There are more than 500 breeds of dogs in the world and though tastes differ, the dogs of earlier formed breed turn out to be more intelligent, physically fit and they have better adaptability. Besides, the range of specific merits is wider.
This article covers the Mongolian sheep-dog. The age of the breed is about 14 thousand years. Almost every book or article on dog breeding in Russia refers to the Mongolian sheep-dog as on an ancestor of both the Central Asian and Caucasian sheep-dogs. And often there is a reference to its’ unique description in the only copy of Malginov’s magazine "Dog breeding"( №2, 1932) which is taken for the only standard beyond any doubt.
In my personal opinion, the Mongolian sheep-dog is the perfection in the world of dogs. For the first time I saw it in Uverhaigalian aimak in the 80s of the 20th century. It was the time when the shepherds could afford to have ten and more magnificent Mongolian dogs. Their local name is bankhar бангхар (having chubby cheeks and rich down), or more ancient and less often used name is baavgay or bavgar (a bear-like).
I stayed at the stock stand – so called hotton to find some information about the cattle. In the evening, having a rest in nomad’s tent, I was playing with some puppies of a tender bright Mongolian female. People let them in while it was raining. When there came the noise because of the wolves from the outside, the dog got startled. Then she pushed the puppies to me as if asking to look after them while working, and took off like a shot from a gun. It can seem only to an unskilled person that there is no order in dogs running. There was a real threat, and the gregarious instinct immediately joined. Their interaction is compete and harmonious. Having surrounded the flock and the tent to protect them, the dogs were running in approximately identical distances so that the wolves could find no blunders. In twilight, the Mongolians running around, their faces turned to the sky and grinned, barking and howling in a hoarse bass, their eyes reddish as burning flame, had a devilish look. By the way, in the Mongolian religious painting these dogs are represented with red-orange eyes and also look like devils. Occasionally in the darkness, there appeared and disappeared green sparks of the wolf’s eyes. Also the short fights between dogs and wolves were heard. The dogs made the wolves go away, but they were on guard to protect people and cattle.
Years passed, and I had other tasks, but it was obviously predicted for me to return to Mongolia to seachc. Being impressed by the article by Malginov (and many were), I also thought, that the Buryat families used to have two or three Mongolian sheep-dogs. But then I made out that for the western person as Malginov there was no difference between notions “the Buryat” and “the Mongol”. But there is difference between them and it is said to be great differences, despite of a patrimonial generality. Even the republic at that time was referred to as the Buryat-Mongolian autonomy.
I started to search for the information on the Mongolian sheep-dog in libraries of Ulan-Ude, using the universal net of libraries in Russia. Then I studied history, local history, ethnography, an applied art of Buryat people, and their rich national folklore. I interrogated all scientists at the Buryat Academy of Agriculture (BSHA), the Buryat centre of science (BNC), but I failed to find any proof of existence of the Mongolian sheep-dog in the Buryat culture, and such phenomenon has a serious bases. There is an old Buryat legend of people origin which says that people were despised by a malicious deity because of the dog’s fault. The legend has traced in the mentality, and the dog was cursed forever. Some scientists says that in the territory of Buryatiya there were Mongolian dogs. People called them Tibetan. But all of them declared that such dogs were rarely to meet even dat that time.
There was no special “Buryatian” dog breed. Thogh cattle breeding was essential, the Buryats did not use to be engaged in dog breeding. the Buryat language has only three words to denote a dog: nohoi - a dog, gulge - the puppy, and hotoshe - a mongrel, a domestic dog. A domestic dog can be any not purebred or well-bred dog, and in Siberia it can be any dog not to get chilled in winter. There is no logic connection between the concept “a mongrel” and the concept “breed” in nature.
The geographical structure of Buryatiya differs a lot the improbable open spaces of Great Steppe - Gobi. Therefore cattlemen- the Buryats made up not so great herds, approximately 500 goals. In Mongolia the quantity of cattle on a flock reached 4000 goals. Besides, in Buryatiya the skimming cattle breeding was more frequent, and in Mongolia it was nomadic all-the-year-round. It is one of the main reasons for the Mongolian shepherd to have some dogs for a flock whereas the Buryat shepherd could cope with it himself or wuth the help of one assistant.
