The Kurdish Mastiff,^[1][2][3][4] Assyrian Shepherd,^[3] or Pishdar dog^[5] (Kurdish: سەگی پشدەری) is a dog landrace native to the mountainous Kurdistan Region in Iraq.^[3][5] This dog is often used as a livestock guardian against predators and number around a few thousand heads.^[5] They have been compared to the Kangal Dog and the Akbash.^[5]

Description

The weight of the adult dogs increases with age and can reach 80 kg.^[5] The average is at 73.50 kg reaching from 67 kg in Sangasar to 80 kg in Qira Diza.^[5] The average body length is about 75 cm with the back length of aged dogs reaching over 88 cm.^[5]

History

In 1892, John Paul Dudley published a medical treatise on dogs and mentioned the Kurdish Mastiff:

In Kurdistan in northern Asia Minor, and that region of Asia, there is a dog much resembling the English Mastiff, which is the constant companion and friend of the Kurd — a shepherd and watch dog partaking much of the character of his half - barbarous master, and will not well bear a change of country and associations. Nothing owned by the Kurd is valued more highly than this fierce and powerful animal, which is to a great extent treated as sacred, at least so far as the hand of a stranger is concerned. In color the Kurdish Mastiff is mainly tawny; has tail long, and head large, and his body is tall, ponderous, and well proportioned".^[1]

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