Caucasian Mountain Dog

History: Also known as the Caucasian Ovtcharka, this is an old breed of dog with Molosser origins. The word ovtcharka is Russian and translates as sheepdog or shepherd. The Caucasian Mountain dog is a large attractive dog which somewhat resembles a bear. It hails from the Caucasus regions which encompasses Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Daghestan, Iran and Turkey. Although this dog was bred as a protector of livestock against predators it has had quite an illustrious history in other careers most notably as a service dog. The Caucasian Ovtcharka debuted in East Germany in the late 1960s as a border patrol dog guarding the BerlinWall; when the Wall came down in 1989 the 7,000 or so dogs that made up the canine border patrol was disbanded and the dogs were relocated to families throughout Germany.