If there is no words denoting shepherd's dogs in a cultural heritage of the Buryat, the culture of the Mongols has a lot of information on dogs at the highest level. In the dictionary of the Mongolian language the word nohoi – dog - has 138 meanings that can express the modern notions of dog breeding, selection. It is the only language that has such a phenomenon. What does it mean? It means that the Mongols have the richest culture of the developed dog breeding. It seems to me that the modern world dog breeding is worse than the Mongolian one! The Mongolian experts – kanyuchi – were able to manage simultaneously hundreds and thousands dogs at the stalkings! It was Marco Polo who wrote about it. Then gradually, stalking hunting lost its’ urgency, and so did the highest skill of dogs training. But language, petrogliphs, legends and songs, written certificates of contemporaries of those years still have it. But all this only concerns Mongolia and the Mongols. There is no connection with Buryatiya and the Buryats in spite of the fact that a part of them are native Mongols.
The reader can come across the Mongolian sheep-dog images petrogliphs, on sepulchral stones, in arts and crafts, in a sculpture, in religious painting. They are spoken about in legends, in shaman stories, in uliger myths, in poems, in urols – special stories. They are in traditions of the maintenance, education and burying of dogs, and even in the state laws protecting dogs. Dog killing was declaimed against. There are no analogues in other countries.
But let me turn to the point. The first information about the Mongolian sheep dogs was found in the archives of Russian Geographical Society (RGS) which was located in Storehouse of East Manuscripts (HVR). They were mentioned in travellers’ reports of the last centuries, in the Chinese annals, in scientific researches of archeologists. At the beginning of the searches I believed that the first dogs " appeared in Mongolia, wherefrom they left to the Tibet and other sides.. The proofs collected led me to conviction that dogs appeared in the Tibet and then extended worldwide. It is clear not only for the expert that the Mongolian sheep-dogs are very similar to the Tibetan mastiffs.
The Irkutsk archeologists in Ust-Haita found out a skull of a dog aged8300 which is externally very similar to a skull of the Mongolian sheep-dog. The divergences are rather insignificant, considering an eight-thousand-year difference of age of skulls. Getting the evidence of at least one breed to have its’ ancestor is a matter of time.
The scientists of the Swedish Royal Institute of technology in Stockholm investigated the DNA of more than 500 breeds of dog from all over the world. Four-year-old research of the dog genetics included studying the mitochondrial DNA. In the opinion of the Higher Senior Officer at the institute Peter Savolyajnen, the present- day dogs carry in themselves genes of at least five wolves. «It turns out, that dogs were generated in East Asia, wherefrom they settled worldwide », - the scientist says. Well, the center of East Asia is Tibet.
Naturally, pursuits of the Mongolian sheep-dog brought me to Mongolia. There any shepherd's dog is called honch-nohoi (the sheep dog, from a word honin - sheep). And all five national Mongolian breeds of dog can graze cattle: bankhar, uzamchi, the taiga-nohoi, barz-nohoi, sharaid. But bankhar is the best for reliability and independence of thinking.
There are many Mongolian legends directly put that the Mongolian native dog during at that time migrated from Tibet. One pilgrim went to Tibet to bow to Buddhist deity Ehe Dzhuu. He turned back with unusual alhumchin (an companion dog ). It was a bankhar with a white breast and “durven nudtay”, that is «four-eyed». It was believed to see malicious spirits with "the second pair of eyes” even when it slept. Some bankhars have a habit to haunch with eyes shut. The Mongols believe that they pray for the masters. Therefore such dogs in Mongolia are called “zuugiinnohoi” (a prayful dog), they are considered to be divine animals which were blessed by god Dzhuu. Giving a special kind of bless to such dead dog it is said its’ spirit to regenerate after having returned to Tibet: « In the following life be born a human in the country of gods ». It means the lama, thus it was necessary to bury a dog at top of a snow mountain, its head "faced" at the south, that is, to Tibet. And though modern cspecialists in dog breeding know that having 4 eyes is a recessive genetic attribute, many of them still prefer it: it is a strong belief in a miracle.
