MACEDONIAN SHEEP DOG - SHARPLANINEC        

                                                           -  HISTORICAL REVIEW-

Ensuring the perseverance of their collective lives, the closeness and mutual trust developed into a deep emotional tie, and a selfless mutual assistance in everyday life between man and dog. In its mutual life with man, the Sharplaninec is always ready to invest much more, and receive much less, it entirely, with endless love and trust, accepts man as its friend, together with all that is man's or connected to him: other members of the family, livestock, animal, facilities and even objects that man utilizes in his everyday life. Because of the natural environment of Macedonia, the natural position of Macedonia on the Balkan Peninsula, surrounded by tall mountains, the breed established itself through centuries, it homogenized and enhanced itself without changes from other newcomers or the migration of nations at that time, that brought with them not only the essential tools for survival, but most likely their own dogs as well. Up until the beginning of the 1930s, the dogs in Macedonia were called countryside or hillside dogs, or simply something like Bungaloski's , Toleski' s, Filipovski's , Lukanovski's dogs or Grozdevi's , Mitrevi's Trajcevi's dogs (according the names or family names of households that kept them), or in relation to their colour, for example the yellow or white dogs with a mask on their heads were called Karabash; those without a mask Merdzan, Panus or Belic; the brindle tiger varieties were called  Tigar or Kaljos; the red, Sari; grey Murdzo; the multicolored, Sharko; the black, Karaman and the dogs that had patches on their forehead and snout were called Baljushi. During this period, in Macedonia, cynology was not known and nobody really engaged in it; we had other types of experts or specialists on dogs, primarily these were the shepherds, and all their knowledge based on everyday living and friendship with the dogs.

                                     OVERVIEW OF THE NAME AND STANDARD OF THE BREED

      In the 1920's, officially and by now even documented, dogs begin to be taken, primarily from Shar Mountain; they are taken to the former republics of Yugoslavia, most commonly to Slovenia and Serbia; exclusively iron – grey colored dogs, possibly because these specimens greatly resembled the Karst Shepherd Dog, or maybe primarily due to the fact that after the First World War there was a sharp decline in the Karst or Kranj breed population, so these specimens were used for rejuvenating, rebuilding and reproducing the Karst breed, or it might just be because the beautiful iron – grey color appealed to Franjo Bulc, a breeder of the Kranj – i.e. the Karst Shepherd Dog, in Dravska Banovina from the time of the Kingdom of SCS (Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes; period from 1914 to 1929 ). Dravska Banovina at that period mostly consisted of present day Slovenia. This fact does not mean that within this Kingdom of SCS (later Kingdom of Yugoslavia) there weren't any different coloured dogs, it simply means that there had been no research done or any interest in regards to the colour and type of the mountain dogs at the time.  

 The dogs were registered with the YCU (Yugoslav Cynological Union) in the years from 1923 to 1930 as even afterwards, were dogs that were found in the area of Istrian Karst (that consists of present day Slovenia and Croatia), and also some dogs from around Ljubljana. These dogs were descended from the ones that Franjo Bulc brought back from Shar Mountain and in those years had been whelped and entered into the Genealogy Book together with a small number of dogs from other regions of the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia. All these dogs were used as a foundation upon which the YCU began to standardize the Illyrian Shepherd Dog when they were unable to register it as a Istirian or Karst Shepherd Dog, because of the fact that Istria and partly Karst (the Slovenian) were under Italian occupation, and therefore receive a recognition by the FCI (International Cynological Federation or Fédération Cynologique Internationale). All the dog types from the former Kingdom were designated by the name Illyrian Shepherd Dog, a name that the cynologists found to be a Solomonic solution in regards to the political disagreements with Italy. 

The initial standard that was written by Ivo Lovrenchik (the president of the YCU at that time) and Teodor Drening (the secretary of JKC at that time) in 1938 was done on the basis of results from examinations of the Illyrian Shepherd Dog, from the grading evaluation that was conducted on the 5 April 1936 in the pavilion of the restaurant Dolinchar, at the Ljubljana fair, that began at 8 am. The judge was Dr. Ivan Lovrenchik, while graders Dr. Josip and Teodor Drening.

On the 02.06.1939, in Stockholm where the FCI session was held, under the ordinal number 41, the breed Illyrian Shepherd Dog was recognized by the FCI, but without any type differences, and the chosen colour was only the iron – grey variety, while the height at withers for the male dogs was 55 to 60 cm and for the females 50 to 55 cm; the average weight was from 20 to 35 kg.

