The Bakharwal Dog is an ancient working

Working dog

A working dog refers to a canine working animal, i.e., a type of dog that is not merely a pet but learns and performs tasks to assist and/or entertain its human companions, or a breed of such origin...

 breed of dog

Dog breed

Dog breeds are groups of closely related and visibly similar domestic dogs, which are all of the subspecies Canis lupus familiaris, having characteristic traits that are selected and maintained by humans, bred from a known foundation stock....

 found in the Pir Panjal mountain range of the Kashmir Himalayas

Himalayas

The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...

, where it has been bred for many centuries by the Gujjar

Gujjar

The Gurjar are an ethnic group in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Alternative spellings include Gurjara, Gujar, Gurjjara and Gūrjara. The spelling Gurjara or Gurjar is preferable to the rest....

 nomadic tribes as a livestock guardian dog

Livestock guardian dog

A livestock guardian dog is a domesticated canine used to defend livestock against predators. LGDs are commonly referred to as "sheep dogs" since they most often have guarded flocks of sheep, but most are capable of guarding other species of livestock. They are classified as pastoral dogs...

 and settlement protector. A recent study says that this species of dog is in danger.

Appearance

Deep-chested, muscular and agile, the Kashmiri Sheepdog has a straight back, broad shoulders and long legs. The body is strongly boned, with a powerful neck and large head. The medium-length flat coat is very thick and densely undercoated, providing suitable protection from the harsh climate of the area, as well as from predators. The most common and valued colouring

Coat (dog)

The coat of the domestic dog refers to the hair that covers its body. A dog's coat may be a double coat, made up of a soft undercoat and a coarser topcoat, or a single coat, which lacks an undercoat...

 is black and tan, but some tricoloured and piebald

Piebald

A piebald or pied animal is one that has a spotting pattern of large unpigmented, usually white, areas of hair, feathers, or scales and normally pigmented patches, generally black. The colour of the animal's skin underneath its coat is also pigmented under the dark patches and unpigmented under...

 examples can be found, too. A variety of sizes can be encountered, from specimens that are 24 inches tall to those exceeding 30 inches at the withers

Withers

The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of a four-legged animal. In many species it is the tallest point of the body, and in horses and dogs it is the standard place to measure the animal's height .-Horses:The withers in horses are formed by the dorsal spinal processes of roughly the...

.

History

Belonging to a leaner variety of Asian Molosser

Molosser

Molosser is a category of large, solidly-built dog that includes several breeds, probably all descended from the same root stock. The name derives from Molossia, a subregion of ancient Epirus, ancient Greece, where the large shepherd dog was known as the Molossus.The proper noun "Mastiff", however,...

s, the Kashmiri Sheepdog is related to some types of the Tibetan Mastiff

Tibetan Mastiff

The Tibetan Mastiff is an ancient breed and type of domestic dog originating with nomadic cultures of Central Asia.-Names and etymology:...

 and dogs of Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

, but is claimed by the Gujjar herdsmen to be much older than any other breed of the region. While this is debatable, the black-and-tan colouring and physical build of the Bakarwal Mastiff have led some authorities to link a number of old Molosser to this dog, namely the Hyrcanian Mastiff, the Molossos tis Epirou, the Sylvan, the Tuvan Sheepdog, and the Siah Sag variety of the Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian Sage Mazandarani, as well as the European descendants of these breeds.

External links

• MolosserDogs.com Bakharwal Dog
• Bakharwal Dog (with photos)Category:Dog breeds