The dogs the – the descendents of the Tibetan dogs - are most likely to spread around the world with nomads of Asia,no matter if they were the Scythians, the Hunns ,the Turkis or the Mongols. Despite the last thousand years, descendants of the Tibetan dogs – the bankhars have not changed basically: a massive head, quite powerful skeleton, congenital hunting and shepherd's-sentry skills and as the main thing - high natural intelligence.
As the origin from the Tibetan mastiff testifies the direction of distribution of the Mongolian sheep-dogs from the south ( Tibet) to the north (Russia), we take for a basis the ancient Mongolian name of this dog - «bavgar», that is shaggy, bear-like, that quite corresponds appearance of the dog. But in the modern spoken language this name is seldom used. In Mongolia, the name of this dog is «bankhar», that is chubby in cheeks, or rich with down. This name today is more popular, that is probed by histologic researches.
So, the name:
- The MONGOLIAN SHEEP-DOG – bavgar or bankhar.
What is the difference between the Mongolian sheep-dog and the Tibetan mastiff ?
- All mammals of Tibet have general attributes of adaptability to strong continental, cold and high-mountainous climate. If we take, for example, the Tibetan domestic animals: goats, sheep, yaks, horses, dogs. All of them have big heads, broad shoulders, with a short neck, with the volumetric, well expressed nape, with the expanded thorax, with the shortcut limbs. It is possible to conclude: if the Mongolian sheep-dog has a nape loaded, then the Tibetan mastiff has it overloaded.
- There is no other breed of dog with a steppe or valley origin with such abnormal wide, that is the "heart-shaped" thorax, peculiar for all dogs of high-mountainous Tibet. Though, apparently, it could be for high-speed movement (the developed lungs), for example, for hounds.
- In thin mountain air there is no oxygen. To compensate it, the number of red blood cells – carriers of oxygen - increases, the volume of lungs also increases, that is why there is a strengthened expansion of a thorax. Necessity to reach the prey makes a dog move quickly in the mountains, and this abnormal expansion of a thorax is well-defined. To fight with predators, protecting cattle, and, especially, to win, well developed respiratory system is necessary. Besides the short neck with a low carriage gives freedom to a windpipe and leads to the shortest direct way to lungs.
- For example, the narrow, high and long head heats up more slowly than a wide and short head approached to the form of the sphere, having parts of identical volume. At least, surface will give heat more slowly than any other form. The smaller surface is, the less is atmospheric pressure upon the unit of the area. This is the adaptive mechanism to atmospheric pressure in mountains in comparison with the valley. If you look at the high-mountainous native animals full-face, the big head on a short neck with the expressed nape seems involved in shoulders and the lump comes nearer to the form of a sphere. The Tibetan dogs, for example, has the truncated wide face with hung brows and the wide, rounded form of a skull, is too approached to a sphere. When a person gets chilled he usually involves a head in shoulders, and all animals try to get into cluster.
- All animals of Tibet has their centre of gravity in a forward part of a trunk, approximately, on a line of a humeral belt. This "high-mountainous" attribute is necessary for vertical movement. At this moment, the mechanism of inertness at a back part of a trunk works by a residual principle. That is, if the animal jumps abruptly upward it should not strain itself to restore the balance as it should if the centre of gravity was in the middle. It is possible to say that if the front part of a trunk has moved, the body has jumped upward, too. Also, if the animal has jumped off abruptly, its second half of trunk by inertia will not bring down its first half.
- And the animals of a valley inhabitancy at a high-speed movement have their centre of gravity necessarily in the middle for the limbs to disclose fully in a jump. For example, when running at a full gallop due to inertia, back limbs of the animal are taken out far forward .It on the contrary helps to keep the balance when the gravity is in the middle of a body.
