist Stephanitz (1925), as well as R. Vukina, PhD., and Ratimir Orban, MD, both well known Croatian kinologists, that explored the mountain regions of Croatia during the early 1950’s, saw some unfamiliar dogs by the herds.
 They knew that these were not Šarplaninci, and that the people called them “Tornjaks”, but nothing past that. And so began the new era in the history of this beautiful ancient breed. First Tornjak lovers were prof. Stjepan Romi?, Boris Halenko, Ratimir Orban, prof. Šandor Horvat, Tihomir Kova?evi?, eng. and Marko Medar, eng, as well as Bosnian Croats Anto Kozina, Franciscan Petar Krasi? and the late Hrvoje Perkovi?.. They began collecting the remaining dogs that were of the correct type - correct by the ancient descriptions, but also by the tales of the people. Exploring – on foot or in terrain vehicles - hundreds of thousands of kilometers of lime and stony mountains of the Dinarides, selecting only the dogs of the best quality that could still be found, and then taking them back to the cities of Croatia – were the first steps towards a planned breeding, based on the modern principles in animal husbandry, that began first in Slavonski Brod and immediately after in Zagreb, during the 1970s.
Not without reason, in Zagreb in 1979, the Yugoslavian kinological society of that time (which included the Croatian kinological society) founded a committee for standardization of Tornjak and introduction of controlled breeding, giving the story a serious note. During these early days, it was not of importance to anyone what the name of this beautiful dog would be – tornjak, bosnian tornjak, or whatever other name it was known by. Being that most of the dogs that were of breeding quality were brought from the edges of mountains in western Bosnia, mostly from Tomislavgrad, Livno and Kupreška visoravan, it was considered justified to refer to them as “Bosnian”.
The reason for this situation was the fact that the parts of Bosnia in question were at the time so underdeveloped, that the nomadic shepherding was still present, and the last Tornjaks along with it. Except on Dinara, Kamešnica and small part of Lika, Tornjaks could no longer be found anywhere in Croatia; however, except for the aforementioned parts, they could not be found in other parts of Bosnia either.
Until first efforts of the Croatian kinologists, purebred Tornjaks were almost completely extinct. At this point in time, Croatia as an independent state with developed national awareness did not yet exist, thus it is natural that in those early years, no one gave any thought to the history and origin of the Tornjaks, let alone to their name. All of the efforts were invested into saving the breed from extinction, and nothing else was contemplated at the time… However, after Croatia became independent, after the war and everything that followed it, and after the breeding efforts were successfully realized and the breed restored, it became important to all involved to determine whether Tornjak is Croatian, Bosnian, or someone else’s.
Based on the historical evidence, and the fact that it was the Croatians that put in the effort to restore this ancient, but also new breed, today we name this dog its rightful name: Croatian Mountain dog – Tornjak, as is written in every Croatian conditional pedigree of a newborn tornjak pup since spring 2000. The origin issue This settled the name issue, but the origin issue remains enclosed in the fogs of history before the written documents.
It is assumed that dogs of Tornjak type were present in these areas since the Roman era and that such dogs served as war dogs to Romans in their quests.. It is also assumed that the dogs of such a type arrived by population migrations and selling routes, but again related to the nomadic shepherding (Šandor Horvath, 1996). Morphologically speaking, Tornjak is similar to a number of breeds that inhabit southwestern and middle parts of European mainland. It is assumed that all these dogs originate from the first molossoid dogs, resembling today’s Tibetan Mastiff. However, Tornjak differs from its kindred breeds in many points, such as anatomy of the skull, coat pigmentation, and especially in temperament and character. These differences could be explained by the early population migrations, trading and wars, that brought the ancestors of Tornjaks into various areas where they crossbred with the local dogs, and certainly with wolves as well. And the people living at each of these locations, according to their own tastes, beliefs and needs, selected for further breeding the pups that best met their criteria. Thus dogs like to Tornjaks, pleasant in appearance, with rich thick hair in different colors on a white background, with a beautiful tail carried in a characteristic manner.
