My search led me to several candidate breeds, some of which were already in the U.S. Most of those candidates were dis- carded, though, because a fair number of breeders seemed interested in a large, aggres- sive direction for the breed.
I feel that breeds are useful through their predictability. Selection programs gear- ed towards aggression and large size are a di- rection that I do not personally need. Sure, I can find individual dogs within many breeds that are nonaggressive and smaller than aver- age – but for most breeds these fall outside the breed average – and therefore the breed predictability.
I do not want to have to cull dogs for being unsatisfactory – my goal was a breed that was reasonably predictable for my re- quirements.
My search led me to the Karakachan dogs of Bulgaria, which seemed to be a good fit for most of the criteria. The coat varies from shortish to long, color is variable and they are generally bred to be dogs that are safe around people, although aggression does vary kennel to kennel and dog to dog. The size range includes dogs down to about 60 pounds (smaller bitches) and up to 130 for larger males. That is quite a range, but most dogs appeared to be under 100 pounds — which is a good, moderate size for a livestock guardian.
After many e-mails and exploration of various details, I did import five Karakachan dogs. Four were pairs of littermates and a third bitch is unrelated to the other two pairs. The dogs arrived in early 2004, about 4 months old, which is older than I prefer to get livestock guard dog puppies settled in. Even with that somewhat questionable time frame for introduction into a new situ- ation, they all proved safe for livestock, safe for people and were alert, dedicated guardians. The first imports did whelp litters and the pups all seem to have turned into decent guardians: alert, safe, reasonable size and intelligent. Since that time, various other breeders have imported other dogs from Bulgaria so a variety of dogs and bloodlines are now available.
At least the ones at my place behave by noting something unusual, then they take off barking and then they quickly figure out if it needs more barking or more quiet. At least for me, Karakachans have proven to be a good choice of a livestock guardian breed for people interested in a smaller, safe, and ef- fective guardian.
They appear to offer livestock breeders in the U.S. a guardian dog package that is otherwise hard to find. While likely not ideal
December 2025 | Goat Rancher 9
Karakachans proved to be safe, reasonable sized and intelligent livestock guardian dogs.
for every situation, they have fit my require- ments admirably, and I must rank our experi- ment as a success.
As with all breeds, Karakachan dogs do
vary. Some are larger, some are smaller. As is typical of all the larger breeds of dogs, some have had weak hips. Fortunately, many breeders are paying attention to producing dogs with sound minds and sound bodies. Folks interested in getting the breed need to do their homework to find a breeder that is producing the dogs that will take them forward with their own goals. One interesting development is a tendency for folks to adver-
tise their stock as “hip-tested,” which is great. But buyers need to find out the actual results to assure the pups are likely to be sound over a long, successful life.
(D. Phillip Sponenberg, DVM, PhD, is
the retired professor of pathology and ge- netics at Virginia Tech’s Department of Bio- medical Sciences and Pathobiology. He is the longtime technical advisor for the Livestock Conservancy. On his own farm in western Virginia, he is a conservation breeder of Ten- nessee Fainting goats and enjoys playing with color genetics in his Brahma chickens.)
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