The Creation and The History

The creation of the Serbian Defense Dog began in the year of 1981, crossing wolves with shepherd dogs, known throughout the Balkans as Tornjak, which can be seen in the entire Balkan Peninsula: Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro…. Those Wolf/Tornjak hybrid later has been breed with a Rottweiler. Second line of this breeding was crossing wolves with Neapolitan Mastiff. This mix was later crossbreed with the combination of “wolf-Tornjak-Rottweiler” … It should be noted that dogs from a combination of “wolf-Neopolitan Mastiff” was very aggressive for both animals and humans. It is very important to note that those breeding combinations were doubled up on. For example: father wolf mother Tornjak but also Tornjak father and mother wolf. Later, American Staffordshire terrier has been added in the breeding, and those four breeds of dogs (tornjak, Rottweiler, Neapolitan Mastiff and American Staffordshire terrier) plus wolf, are the genetic basis for the breed Serbian Defense Dog. In the Serbian Defense Dog there is about 5% wolf blood, 5% American Staffordshire terrier blood, and 30% of each Tornjak, Rottweiler and Neapolitan Mastiff. Of course it is not possible to calculate exactly, but this is an approximate ratio of participation of these breeds in the creation of the SDD. This program began in the year of 1981 and for 10 years there was about 100 dogs with fixed morphological and character features. Therefore the year of 1991 is taken as the year of creation of SDD breed.

The idea wasn’t to make a new dog breed, but to reconstruct one very old Serbian breed. Nowadays among Serbian nation there are some old men who can testify that we had our own original dogs, that we can call extinct breed of Serbian dogs, because they inherited uniformed breed features. The last dog of that kind on Romanija died in 1953, and on mountain Radan in 1960. Those were the dogs that got their names by the color of the hair on their birth. Data about these dogs were found in the mountains of middle Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina , our traditional livestock areas. Telling of people from these mountainous areas, who were shepherds and owners of those dogs until the Second World War, indicated that Serbian nation had a breed of their own, extinct under the certain circumstances. From the stories of old highlanders these dogs were something like today’s Rottweiler, but they were of stronger constitution and taller on their legs. They were mostly in one color, but also some was brindle, black and tan, and some were colorful. In those times forests were full of wolves, and two dogs were capable to dispel a pack of 5-6 wolves, because every bite broke bones. Their jaws were strong as clamps and their strength and speed fascinating. After that breed became extinct, the only thing that was left was to reconstruct such dog breed, that was the direct offspring of the dog of old Nemanjici’s empire.

During the reign of Emperor Dusan, but also long time before that, Serbs had their own breed, ‘’Serbian mastiff’’. It is well known what were people migrations like at that time, and not only of people but also cattle, and different kinds of dogs. At the time when Serbia was empire and when its territory was much bigger only wealthy people and dukes (nobility) could have big dogs. They were proud on their angry dogs ‘’old Serbian mastiff dogs’’. One of the proofs for this statement can be found in old Serbian traditional poem, “Death of Jugovici’s mother”, where there is a line saying “Nine angry lions barked”… How can a lion bark, how did a lion come to Serbia? Because of their look, strength and power, poet does not even call them dogs, but “angry lions”. Proofs for the existence of old dog breed, “old Serbian mastiff” can be found in Serbian medieval churches. In The Church of the Holy Trinity in Sopocani Monastery (Medieval Serbian Monastery) there is a fresco of “Christ’s birth“, and in one part of that composition is a shepherd with his herd (sheep and goats), and next to them lies a big dog of middle hair length, bright colors with the head that resembles Molossers type.

Historians say that this fresco comes from the year of 1265. Beside this image of the Molossers type of a dog on the territory of Serbia, it is worth mentioning artistic representation of a dog (figure-statue) in the portal between front part and the front dome in the Church of ascension of Jesus in the Decani monastery, built between 1327 and 1335. Dog is presented in the artistic way as attacking the man, showing bared teeth, very wide skull and short muzzle.

Also, in the Dusan’s code (an advanced set of laws which regulated all aspects of life, set by emperor Dusan) you can indirectly find evidence of the existence of this strong dog that no one was restless about. One of statements of Dusan’s code says that the “owner of an angry dog (if that dog makes some damage) can be punished (the sanction follows)… Of course the term “mad dog” is not related to disease, rabies, but the dangerous and aggressive dog. It is certain that the Beagle, hounds and greyhounds have not been considered as dangerous dogs, so that regulation mostly affected big Molossers dogs who were the keepers and protectors. Four breeds of dogs participated in the reconstruction of Serbian medieval dog.

Neapolitan Mastiff is an Italian breed, but its roots go deep into the past, in the era of Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire. It is generally known historical fact that the Romans ruled the Balkans for many years so their great fighting dogs certainly existed in the Balkans. Rottweiler is a German breed, but the blood comes from Alan, big dogs of ancient times, who were related to Molosser dogs. For these reasons, Neapolitan Mastiff and a Rottweiler were used for the creation of SDD. Before the Romans, Balkans was inhabited by the ancient Celts. Even today in the Serbian language we can find a large number of ancient Celtic words (linguists estimated more than 500 words that are identical in both written and spoken language as the ancient Celtic). The Celts had their dogs, a forerunner of today’s terrier. Roots of Irish people come from Celts, and Kennel experts are well aware that the American Staffordshire Terrier originated from the Irish fight terriers who came with settlers from England, Scotland, Ireland and settled in a new continent – America, in 18th and 19th century. American Staffordshire Terrier participated in the creation of SDD primarily due to the outstanding health, excellent temperament, wide chest, perseverance and a strong constitution. Tornjak is embedded in breed since these dogs existed for centuries in the Balkans and because these dogs shared their destiny with the shepherds, protecting property and livestock. It is also well known that wolves and tornjak mated with each other which was normal in natural mountain environment. Therefore Mr. Gavrilovic used these breeds, having in mind that these breeds existed in Balkans several centuries ago. Serbian defense dog inherited from shepherd’s dog instinct to protect the territory, property and livestock, from Mastiffoid the instinct to protect the man, the family, from Terriers persistence, flexibility, temperament, and from the wolf sharpened senses, reflexes, health…

Serbian defense dog incorporates all these characteristics and aspires to upstage many dog breeds known today.
For confirmation of these historical facts, about the origin of these breeds in Balkans and migration of population and their dogs protectors, may be used the book “The Serbian Defence Dog” by Rade Dakic-Kica, as well as “Balkan Cattle Dogs” (several authors) …