Noble and strong, but not too heavy, with an almost square body structure, harmonious and tough, of a bountiful and dignified trot, kind in nature, calm, but when situation demands it extremely courageous, firm and unbribeable, first class shepherding dog, guardian of the paddocks and all the rest of its master’s possessions, with a very keen sense of smell that can detect a wolf or a bear from afar, as well as all other visitors whose intentions are less than good, including the two legged ones. Tornjak’s inherited intelligence is highly developed, he instinctively understands all the tasks appointed to him almost without any training, and is very attached to his human pack. This is a marvelously adaptable dog; he can perform even the hardest of tasks in the hardest of conditions along his human’s side, equally in low or high temperatures, on dry land, in snow, or in water… Tornjaks are naturally good swimmers, which is in part due to the presence of webs between their toes.
All these qualities make Tornjak a good breed for a variety of purposes, along the one that he has been performing patiently for thousands of years – guarding the herd and the property of his owner. Although I have already mentioned the issue of origin of shepherd dogs, and thus the origin of Tornjak as well, I would like to explore into greater detail the most recent results of scientific research in this field. In comparison with the most well known theories by which the shepherd dogs evolved from the Tibetan mastiffs and the early molossoid dogs, the opposite theories about the origin and spreading of shepherds have lately been getting louder. This is due to the latest archeological evidence, and to the more detailed study of the chronology of the taming of domestic animals. It is beyond doubt that the other animals were domesticated long after the dog approached the man and became his faithful follower. Right after the dog, the sheep and goats were domesticated; among the animals that were domesticated last were large cattle animals, such as the Tibetan Yak.
This casts a shadow on the theory that the Tibetan Dane (or Tibetan Mastiff, as this dog is also known) is the ancestor of all shepherds, as we know for a fact that this dog developed as a guardian of the Yaks, therefore long after the first shepherds developed as guardians of the sheep and goats. Here we will present an adapted theory by Leo Bosman and John Zeiner, historians and kynologists from the Netherlands. This theory is now widely accepted among the owners and fanciers of shepherd breeds, especially among the scientifically oriented European kynologists. Another view on the origin of the Tornjak, or “inverse theory” of the origin of shepherd breeds According to this theory, the ancestors of the shepherds were the first guardian dogs, that took the role of guarding the herds of newly domesticated animals: goats and sheep, on the territory of today’s Iraq, Iran (former Mesopotamia, fertile land between the Biblical rivers of Tigris and Euphrates), as well as Kurdistan and Turkmenistan. As we know, the first dogs approached humans by gathering around the first human settlements, feeding on the leftovers that the Stone Age human left behind him in plenty. The first “job” that the dogs did for the humans, quite unconsciously, was to announce the visitors, man or animal, with a loud bark. At about the same time, the dog began helping the human in the daily hunt, by letting the human know where the prey has fallen into a pit or trap. The human would take most of the pray for himself, but there was enough left for the dog as well. This symbiosis that developed in the first years of domesticating dogs lasts unto our days.
The human and the dog function perfectly as a team, be it a hunter and his hound, or a shepherd and his shepherd dog, or any other task that the two might be performing together. While guarding their two legged friends and allies, the dogs gradually began guarding all that belonged to their humans as well, which later included the herds of the first domesticated animals, goats and sheep. According to the archeological data, first shepherds inhabited the aforementioned territory roughly about 9,000 years B.C, which is some 11,000 years ago. During the great migrations, the first sheep came to the Balkans peninsula with their shepherds some 7,000 years ago, 5,000 years B.C, and with them came the first shepherd dogs. from these ancient days, these dogs have inhabited these lands of ours, and shared in the fate of their herds and their shepherds, guarding them from any possible intruders. From these large, mobile dogs other types of dogs were created later by selective breeding, for other purposes, for example, dogs of the molossoid type were created to help warriors in their war quests. These dogs had stronger, larger, but also somewhat shorter jaws, and their built was generally much stronger than the built of the shepherd dogs they evolved from (this is the type of body structure of today’s bull – mastiff type dogs), because this was the demanded by their new role – that of the war dog.
