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Carpathian
Mountain Dogs
The dogs are descended from a breed that exists
naturally in the Carpathian Mountains. There are three distinct
types. The ones featured here are the Mioritic sheep dog. They are
large dogs that have an inborn instinct to protect their owners.
The Romanian shepherds harness this instinct by rearing the dogs
from a very young age (four or five weeks old) along with young
lambs. This way the dog grows up believing that it belongs to the
sheep and is left to roam freely with the flock. Subsequently,
anything that threatens the flock will immediately trigger his
natural response to protect them. When they reach maturity, these
dogs are a formidable size and are absolutely fearless when it
Many would say, “who will miss a job that pays £30 a week plus cigarettes?” But on the other hand all the shepherds we saw had a look of quiet contentment about them and an abundance of young boys shadowing them keen to take up their way of life. You have to ask yourself. How does that compare with our modern industry? The Carpathian Mountain sheep dogs are now becoming a desirable “must have” pet and personal protectors of the affluent middle classes all over the world so in evolutionary terms their future is secured. There human companions, on the other hand, are teetering on the edge of extinction. |
Calm and dignified are words you would use to
describe both the shepherds and their dogs that live and work with
the flocks of sheep in Romania. Both have evolved over the
centuries to cope with the harsh environment and to fulfil their
roles as guardians of the many flocks that wander freely across
unfenced pastures. 
comes
to predators. Any wolf, bear or lynx that threatens will be
challenged by his bark and if this fails to see off the threat the
dog will attack. More than a third of the world’s bears, wolves and
lynx roam the Carpathian Mountain region in Romania so they’re not
just for show! Even intruders from Scotland that got too close to
the flock were fixed with a stare of suspicion. Each dog is fitted
with a collar with a short length of chain with a wooden cross bar
eight inches long at the end of it. This dangling necklace impedes
the dog’s running stride in order to render him harmless to the many
species of game that exist in the country such as wild boar and
deer.
The shepherds’ evolution has closely followed
that of the dogs over the centuries. Their lives are spent in
constant contact with their flock. In some areas of the country
there still exists a system know as transhumance and pendulation.
This involves the movement of flocks between the lowland plains and
the mountain ranges to take advantage of seasonal changes. This
practice was once common in Europe but is now confined, in any
significant way, to Romania. This system would seem to tick all the
boxes that meet the criteria of the modern European model for
agriculture in as far as sustainability, conservation and
agricultural biodiversity requirements are all met. But, sadly the
pressure to adopt more intensive farming methods and EU regulations
will see and end to this way of life. Many of the flocks are owned
by multiple owners with numbers owned by each smallholder too small
to qualify for support and in any case mobile pastoral systems like
transhumance and pendulation can’t be tracked or measured by a
satellite or entered on an IACS form.