Carpathian Shepherd, Mioritic Shepherd - first internationally recognized Romanian dog breeds

Romania has for the first time two dog breeds internationally recognized: the Romanian Carpathian Shepherd Dog and the Romanian Mioritic Shepherd Dog.

On June 9, the General Assembly of the FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale, the World Canine Organisation) was held in Milan. Romania was represented by the president and vice-president of the Canine Association of Romania, Cristian Stefanescu and Petru Muntean.

The General Assembly unanimously approved the recognition of the two breeds.

George Balan, a mechanical engineer of Piatra Neamt has dealt with the international recognition of the Romanian Carpathian Shepherd Dog.

He describes the main features of the Carpathian breed: "It's a dog with a character, one could immediately see it's daring, rustic, meaning it does want something from you. If one is in its territory, it defends that territory; if it is on a leash, it has no reason to attack. So it's a dog that has to be educated from three months of age and this has a huge cost. A healthy male should be 40 ? 50 kg. It is no myth that the Romanian Shepherd Dog fights the bear.'

Bones similar to today's Romanian Shepherd Dog were found in the 6,000-year old Cucuteni Culture in northeastern Romania.

Currently, Romania has two other breeds to be recognized, the Bucovina and Corb (Arges County) sheepdogs. AGERPRES