- Certainly, it is cold in Mongolia in winter, but it is impossible to compare the Great Steppe (Gobi) to chilling windy the highest mountains of Tibet, also the lack of oxygen makes it seem more cold than it really is. Nevertheless, in spite of a "high-mountainous" thorax, the blood analysis of the Mongolian sheep-dog has shown a valley or steppe adaptive inhabitant attribute. So, it is possible to consider a "high-mountainous" thorax a residual attribute of an origin, as well as a wide cranial part of a head, and a short neck with a low carriage.
- Due to the known reasons, in comparison with parameters of the Tibetan mastiff, the face of the Mongolian sheep-dog is slightly extended and it has a distance not less than that from "stop" up to occipital hump. The face is not as heavy and volumetric as that of modern factory Tibetan mastiffs which at the last decades are cultivated on the descendants - St. Bernards. The format of a trunk in which the centre of gravity is approached to its middle and below a humeral belt, is a little bit stretched. Legs became longer, and their massiveness decreased, because there was no necessity to climb the mountains, or to have stability under the predators’ attacks, but there appeared necessity to keep up with herd on steppe. Thus, having gone down from mountains, the dog gradually loses the necessity to keep "high-mountainous" adaptive attributes and reduces the exterior parameters. The dog keeps all the rest attributes connected with living in the extreme climatic conditions, as both the Central Asia and Southern Siberia are located above the level of the World ocean.
- According to the images of the Tibetan dogs in ancient books about Tibet and in religious painting, their Index of Leg Height is approached to 50 %, it is less than the Mongolian sheep-dogs having these parameters at a rate of 59-60 %. Probably, low hind pasterns at the back limbs are also a residual attribute of a high-mountainous origin.
- As well as the Tibetan mastiffs, the Mongolian sheep-dogs are long-livers, their middle age is 16-18. Sometimes dogs can live till 23-25.
Each animal denoted certain economic purpose of the place traditionally connected with it. So, the Dog is a symbol of hunting, in a northwest part of the tent under a sigh of a dog the Mongols kept the weapon, etc. The year of the Dog was considered to be firm, man's year. Born in a year of the Dog, the man was considered to be the soldier and the hunter. The Mongolian proverb is «Cattleman needs a dog, the hunter needs a gun», it compares a dog to an instrument of production.
For example, the Mongolian well-known hunter C.Luvsan with the help of the Mongolian native dog – bankhar - has obtained 22 000 marmots, 200 lynxes, 900 wolves, 40 bears for 20 years! A range is from a small marmot up to big carnivore as a bear! No other hunting dog is capable for it. Sometimes among huskies there are more or less ”universal”, capable to hunt for a fiber and a sable, and to not be afraid of an elk or a bear. In fact the husky is also very ancient breed of dog.
In the Mongolian laws of that time, for example «the Code Mongolian oirats» and « Social order of Halhi» 1709, there were instructions forbidding beating and killing dogs. In the historical legislative document « The Halhass Code of Mongolia» there is a point of the law in which it is told: « It is impossible to kill a healthy horse, the blond goose, the snake, a frog, турпана, a kid of an antelope, a lark, and a dog. And the person - the witness of murder, - had the right to take away a horse from the criminal». In the same document, bankhar, taigan and sharaid were decided to be inviolable for officials and kyshyktens; bankhar or its puppy were ranked as the property which could not be taken from a simple person. Also the murder of this sentry dog was paid off t by two-year-old bull-calf.
Thus, that fact that the man had no right to encroach on a dog as another's property proves the dog has been respected as a favourite by the Mongols. Besides, up to the end of its’ life the Mongolian sheep-dog was faithful to the master, badly passed and hard got used to another master. There are facts when after death of the owner or his departure for ever, dogs died of melancholy.
If we analyze the Mongolian word nohoi - a dog, it was derivated from a word nohor - the first comrade, the close friend.
In a medical practice the Mongolian native dog’s gastric juice and compound enzymes of a saliva (lisocin and mucin.) are used: In the ancient composition «Mongolian precious bead», it is said that «this Mongolian dog is clever; being at home, protects a court yard, hunting, catches wild animals. It describes the Mongolian dog as “a furious dog of the large sizes, with 4 strong legs,with a wide energetic breast, possesses good training, endurance, will power”.
