The Kuvasz is the most attractive, and second largest of the four shepherd dog breeds found in Hungary.

 

        

The others are, from left to right: the Komondor, the Mudi, the Puli and the Pumi.

 

 

            Much has been written about the origins of the Kuvasz, but little proven.The Kuvasz must have been brought tot Hungary by the Kumanen around the 12th century, and later on by King Matthias who bred them for hunting red and black game.

 

 

 

            Uptil the beginning of the 20th century he was used for hunting deer and wild boar, searching for and guarding the shot game.

 

            One originally named this breed Kuvasz. The word Kuvasz is related to the Tukish word 'Kawacz' and 'Kawasz' in Arabic. In Turkish it can roughly be translated as 'armed security guard to the European ambassadors and consuls', the Arabic roughly as 'archer'.

 

      

 

            When this breed, originally only kept by the Hungarian nobility, was later owned by citizens, the name Kavasz changed into Kuvasz, Hungarian for mongrel.

 

            The real and most important task of the Kuvasz was protecting the herd. When, a hundred years ago, cattle farming was still in abundance, the shepherd dog protected the herds against predators. The Kuvasz often wore a prick collar with the pins on the outside, this to protect his throat against wolf bites.

 

    

 

            In the first half of the nineteenth century things changed. Rivers were chanelled, and fens laid dry and turned into building ground. Vagabonds and wolves, the cattles' enemies, retreated to the mountain woods. The need for large shepherd dogs diminished and the shepherd kept these dogs only out of tradition. The Kuvasz came from the Poesta to the villages and guarded the houses, kept chained. Nobody thought about pure breeding. At the turn of the century, the Kuvasz had become an ordinary village mutt. Other breeds were already carefully bred, especially hunting dogs, but hardly anyone cared about the beautiful Hungarian shepherd dogs. It is thanks to a few enthusiastic dog lovers, that these breeds survived.

 

            The second world war almost completely exterminated the large shepherd dogs of Hungary. The most beautiful and able-bodied dogs found their end by machine guns of soldiers on both sides. In 1945, one begun breeding again,  with a small number of dogs of dubious quality .Yet again, in 1956 many protecting shepherd dogs were killed by the soldiers gunfire.

 

            In the seventies the number of Kuvasz in Europe grew considerablly whilst now they are, as a figure of speach, under fire. The numbers halved in Hungary at the start of 2000. One of the reasons for this is that the Hungarians prefer other breeds, while in Germany the numbers decreased greatly due to the new dog regulations introduced in June 2000. The number of litters in Holland diminshed because there was much less breeding. No-one knows where this will lead to, but one thing is certain: due to the new regulation that will probablly be introduced in Holland and Europe the coming years, the population wil not increase.