HISTORY

The Friends of the Sarplaninac Kennels, already has four kennels.

Akela Népe Kennel

Kisbéri Szürke Farkas Kennel

Római Mandula Kennel

Titov Kincse Kennel

We are committed to the breed, and we find important to conserve the health, the proportional build, the movement and the inner and physical features of the Sarplaninac.

We have been dealing with the Sarplaninac for years. We have been to the neighbouring countries as visitors or exhibitors. We have gained a lot of valuable experience and achieved excellent results as exhibitors.

We intended to understand this sheepdog, why it is kept, what it is used for and how it behaves in its natural habitat.

We talked to Serbian breeders, listened to their stories and saw films on Sar Planina, the mountain that the breed got its name from. We read about shepherds and their dogs. We wished to get to the place where we could see the best and the most beautiful dogs. We wanted to see the MOUNTAIN where we could meet the “wolf killer” – Sarplaninac,  Qeni i Sharrit,  Šar Mountain Dog, Deltari Ilir, Sarplaninac Sheepdog and Ilyrian Sheepdog.

Finally we got to Kosovo – and we have managed to return there five times. We met many breeders, shepherds and the leader of Kosovo Kennel Club. We had the opportunity to participate in a foundation exhibition called SMOTRA where most of Deltari Ilir breed turned up. We listened to the old shepherd, Halim’s lecture on the old and famous sarplaninac dogs.

The Kosovians wish to keep Deltari Ilir an independent breed as Serbia and Macedonia became the countries of the breed after the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Mountain Sar Planina partly belongs to Kosovo.

It is a great experience to see the Sarplaninac sheepdog guarding and accompanying the sheep and the goats among the springs in the hilly area.

We continuously go to the places where we can see Sarplaninac sheepdogs therefore we always travel to Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. We visit dog breed evaluations and special Serbian Sarplaninac exhibitions, e.g. Smederevska Palanka, Kula, Mladenovac where 80-160 sarplaninac dogs are evaluated by 3-4 judges. We have also taken our dogs to these ‘specijalkan’ to compete, moreover, we have won prizes.

We consider Sarplaninac exhibitions and breed evaluations important where the judges have to evaluate the dogs according to standards. This gives frames to breeding.

Furthermore, we prefer keeping sheepdogs in the way that stays away from the strict rules of our civilised world and shows a different method. It is more and more difficult to keep the original features of sheepdogs in the urban environment. It makes it even worse that the expectations towards the dogs at exhibitions do not support the conservation of the features of the breed. To take an example, dogs can be disqualified from the exhibition if they growl at each other.

We like dogs that do their duties freely beside the shepherd in their authentic environment, braving the elements and making their own decisions. This can provide that the Sarplaninac and other sheep dogs have remained a useful companion of men for thousands of years.

​Furthermore, ​it can give genetical background for us and for those who wish to live together with the dog in urban environment.

​We​ regularly go to lectures where we can listen to the experience of sheep dog communities and ‘maniac’ dogkeepers, and we can see their film presentations. We, the Sarplaninac Friends were also invited to Szent István University, Gödöllő where Zsolt Csapó (Akela Népe Kennel) and Gyula Bodnár (Római Mandula Kennel) gave a lecture titled ‘On Track of the Authentic Sarplaninac – Kosovo’. The film about the lecture can be seen on our home page.

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