In Mongolia it is impossible to meet the Mongolian sheep-dog living in an apartment, and in cities they are a great rarity. But the dogs protecting dwellings tied with a circuit hardly can win the wolf though it is brave. A good proverb « wolves live by their legs» means the wolf are always on the run, that is, in the fine physical form. The bankhars that constantly go on hunting and work on protection of cattle are pumped not less up and by nature have well developed breath. Except for «taboo» on the murder of the house living creatures developed for centuries, these dogs have practically equivalent abilities with wolves. But bankhars are better at some parameters. By the way, the Mongolian sheep-dogs hunting for large animals are also predators. Where the cattle is broused far from a civilization, bankhars sometimes have fights with wolves where the essence is «kill or be killed». The life instinct and the idea to protect the property and the master work. If a flock has a rutting female, the mighty mechanism of reproductive instinct works. These are the reasons why the Mongolian sheep-dogs go to kill wolves (that can oppose with only hungry rage and a predatory instinct) not giving them any chance, and they practically become wolfhounds. These dogs receive nicknames Garge, Hasar or Bosar – their semantic value is a wolfhound. The cases mentioned happen in winter, in December-February when the female Mongolian sheep-dogs have rutting and famine drives wolves reckless. The wolf runs into a flock and cuts sheep without any purpose because it drags off the only one. After each attack of the wolf losses are estimated as ten or more killed goals of cattle. Of course, it does not happen every year, but still. Where the dog will knock down the wolf, both people, and wolves, and other predators remember about it. While those who remember are alive, the cattle is grazed under supervision of dogs as if under some supernatural protection. Any predators pass it by. Though the Mongolian sheep-dogs do not search for conflicts, they are at war not only with wolves, but also with lynxes, mannual, jackals, and even with birds of prey that can kill and pull down the lamb.
The Soviet officers served in Mongolia remember recruits to be instructed not to approach to еру herd protected by the Mongolian sheep-dogs which have red cloths tied up to collars. Such dogs severely wipe up with anyone wishing to approach cattle, though they allowed to approach the tent and speak to the master, but came up and observed a stranger in silence.
This is one more thing to be proud of the Mongolian sheep-dog not being a factory breed of dog. As Bulat Shibizarov wrote in his story “the Great shepherd”: « the cowardly master cannot have a real wolfhound. He cannot impose on a dog what he himself does not have, - courage and nobleness. Here is our mirror! The reason is not in a breed, but un the willpower! »
The shamans in Mongolia, Tuva and Kalmykia calling to the Spirit of the Dog – the home benefactor - describe the same dog. According to some versions of the specialists in shamans the calls are about 9 or up to 12 thousand years or they are probably one or two thousand years older. Here is one of the calls that was written down by the Tuva scientist, poet-shaman K.L.Mongushem.
« … You are faithful to your master,
You lay at a threshold, conducting a protection service of the tent.
You are a dog that keeps the parking safe.
You conduct supervision over herd of livestock.
You stand there secretly where the wolf can come .
Immediately you hear rustle, at once you nod a head and bark.
You lay there strong, your body keeps us out of a trouble.
I am standing singing, calling the dog soul with algymysh.
I imagine you wear glasses,
Your face predicts the trouble smelling bad.
The affinity of fear makes you howl lingeringly,
The affinity of a thunder-storm makes you jump out quickly.
Your tail flaunts with a shaggy jack marvelously,
In your ears there are earrings wonderful and striking.
A bay with yellowish markings dog, the wool at you is made of dark velvet.
I search for your soul; I call your soul, beginning to sing the algyshy».
Practically, this is the description of the dog which was reserved up to now through centuries. Here is both the description of the ex-terrier and the figurative characteristic of the advantages at the service.
