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Central Asian Ovcharka
The Central Asian area is really the melting-pot of antic humanity and the start bloc of Turkish-Mongol empires. Cimmerians, Scythes, Sarmates and Huns took over the first from the other. About 3000/4000 years before Christ, people coming from Iran came in the area which we know now as Turkmenistan. These people were mixed into the old civilisations where they settled down, but they carried a new form of farming and breeding; they bred cows. This moment of history is called the Annau culture. Dogs from the Annau people were from the Bronze type (Canis Matris Optimae), from the point of view of Duerst (his works were edited in 1908), this type of dog is really different from the Canis Familiaris Poutiani, his muzzle is larger.
Archaeological researches show that a dog with strong body, strong jaws and short muzzle exists at this moment. On clay statues one can easily recognise the Central Asian Ovcharka. On archaeological, geographical, cytological and morphological bases we can think that the shepherd dogs from Eurasia came from the same group of dogs, but their cradle is not Tibet; it is the area from actual Kurdistan. This Kurd dog is the ancestor of all of this group, even of the Tibetan Mastiff. The protection dogs group is older than 11.000 years, and domestic sheep is known since 9000 years before Christ. In every literature, the Tibetan Mastiff is recognised as the oldest breed and an ancestor for the mastiff group. This is normal, if we consider that for Occidental (Western) people this breed was known first. In 1121 before Christ, a dog training for finding people was offered to the Chinese emperor. This dog was drawn and know, and people thought that in the time of great invasions, the mastiff dog was mixed with native breeds to give our actual CAO. It was even told that by these mixtures, the Tibetan Mastiff lost his long hair and took a lot of different colours. But it can’t be true in regard of genetic rules, short hair is a recessive gene, so this proof can’t be the one. In regard of Duerst, the Tibetan Mastiff came from Canis Familiaris Poutiani (less larger muzzle). This dog is linked with the Laiki, CO and so on. He had a triangular shaped head. The Annau dog type is of a different form and the CAO came from this one.
2000 Years before Christ, the area from actual Turkmenistan became a desert, all the people went away to Iran and the Persian Golf, they left behind the ancestors of the actual Turkmen population, with their flocks and their dogs. At this moment the river Amour-Dania (Oxus) didn’t finish in the Aram sea but in a large lake which was continued by the Ouzboï river which finished in the Caspian Sea. No one could suspect that this area could become a desert as we know it now (Kara-Koum). It was a dry steppe area. The Oxus rises in Pamir, we think the CAO breed follows this river for about 2600 kilometres through Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Even in the Caspian Sea road of old Ouzboï (dry now) we can find CAO type of dogs. The desertion of this area helped to preserve this type of dog as we know it now. This area was political and cultural isolated and nobody wanted to know it. It’s why this type of dog didn’t change since then. In each area, dog selections were based on different ways of using the dogs and it’s why we can meet different species/types in the same breed. But it’s not possible to mix up the CAO with another breed.
Even thought this breed is very old, it is only known very recently as CAO. In 1939 Mazover told the CAO was incorrectly called “Turkmen Ovcharka”. In the catalogue of the 11th. utility dog shows of USSR in 1935, Mazover explained and called this breed Middle Asian Ovcharka even if the name Turkmen Ovcharka was used too. It seems true that all species of this breed were carried from Turkmenistan, in catalogues this breed was called Turkmen Ovcharka of Turkestan Ovcharka. But it sure is a fact that the name Middle Asian Ovcharka appeared in 1938, nobody can tell why or by whom this name was given. Before and after World War II, both names were used and probably the name Middle Asian Ovcharka was chosen because it shows the real territory and origin of this breed. At the end of 1940 the name Middle Asian Ovcharka was definitively adapted.
On the other hand we can disagree with the choice of this name, because in these areas with some selection, some types of these dogs are show as a national breed. Shepherd dogs from this type in Turkmenistan were always called “Alabai” and in 1990 the standard for Alabai was written down as the MAO standard. This type of MAO was always preferred and even if we can find some other types in other areas, the Alabai type was always the “must”. Other types will certainly become national breeds, or will definitively disappear. We can only hope that the working qualities of these dogs will not get lost because it was his original work.
Sylvia Pons
(note: today we no longer use the name Middle Asian Ovcharka. The name has changed into Central Asian Ovcharka (CAO).
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