The Slovensky Cuvac Origin
an old paper with some faults ?!
The breed group of the white mountain dogs derived from wolves of the Artic type, the relicts of which from pre-ice period had survived in the European mountain territories within the boundaries of icing. It meansnorthern slopes of Caucuses, Balkan, esoecially Rodop Alps and at last Pyrenees.
In this cold and wet regions we can find the mentioned type of mountain dog together with the relicts of fauna and flora,the localities of which were found by the Swedish explorer Wahlenberg also in Scandinavia.
Similar connections with the northern animals in the Tatra region and in Carpathians can be obseved in Hucul horse theclosest ancestor of which is Gudbrandstal horse. The same way the analogy of Slovak Cuvac is Pomoran Shepherd' s dog???!
Slovak sheep farming has a very old tradition. Slovac Cuvac together withmountain sheep, Huculn horse and typical inhabitantsof the mountains formed the fundamental economic preconditions for utilization of pastures by the way of breeding of cattle. The inhabitants of Slovak mountains mostly belonged to free people, refusing the orders of the Middle Age drudgery who defended frontiers and paid the duties only in sheep's cheese.
The institution of these peoplewas called: "Valassky Opasok" and its center was Kosice till abolition of drudgery. The members of the shepherd military system did their service on the mountain meadows always with their typical white dogs, the "Cuvac".
As a good offender guard and companion as well as a leader of the sheep flocks, the dog proved itself also in the watching of the cattle, turkeys and other domestic animals, ventually in watching the households.
Holiday makers, visitors of the mountains, and spa visitors found liking in the hairy puppies of Slovensky Cuvac during visits to the chalets. They used tom buy and carry this breed also to the lowlands, where for its unusal expression they have been also bred as the luxurious bred.
On the Polish side of the Tatra mountains, where similar bred-Polish Shepherd of Podhalan - the unusally strong animals are called "Liptak" - Liptov is a region in Slovakia. It clearly shows their Slovak origin. The territory of breeding of the white Slovak Cuvac is also topographically limited.
Prof. A. Hruza
We have all read the name " Prof. Antonin Hruza" several times. His name always appears together with the breed "Slovensky Cuvac". He is the "father" of the breed!
Who was Prof. Hruza?
When did he live? Where? What was his profession?
Most SC-lovers didn' t know about him.
Therefore I want to present a little bit about the founder of the breed.
Prof. MV Dr. Antonin Hruza was born on the 1st of January 1865 in Pilsen/CZ. He worked as a veterinarian and founded a breeding station for working horses.
After the First World War he went to the Veterinay medicine center in the heart of East Slovakia, to the city of Kosice. With his research he was successful in his fight against rabies.
Because of his research and a vigorous vaccination program, a substantial number of SC were saved. Breeders were given a choice: Either vaccinate their dogs or have the animal destroyed.
This seems harsh, but it was the only means to get rid the breed of rabies.
After the opening of the new Veterinarian Univerity of Brunn, Dr. Hruza was a Professor teaching Zootechnic. Later he moved to Brunn.
Several breeding stations in the region of Maehren, Czechoslovakia were founded by him.There he started the original and official kennel book for the Slovensky Cuvac breed.
His own breeding station was called Ze Zlate Studny - meaning: "Out of the Golden Well".
The first SC-litters were registered on 04Jun, 1929. The parents of these puppies were "Jerry" (kennel book number 1), and "Kora" (kennel book number 2)
Dr. Hruza was also successful in establishing a Czechoslovakian Kynologique Organisation to join in cooperation with the international organisation F.C.I. in Bruessels, Belgium. Dr. Hruza was delighted in continuing and improving the breed. He chose three categories for SC:.
-working dogs
-breeding dogs
-Elite dogs
The first group got pedigrees with green binding, the second one with red, and the Elite dogs with blue.