- « … you are faithful to the master », - that is true, there exist legends and songs about the desperate fidelity of the Mongolian dogs which without fear to be killed protect the master from danger, and even died of melancholy after his death.That is why we can speak about «the dog fidelity» nowadays;
- « … You lay at a threshold, conducting a protection service of the tent.», - the expression «to conduct a protection service » is very significant and valid because the Mongolian sheep dog «ITSELF CONDUCTS a protection service». That means the dog has been used to protect the dwelling since the most ancient times.
- « … You are a dog that keeps the parking safe.», - the mankind knows many facts of adapting both spiteful and dangerous predators who served faithfully to the person, but it is only dog that we trust to, and only the dog could become a real keeper of home and in some translations, it obtains the semantic value - a fire keeper;
- « … You are a dog that keeps the parking safe », - to be the observer, it is necessary to think well. Till now the Mongolian sheep-dogs can the graze cattle independently, without the manager. That is, the dog should:
- be able to lead cattle on juicy grass;
- keep up those animals not to break legs on a way to a pasture;
- lead a flock on a watering place in time;
- not allow to mix with other flock on a watering place, or on the way;
- not endanger a flock;
- always protect cattle from any predators, to prevent any further attacks;
- return cattle to the hotton-parking, that is, home in time.
- « … You stand there secretly where the wolf can come» - it turns out, that intelligence of the Mongolian sheep dog is more abrupt and more powerful than that of a wolf if it can catch, understand and outwit the wolf whom the nature has created as the cleverest and most artful animal. It is proved by the fact that the wolf, unique of predators, hunts at the distance of 50 and even 100 km far away from the den. And the main property of its wool - absence of a special smell confirmed by histological researches, helps prevent the wolf from feeling the dog too early. But in my personal opinion the most, tremendous quality and unique property of the Mongolian sheep-dog is the absence of a smell of wool, leather and the animal. The Mongolian sheep-dog always smells as the place where it is smells, it is a magnificent mask, better than anything thought up. What is the essence and sense of this phenomenon? This is the adaptive attribute which has been kept up to now for the better hunter than any predator. In the wild smell is the only means to get any information of the animals. As a rule, all predators have a sharp specific smell as the means of scaring away and additional intimidation. And it is difficult for predators to catch and outwit each other. Any creature on the Earth has its smell. But, the Mongolian sheep dog has it the least audible and susceptible for the animals only on a very close distance, to human sense of smell it is inaccessible at all. With such abilities, the Mongolian sheep-dog practically has more chances to have the prey come up at the shortest distance. Therefore, till now, if necessary, the Mongolian sheep dog can live in the wild without the help of the man and it can hunt on its own. If the person happens to offend a dog strongly, it leaves to live in a wood forever. Nowadays it is not an unusual situation. When there was a campaign on liquidation of dogs in Mongolia, the Mongolian sheep-dogs escaped to woods a day before the arrival of liquidators, they hid there for weeks and came back in a day after their leaving. But they came back always full and well-fad.
- « … Immediately you hear rustle, at once you nod a head and bark», - that is, the dog had special instinct and a nice ear; it worked for people, warning them about any danger;
- « … You lay there strong, your body keeps us out of a trouble», the expression « you lay … strong » means it was as a fortress, protection; still it shows the huge sizes of the Mongolian sheep dog that is confirmed in petrogliphs of the same period: the Mongolian sheep-dogs are represented there as big as bulls, horses and people;
- « … I imagine you wear glasses», - the Mongolian sheep-dogs had a nickname « shilt nohoi – wearing glasses», and the Tuvinians called such dogs «kostukh - wearing glasses» because the light lines around of eyes, but not because of light eyebrows in the form of spots above eyes, for which the dog is nicknamed “four-eyed”. By the way, being four-eyed is a part of a spotty black-color of the dogs, it is widespread which is available for more than for 100 breeds, and it is not a direct attribute of breed;
- « … Your face predicts the trouble smelling bad», - this most likely means the following: 1) unique olfactory abilities of the Mongolian sheep-dogs which can take a trace in any weather, and at any temperature; 2) the intuition for which the Mongolian sheep dog is considered to be capable to protect people from malicious spirits. Dealing with these dogs has convinced me in the antiquity being right.
