Extracts from "The Caucasian and Central Asia Shepherd Dogs and other wolfdogs" by V.Vysotsky

At last, you have bought a puppy. What can you expect from it?

A dog-owner must be able to take the food from his dog or cope with its jaw at the moment when a bowl is in front of it. Underestimation of this fact can lead to irrecoverable situation! The matter is that in natural conditions the fight for food is essential. Having such genetic characteristic a sheepdog puppy reacts badly to any attempt to take the food from it.

Keep in mind, if the puppy protects its food from you it means your contacts with it isn't reliable and when the puppy gets mature you will be in trouble. That's why from the very first days you should start establishing your right as the leader. For this purpose use a command of prohibition, slap the puppy's nose or back of its head gently to gain its respect for you and the members of your family.

Remember, obedience of a sheepdog doesn't mean the performance of any of your command (silly from a dog's view) but recognition you as the leader. There are well known cases when the Caucasian sheepdog easily performed such command like "Sit", "Down", "Come-to-Heel", etc., however, immediately went for the owner once the owner made an attempt to take the filthy food from the dog, prohibited it from fighting with another dog or just tried to enter its area.

A strongly pronounced desire to be a leader is a strong point of the dog. By the way, this is the grounds of its reluctance to learn the commands of obedience and not the lack of its intelligence as amateurs might think. A natural instinct of being a leader combined with a weak relationship with the owner expressed in conflicts "around a bowl" is the main problem of a beginner in dog-ownership. It's worth noticing that the Central Asia Shepherd Dogs is more "amenable to discipline" than the Caucasian Sheepdog.

It's necessary to mention two more sheepdog's characteristics that are the strong points of the breed but might do the dirty on it. Excellent health and not being fussy about food may result in the puppy's owner negligence and result in catastrophic for the puppy situation.

Remember, a puppy's ability of not being fussy about the food doesn't mean that should cut down on spending on its food. All things that your puppy haven't been given properly lead to serious consequences.

There is a misbelieve that there is no necessity to vaccinate a sheepdog against infections and contagious diseases since it has a strong immune system. It does have a strong immune system but it means that having such system a puppy struggles longer with a disease and the fact that a puppy is unwell becomes obvious much later. Sometimes it's too late. Finally, the last and pleasant characteristic of the Caucasian Sheepdog. Its zealous attitude to its territory makes it go out for sanitation quite early. It is very convenient for the owner but in case of the owner's carelessness, it causes discomfort for a puppy, which may be harmful for the puppy's psychiatric system.