The decades of long mating – from before the recognition of the breed, almost until the end of the 1960's, and even the 1970's, that consisted of mating dogs from different breeds, different types, from different regions of Yugoslavia, dogs that cynologists believed to be only different varieties of the same breed because "according to them" they possessed common morphological and character features. But of course there were differences; basic differences primarily morphological; that is appearance wise, then differences in colour, despite the fact that Sharplaninec dogs that were selectively taken from Shar Mountain were iron – grey that is single colored grey .The colour of the Karst Shepherd most commonly was iron – grey with tiger strips appearing on the front extremities, while as for the Sharplaninec all color variants were present. There was also a difference in height, composition of the body, greater hock angles of the Sharplaninec in comparison to the lesser angles of the Karst. The head of the Sharplaninec is bulkier with a broader forehead, stronger in comparison to the Karst that has a more delicate and rounder head, and also a darker mask than the Sharplaninec; the Karst also has a darker pigmentation of eye iris than the Sharplaninec. The nostril lines of the Sharplaninec are less divergent while with the Karst they are slightly convergent, so the Karst has a snub rounded nose. The higher set ears, commonly folded to the front for the Karst in comparison to the medium high set ears of the Sharplaninec. The coat of the Sharplaninec is of a medium length and coarse with an thicker undercoat than that of the Karst which also has a softer and longer coat. The Sharplaninec carries its tails mostly above the back line while the Karst carries its tail below the back line. The tail of the Karst towards the end is full of long hairs, while with the Sharplaninec the tail narrows towards the end with shorter hairs.

With the mating of these two different breeds, according to the promoters of the new type, what was achieved were descendents that had the pronounced qualities of both parents, thanks to the Sharplaninec they received a greater robustness and height, stronger skeletal structure with better musculature than that of the Karst while on the other hand from the Karts they received a iron – grey coloring , darker mask, darker eye iris, longer coat with a pronounced neck mane, pronounced foreleg " fringes" and longer hair on the thighs. Through selection a type was produced that had certain proportions of the head and body , darker eye colour, ears long enough and nicely folded, hairy and long enough tail that reach to the hock with a preference of carrying it below the back line,  specimens were not allowed to have a raised rump, iron – grey variants were sought after, with a pronounced neck mane, but also long hair on the extremities; with time the character of the new type was toned done to fit into the new urban environment (any puppies that were produced with a brindled coat or any larger white markings on the chest or legs were removed).

These mixed breed or hybrid dogs appealed greatly to the then breeders, as well as to the future breeders and admirers of this prototype that in time increased its breeding immensely.

After the Second World War, in1948 at the assembly session of FCI that was held in Bled, the standard of the Illyrian Shepherd Dog was supplemented so that two types were recognized: the Sharplaninec with a height above 65 cm and the Karst with a maximum height of 65 cm. The FCI officially declared this amendment or supplement to the standard of the Illyrian Shepherd Dog on the 08.04.1955, but the colour of the coat remained unaltered, and there was no discussion about the type differences.

When the two types were brought under the same standard, the Karst type was limited to 65 cm height at the withers, while the Sharplaninec with a height above 65 cm at the withers; this supplement was most likely a result of the years long mating between the two types, that although produced individuals that inherited genes equally from both parents (according to them these were desired specimens), but in the litter there were most certainly specimens that appeared more or less like their grandfathers or great grandfathers from either side because the dogs were continually being obtained from Macedonia and Southern Kosovo (i.e. the area of Gora), but also because, like Sebastijan Markovik states: This supplementation of the standard can be interpreted with the morphological changes of the Illyrian Shepherd in different regions of Yugoslavia. He distinguishes between the Karst (from Slovenia) type and the Sharplaninec (from Macedonia). Therefore, the standard really remained the same, but what was accomplished were two types, one taller and one shorter.

On the 14 – 15 .06.1957, at the assembly of the FCI in Brussels, the name Illyrian Shepherd Dog was changed to Yugoslav Shepherd Dog – Sharplaninec. With the change of name came serious problems for the YCU. First, the breeders did not know what happened to the Karst; whether it was abolished, or did it now fall under the breed Yugoslav Shepherd Dog – Sharplaninec?

 Huge problems surfaced in regards to the registration and grading of the dogs in the individual republics; each of them presented them as they wished, and every republic named the dogs according to their own opinion. From the same litter, the smaller puppies were named Karst, the larger ones Sharplaninec or even Illyrian Shepherd Dogs. This entire confusion lasted almost 11 years, from 14 – 15.06.1957 (the date of the name change from Illyrian to the Yugoslav Shepherd Dog – Sharplaninec) until 16.03.1968 when during the meeting of the expert council of the YCU in Slavonska Bistrica the Karst Shepherd Dog was recognized as a separate breed with its own standard, and the Sharplaninec remained a independent breed.

The two breeds were officially recognized by the FCI on the 6 February.1969 under Number 41a. the Sharplaninec remained an independent breed under the old name Yugoslav Shepherd Dog – Sharplaninec with a "new" standard, the standard that was written by Professor Slobodan Pavlovik, a professor of animal husbandry at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Belgrade.

On the 23 June.1969, under Number 278, the Karst Shepherd Dog was recognized as a separate breed. The standard was written by Miroslav Zidar and Janez Hojan.