To prove this, I have a rather interesting example. In the skirts of a collective garden the drunk driver had brought down a column with electricity cables. The light was disconnected absolutely, and it was almost full darkness. I decided to go home near the broken column to make my way shorter. Shuuder ran ahead, but just in front of the broken column she stopped, and started barking at me, trying not to let me pass. It was already dark and I got angry, so I shouted at her as if I wanted to hit her to make her let me go. Then Shuuder rushed on the wires laying on the ground in a ring and it struck her greatly, even threw her up. Having thrown away all fruit and berries, I rushed to rescue the dog. I do not even know how I managed to do it, but with a dog in my hands, I ran 2 km up to the vet, but the dog was rescueed. It turned out that the wires kept so-called «step-by-step voltage» and there was a current in them despite of switching-off. How can the dog know about «a step-by-step voltage»? Not any person scan. If it were not for the instinct and a self-denying impulse of my dog I would have been dead after the step on wires under a current. - « … The affinity of fear makes you howl lingeringly »,- Ancient people denoted death as “fear”, and nowadays these dogs howl when they have presentiment of death;
- « … The affinity of a thunder-storm makes you jump out quickly. », - that is, the Mongolian sheep dog’s response was in advance of lightning. And nowadwys the flash – like response of the Mongolian sheep-dogs is impressive, for it looks especially striking because of their being calm and reserved.
- « … Your tail flaunts with a shaggy jack marvelously», - really, the length of beard hair at the tail is up to 30 cm during fringe and the underfur is very dense . Here is “a shaggy jack” in a form of a turned up at an acute angle densely twirled ringlet-tail;
- « … In your ears there are earrings wonderful and striking» - on an internal side of an ear there is a light and long line of wool, put in a small bunch. This line forms thin sliver covered with the thinnest layer of fat for liquid (rain or snow) to drain away. Therefore such a sliver reels up an earring from a faded wool;
- « … A bay with yellowish markings dog, the wool at you is made of dark velvet» - “Bay” in the given context means molted fur without an underfur. In the alari dialect, “bay” means blunt(concerning a silhouette, a structure). In a hori-tumat dialect, “bay” means “without anything”. For example, a bay cow denotes a cow without hornes. In the nohoi-ail dialect, “bay” is brown-grey with wings (Dali tai nohoi- a winged heavenly dog). Concerning a winged dog there is a notional semantic aspect. A silhouette and a structure are possibly meant as without anything, for example, without a wool. That means even the molted dog looks and touches “dark and velvet”.
- Black, are similar to the black dog, but under a throat it is white also they have wool more softly grey. They are rather unusual and are bought for 10 or even up to 15 rubles.
- White, the best Turuhan with their soft and white wool are bought for 4 and up to 7 rubles, their quantity is rare up to 200.
- Grey, are lots everywhere, but in the coldest places they are the best and they are on sale from 1 or 2 rubles, and in steppe they are less than rouble ».
The following fact should be made clear. As mentioned above, the direct crossing of the wolf with the Mongolian sheep dog gives in the first generation a phenotype in favour of the Mongolian. If we conditionally accept canis lupus for senior subspecies in a biological kind , the version of an origin of a domestic dog from the wolf is doubtful. It turns out just on the contrary. Well, generally this is the question to biologists, zoologists and genetisists.
About the powerful intelligence, I shall give an examples. Once I brought the Mongolian sheep dog Shuuder together with the puppy of the Asian dog (her sucking) that were sold to the nursery of a meat-packing plant for her to protect all puppies sold there. So she made an undermining at night, bit the part of a fence and ran away together with the sucking puppy, and passed without not being noticed by neither internal protection, nor external, chambers of video observation. Knowing Shuuder as really cunning dog I came to work before 6 o'clock in the morning, but she had gone.. Having interrogated the guards, I ran to look for her in the settlement, came to the house, and she was waiting for me with the puppy near the gate, being hidden in the left garage. Her eyes desperate, moving the puppy to me, running near me, she was about to ask “How could yu leave me and my baby there? What shall we do without you?”
