Serbian Defense Dog - Facts and Information

Appearance
The Serbian Defense dog is on the first sight very muscular and strong, yet agile and athletic dog breed. Its normal for these dogs to be 70 cms tall and 60kgs heavy, which is 27 inch and 132 pounds and some dogs, especially males are even larger than that.
This breed has a large and strong head and moderately long powerful muzzle. The teeth and jaws are also extremely strong and neck very muscular.The triangular ears hanging close to the head, eyes are medium sized and the chest is deep and broad.
The Serbian Defense dog has a short to medium long doublecoat, which is very dense and it protects the dog from all weather conditions. You can find this breed in several different colors, such as yellow, brindle, black, gray or honey color. Some dogs can have white spots on their body.
Temperament
The Serbian Defense Dog is a very protective, territorial and loyal breed to its owner. Their natural protective instinct, amazing speed and insane strenght makes them extarodinary dogs for protection and guarding purposes. These dogs are also absolutely brave and courageous and they should never be intimidated by any man or animal. It is also almost impossible to bribe the Serbian Defense Dog.

But this does not mean that this dog is unmanageable agressive breed, not at all. In normal situations, this is very stable breed with pretty calm and laid back personality. With good socialzitaion and training, this dog is excellent companion dog and he will not show any agression on outside walks. This dog is also known to be pretty tolerant towards kids, but of course, you should never leave any dog breed with a very young child unsupervised.

As you can probably guess, this dog is alert and suspicious towards strangers and it will take a while before the stranger gets a trust of this dog. The stranger must always be introduced to the dog by the owner.

Its important to mention, that even though this is very smart and obedient dog, they are not the best choice for novices or unexperienced owner. It is because of their enormous strength and protective instinct. If the novice would fail the socialization and training with dog this powerful, he can have a lot of troubles. These dogs need patient, firm and consistent training and proper early socialization. But with experienced owner, this is very easily and adaptable breed capable of learning a lot of different commands and being absolutely obedient.
History
In the Middle Ages, there was a powerful and fierce dog in the area of todays Serbia. This dog was known as Serbian Mastiff. It is believed that the King of Serbia, Dusan the Mighty, used Serbian Mastiffs as guards and protectors and these dogs were even guarding the borders of Serbian Empire.

Later, this ancient Serbian Mastiff went extinct, but in 1980s the recreation of this breed started. The man behind this recreation is Nenad Gavrilovic, a Bosnian herbalist and healer. The breeds that were used in the recreation of the Serbian Mastiff are Neapolitan Mastiffs, Bosnian Tornjaks, American Staffordshire Terriers, Rottweilers and Balkan Wolves. The breeds was finally established in 1991 and it was named as Srpski Odbrambeni Pas or Serbian Defense Dog.
Health and grooming
There is not enough scientific studies and information about the breeds health, but it should usually be very healthy and hardy dog breed. They can ocassionally suffer from the same health issues as other large dogs, such as hip dysplasia, but it is not very common in this breed.

The maintenance is not very hard. These dogs shed some hair, but even without any brushing, they will keep the coat in good condition. They also do not need much bathing, only when its really necessary. Just like with all dogs, you should regularly check their eyes, ears, teeth and nails and clip them or clean them if needed