Evolution of war dogs from shepherd dogs can easily be traced on the Egyptian courts. First shepherd dogs were not known on the Egyptian courts, because Egyptians were farmers, not shepherds, and they looked down upon their northern neighbors – shepherding peoples of Little Asia. Their cattle ruined the Egyptians’ crops, so Egyptians avoided them by all possible means, as if they were lesser beings.. However, somewhere between 1,500 and 1,100 B.C, at the time of the New Egyptian Empire, political reasons forced the Egyptians to form an alliance with their northern neighbors, thus accepting their dogs as well… and these were the very dogs that were given a new task in Egypt… in time they became very large, strong and ferocious warrior dogs. One of the interesting depictions of the role of these dogs can be seen on a carving on the tomb of Tutankamon. Gradually they even became sacred beings, taking respected and important positions on the courts of the faros, and were even introduced into the official religion, for example in the legend of Isis and Osiris.
But independent of these dogs and parallelly to them, shepherd dogs continued to exist in the first, original form, that of guardians and protectors of herds. They evolved mostly by natural selection with which the humans did not interfere much. Separated by natural mountain ranges, configuration of the land that they inhabited, these dogs evolved almost completely independently of each other, in somewhat separated and different forms, both conformationally and temperament - wise. This is the reason that we have so many different, yet generally similar, shepherd breeds today.
Almost every mountain range has its own variety of shepherd dogs, specific to and characteristic of that exact area, from cangal and akbash in Turkey, through Kavkaz shepherd, Greek Shepherd, Romanian Carpathian, Bulgarian Karakashan, Sharplaninac and our Tornjak, to Kuvasz, Komondor, Tartanian Podhlan dog, and Slovak Cuvac to the north, and through Italian Meremanno – Abruceze shepherd, to Great Pyrenean and Pyrenean Mastino on the south-west of European continent. Each of these breeds is characteristic for the mountain range from which it originates, and our Tornjak is characteristic for the Dinarian mountain range from Gorski kotar, to the Bosnian mountains that are its eastern border. from the scripts in the early manuscripts of the Croatian - Bosnian Catholic church, we can see that this is the area, which Tornjak originally inhabited. Although the theory which states that most of the shepherding breeds, Tornjak included, developed from the molossoid dogs similar to today’s Tibetan Mastiff or Dane, as the dog is often called these days, is generally accepted, today we know for certain that this theory is not based on historical facts.
In fact, it was considered that the early Tibetan Mastiff was the forefather of all moloissoid and shepherding breeds. Knowing that the Tibetan Mastiff was developed to herd and guard the Tibetan yak, which was domesticated long after the appearance of first shepherding breeds, it becomes apparent that the Tibetan Mastiff developed later as a breed, which makes it impossible for this breed to be at the origin of first shepherding breeds (Tornjak included). The process was actually reverse. With this discovery, the theories of origin and development of shepherding, molossoid and other dogs were turned “upside down”.
This newest “inverse” theory has a strong foothold in the latest archeological discoveries, where alongside to the remains of old nomadic villages the archeologists discovered the remains of dogs, 14 000 years old, that are conformationally similar or even the same to today’s shepherding breeds. This confirmed the assumption that the oldest breeds were in fact shepherding breeds, and that these dogs exist almost unchanged in form for over 10 000 years, from young paleolite onwards. Theories of dog origin - A little further There are many different theories on the origin of dogs, but I feel I would be making a grave error if I were not to introduce you to another really valid theory on this subject. This is the theory with perhaps the most scientific evidence to it. It is not really in collision with the afore-mentioned inverse theory, but it approaches the question of origin of dog breeds from a different angle.