The Mongolian scientist, the doctor of sciences, Amgaasedin Osor, in 80-90s in the 20th century in thoroughly investigated, researched and proved the practical value of this endemic dogs. It{in his dissertation. He declares, that in comparison with the other breeds of dogs, the Mongolian sheep dog has a more powerful immunity and the regeneration system peculiar to the organism of ancient native animals, so that they live so long under extreme conditions.
Modern scientists have called this factor «ecological plasticity».
Perhaps, having investigated the mechanism of creation and maintenance of powerful immunity of this unique dog, the person will prolong the average life expectancy, for example, for hundred years. And the investigated mechanism of its unique system of regeneration will help people in solving the problem of restoration of the lost limbs.
Very few people know that since 1932 and before the 2nd World War, the Mongolian sheep-dogs were in the service in the Siberian armies of People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs. It is luck that the archives have kept the invaluable proofs of the Mongolian sheep dogs service. In 1937 at the 3rd Regional exhibition of Eastern Siberia in Irkutsk where more than two hundred dogs of region took part, the Mongolian sheep-dogs belonging to the collective-farm shepherds and the nurseries of People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs were awarded with the Gold and Silver medals. The Mongolians were marked very high for their security and investigation service, and also for the unpretentiousness to the severe conditions of the territory.
Service qualities of the Mongolian sheep-dog are as follows: they can work both at the temperature of 40 degrees above and below zero, because the breed has been formed for centuries in sharp-continental climate of the Goby part of Mongolia.
Who else, except for the Mongolian sheep-dogs, can manage thousand confused and blind sheep in a heap during a dusty storm or snowstorm, and lead it to a hottton-settlement?
Biologically-economic features of these animals together with all their nomadic qualities allow them to work all-the-year-round on protection and managing the cattle as the irreplaceable assistant to men. Besides morpho-physiological features and the type of psycho, by means of which these dogs won predators (wolves, lynxes, bears) for ages, allow to assume the Mongolian sheep-dogs becoming very serious opponent for the Central Asian and Caucasian sheep-dogs in traditional dog fights at people of Central Asia, nowadays not only there.
In a new situation of shift to a market economy and practically disappeared state support of the agrarian sector of economy, there is a problem of provision the population with ecologically clean, without use of genetically modified material, agricultural products. From this point of view, the nomad animal industries which was a basis of traditional wildlife management of nomadic people of Asia is the most preferable.
For example, it is impossible to imagine the Mongolian animal industries without using shepherd dogs. The Mongolian shepherds admit that each dog replaces at least two workers and two security guards, not including the weapon and the ammunition. If they did not use dogs, transport charges on search and transmitting animals have increased in 2-3 times, the work of the cattle breeders became heavier, and loss of cattle and the cost price of production would increase more than twice.
Today in Buryatiya, farmers get these dogs willingly to work with the cattle, having convinced that the Mongolians are capable of assist people greatly.
The general feature of nomad animal industries is that many kinds of native animals are endangered species due to their unsystematic crossing with cultural breeds.
If the cultivation of the Mongolian sheep-dogs is given only to the public dog breeging organizations it will lead to ineffectual duplication because of the loss of unique abilities of a relic dog. It can happen owing to the absence of research base and regular experts-selectors in these organizations. That is why preservation of the survived becomes the currently central problem demanding serious intellectual efforts and the state support.
We invite to cooperation of the people interested in the problem and ready to get into the cultivation of these unique rare animals under the direction of our genofond scientifically-experimental nursery "Mongoldog ". Even if the shepherds and fans of dogs simply breed, protect and be engaged in the cultivation of thoroughbred Mongolian sheep-dogs it will mean that the Mongolian sheep-dog has been to serve people for ages and still is in the service.
P.S. As the author of this article I should explain that the Mongolian sheep-dogs have nothing in common with, so-called, «bmv-hotosho».
The skull from Ust-Haytino's ritual burial place, 8300 age.
Modern banghar's skull, ritual burial place on river Tuoc, Mongolia.
The dog was 22 year old, she is die to recerved and old of wounds.
