Polish Tatra Sheepdog

These dogs are quite an ancient breed of dogs and their origin is said to go back to as old as thousands of years ago. Since it is an ancient dog, like all the other ancient dogs, it is not very clear how these dogs came in to existence. There are a lot of different theories given by different people about the origination of these dogs; however no one was able to prove their theories correct and accurate. These dogs are so ancient that over the times they have come to be known in a lot of different names. Some of them are - Owczarek Podhalanski, Owczarek Tatrzanski, Chien de Tartas, Polish Mountain Sheepdog, Tatra Shepherd, Tatrahund and so on. However, these dogs are in short and affectionately called as Tatra by the enthusiast of this breed.

These dogs are said to originate from a place called Podhale. Podhale is a small region in the southern part of Poland. It is situated against the highest peak among the Capathian Mountains. This highest peak is known as the Tatra range. Thus, that is how these dogs get their name. It is very popularly believed that these dogs were developed from the mastiffs of Tibet. These dogs were most commonly used for the purpose of guarding or even herding animals like sheep. These dogs, appearance wise are very similar to the other white flock guardians. However, this is not true; they are not at all similar to the white flocked guardians.

There are actually quite a lot of differences. These dogs do both the herding and the guarding. These dogs are also very obedient and are known to carry out immediately, whatever command is given to them. These dogs are not heelers and neither is they nippers in nature. They are known to just calmly, gently and quietly move along with the sheep and these dogs are also known to use their immense sized body for the purpose of guarding the sheep. These dogs have a very amiable and an equally gentle nature. However, as the night falls, this changes. These dogs herd the sheep during the day time. During the night time they become the guardians’ to these sheep. As placid that these dogs are during the day time, they become equally vigilant during the night. These dogs are on constant patrol.

These dogs are quite big in size. When they are fully grown in to an adult and are properly fed and taken care of and given their proper amount of daily exercise, these dogs grow up to be 23 inches to 34 inches in height at their withers and they weigh in at about a minimum of 100 pound and an approximate maximum of 150 pounds. These dogs have a massive and a heavy boned body which is also known to be equally muscular in nature. These dogs generally tend to have a plain white colored coat and this white colored coat gives them a very attractive appearance. These dogs are highly energetic in nature.