The parent registry or the Yugoslav genealogy book of the Illyrian Shepherd Dog was kept current up till 1957, and to that time 158 dogs from the entire territory of Yugoslavia had been entered or registered. From 1957, ending with November 1966, 471 dogs were entered; now under the new name Yugoslav Shepherd Dog – Sharplaninec into the Yugoslav Cynological Union.

The number of entered dogs per year appears like this:

- up to 1957..........158

- in 1957...............25

- in 1958...............26

- in 1959...............40

- in 1960...............36

- in 1961...............93

- in 1962...............81

- in 1963...............56

- in 1964...............49

- in 1965...............31

- in 1966...............34

Macedonia is the true and irreplaceable mother of the Sharplaninec.

                           FEATURES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GENUINE  SHARPLANINEC                                                                                                      

           SHARPLANINEC, the begining and the ending of every shepherd's tale from the Macedonian mountains and slopes where our highlander has existed for centuries and continues to exist.

Potence, beauty, inteligence, persistance, firmness, loyalty, attachment, and PRIDE to every sheepbreader and breeder of this race in Macedonia.

Harmony and proportional dimensions, balance of temper and exceptional bravery; these dogs single out by quality from other races regarding protection of flocks and their attachment to people. The unique isolation of the regions of Shara, Bistra, Korab, Jakupica, Jablanica, Kalmachalan, Stogovo, Pelister…did not allow more significant mixing with other races.

The Sharplaninec did not become the hero of heroes, the fighter of fighters, the lengend of legeneds by chance; but not by going to cynology shows and laying around in the small boxes, but because of his eternal fight with wild beasts, life with scarce food in the mountains, the resistance of his organism shaped for centuries by Mother Nature and endless loyalty to man - that is what has made him a famous, irreplacable hero and defender of livestock and all that man owns or has in his posession. The highlanders of the ancient Macedonian mountains; the winners in the wild battles for survival; personal gardianas of the shepherd's flocks; untamable enemies of bears and wolves, to whom God himself has given reason similar to man's, with a heart of a hero beating in its chests and the semiwild desire fo rule the wild mountains.

Bears know him by his diificult personality; the wolves avoid him even when they are starving; the eagles circle the skies for hours, waiting for the old hero to doze off for an instant, which never happens, while snakes enter even deeper into their holes before the arrival of the knight or samurai in our mountains… he licks the blood of the newborn lamb… at the same time observing watchfully, listeining to the vivid sounds coming from the sheepfolds knowing that the wolf can smell the blood at great distance, therefore he finishes the commenced task quickly, guarding the lamb from the wind with his body which carries the scent deep into the mountain, together with the voice of the newborn lamb.

When we take a look at the true, unspoiled, pure, genuine Sarko, he does not look like the usual urban dogs with a melancholic, blurry and lazy look; he looks more as having a bears head, and the body is more as a big wild mountain mouflon; he is quick and easy as a forest deer, so when he looks at you with his clear and glaring eyes that say unspoken words, and yet are loud enough to be understood, that is the real thing. That is what is magical, that is what Macedonia has.

All urban dogs and mixed breeds are as the morning mist which lasts for a short while in the morning; it dissapears, it vanishes, while the genuine true dog, for ever and always lives in the hearts of the people with good intentions, whose fight for preservation of this natural and original wealth will never perish. Why should he be judged based on the city "forgeries"; nobody would dare to judge the tigar in the unreachable old-growth forests; let he be juged by the standards of the wilderness, let mountains measure their courage and the depth of their love and loyalty for survival of authentic life. Having profound respect for the origins of the excellent fighters with centuries, setting the standard for the sons of the mountains, and not the city sons whose paw circumvents truth and the call of the wild; this is not a race in 100 m, but thousands of years marathon of shaping, forging, glazing and existing of all that is worth while surviving and maintaing all of those values which have forver been cherished by man.

Gratitude to the masters of the mountains, gratitude to the unsurpassed animals, gratitude to the legends that do not understand or do not wish to know of difficult times, of danger, of fear and solitude, where they march endlessly, unforgetable toward the next page of humankind's memoars; gratitude for the right move; gratitude for the loyalty given; gratitude for the given safety; gratitude for the heart's smile and the soul's grace for giving us this; gratitude to the Lord for: Mecho, Bigor, Borg, Tarzan Krushevski, Dzudas, Karabash, Karaman, Sari, Ljush, Lamus…

The Sharplaninec can never dissapear as long as Macedonia exists, until Mountain Shar, Bistra, Stogovo, Korab, Stogovo, pelister exist…the livestock farmers, the true and sincere breeders and lovers of our old breed which our anscesters left as a pledge.

                                                                                                 Excerpt from the book by Vladimir Krstevski,

                                                                                                 The Macedonian Highlander - "SHARPLANINEC"