It divides the remains of dog skeletons discovered at archeological sites according to their type, into several groups named in Latin: canis familiaris palustris, canis familiaris intermedius, canis familiaris matris otimae, canis familiaris leineri and canis familiaris Inostranzewi. It is believed that all these varieties of dogs originate from the ancestor of all dogs, canis Plutiatini, whose remains have been found in the east parts of Middle Europe. By its size, this dog resembles today shepherding breeds, and its skull was similar to today’s Australian Dingo. It is believed that all today’s polar and spitz breeds, as well as all pincher and snautzer type, old English terrier and all lowland shepherding breeds, developed from the canis familiaris palustris, that was widely spread across Europe at that time, later migrating to Asia as well.
Canis familiaris intermedius is believed to be the ancestor of all hunting breeds (of hound type), except for today’s earth diggers and terriers. Canis familiaris Inostranzewi appeared rather late, in early neolite, and disappeared soon afterwards leaving no mark on today’s breeds. Canis familiaris lenieri is considered to be the ancestor of all sight hounds, but it is certain that he is a close relative of today’s pariah dogs. Of all these archeological remains, the one of most interest to us is the canis familiaris matris optimae, also known as the “bronze dog”, because his remains are estimated to be from the bronze age, from 3000 to 1800 years B. C, when the humans started mining ore in the mountains and manufacturing metal objects from bronze. The theory of the “bronze dog” goes thus: these “optimae” dogs were almost equally distributed on all the mountain ranges.
Humans from all over the world (that was know at that time) migrated into these mountains, looking for ore. They came across these dogs, which gradually became their companions and guardians, as was the case with other dogs in other parts of the world. For further breeding, the humans chose the individual dogs that were the best guardians of themselves and their belongings, including their herds of sheep and goats. These dogs all had the same body structure, which, in this type, was slightly rising or level topline, characteristic of all mountain animals (mountain horses are a good example). Their front legs were coupled to their bodies a little more loosely, allowing them to move nimbly across the unlevel terrains they inhabited. This adaptation took hundreds of thousands of years of living in such conditions. Their coats were long and thick, dictated by the harsh geoclimate of their habitats. According to this theory, every mountain range had its “own” dog, which developed in that particular geographic location and climate. By subsequent selective breeding of only those individual dogs whose character best met their needs, humans played but a small part in the development of these breeds. This is the reason that the conformation of most today’s shepherds is very similar, with notable difference in character and temperament – the main difference being the level of sharpness towards strangers, rising from West to East.
Going east, the individual breeds tend to become more aggressive towards strangers than their western cousins, although they are all equally good guardians of their humans’ belongings. The most illustrative example of this can be seen from the comparison of one of the western shepherds – the Great Pyrenees, to its eastern cousin like the Kavkaz shepherd. The only thing that humans could influence by their selective breeding was the character traits and personality, and the choice of the traits they wished to keep and enhance depended mostly on their beliefs, tastes, customs and the ways of life of each individual people. All other characteristics of the breeds depended solely on the geoclimate in which the dogs lived, and these differed little.
Tornjak today Whether they are guarding their homes and their humans, or protecting their herds from wolves and bears as was their primary role, or guarding the fish farms on our islands – or “just” being their families’ pets and friends, today’s Tornjaks – together as well as each of them individually show all their positive traits, along with their well known original modesty. Each day they become more accepted and better loved, finding their spot in the places where, just a few years ago, when the word “Tornjak” was spoken, people shrugged their shoulders saying “ I have no idea what that is”. In fact, in the recent years, the number of Tornjaks that perform no special duty for their owners has increased – they are just pleasant company that makes their humans’ every day life a little happier.
As a “mere pet”, Tornjak remained a modest dog, un-surpassable in its grandeur, whether he spends his life in the yard or, as is more often the case these days, inside the house or apartment. It is in this life of a “pet – friend” that the Tornjak shows his strong bond to his human the most, as well as desire and ability to learn and adapt to any activity that his human sees fit, from searching and retrieving, to complex obedience exercises. Tornjaks have no problem with the classical work trial that is obligatory only to official service dogs. If they are brought to these trials, Tornjaks achieve the highest scores, often surpassing those achieved by classic service dog breeds such as German Shepherds.
This only shows the versatility of this pearl of our national heritage, which future generations should learn to put to good use.