Μολοσσός της Ηπείρου

We can say both. Everyone who knows something about those dogs must to have big knowledge on Serbian history. But, not only on history, but also on old myths and tales of our ancestors that were passed on from father to son for centuries till our days.

Valley type black(2) We can say both. Everyone who knows something about those dogs must to have big knowledge on Serbian history. But, not only on history, but also on old myths and tales of our ancestors that were passed on from father to son for centuries till our days.
Beliefs about these dogs among Serbian people is that Almighty God himself gave those dogs to us from beginning of the world, to guard and defend us, and keep us on rightful path.
Ancient Serbian and Vlach (also Slavic) myth says that humans were developed from wolfs, and when brothers split, Gods gifted us dogs so that humans and wolfs would never engage in fight with each other, because with dogs both humans and wolfs were safer. Serbs believe that those dogs were exactlly Silvans, and before Christianity that dog was seen as a protector of God of Forests in old Serbian mythology.
How big respect old Serbs had for their dog breeds can be seen in names that they were called, depending on type and job that they performed: smaller hunting dogs were called Hajkasi (translation would be something like - chasing hunters), Dagari or Zagari; big mountain flock guardians were called Lions (Lavovi); and Silvan as most prized and special kind, dogs above dogs, were called Dragons (Zmajevi). Word “dog” (pas) was rarely used, and when it was used the meaning of that word was more of an insult, because only mutts -without spirit and guts- were called “dogs”.

Black and tan valley type

Some older folks who are familiar with the breed don’t refer to their dogs as Silvans, they rather call them Vucjak (Wolfhound) or Garov (Sooty), which are also old names for the breed, but most of those folks still call this breed by its oldest known name - Zmaj (Dragon).
Why is name Dragon of such importance? Well, to separate those dogs from Serbian history is almost impossible.
Old sources say that in year 620 A.C. mighty knights order was established in Serbia, order who existed all the way to 14th century. The Knights Order of Red Dragon (Crveni Zmaj). Most members of this order were Serbian knights, but knights from other Balkan kingdoms and nations were also members of that order. There were Croats, Romanians, Bulgarians (better to say Thracians), Macedonians, Greeks, shortly – knights of Balkan who were ready to fight for truth and justice of all Balkan autochthonous people, because once long time ago we were ONE, one family, one big tribe. At the time when that order was founded (and many many years before) dogs that followed Serbian knights in their battles were Dragons. Some say that because of this, that knights order got its name. Red because of blood, because knights considered each other as brothers, but not only brothers by swords, but actually blood related brothers because they considered that they shared same ancestors in long gone past, and Dragon because of those ancient dogs that for centuries of their existence stood side by side with their masters.

Longhaired mountain type

There is a written document known as “Dragon Law”. Ones that are familiar with that text are saying that according to the stile and letters used in writing, this document is written somewhere in 12 or 13 century. Traditional folk tales are saying that “Dragon Law” is written by one Serbian Emperor. Only Serbian Emperor of that time was Emperor Dusan from Nemanjic dynasty. No one can say for sure if the “Dragon Law” was written personally by Dusan or it was maybe written, as some suggest, by Knights that were at that time members of still present Red Dragon Order. Whatever is true, this document is probably one of most precise documents ever written about one breed of dogs in human history. Some even dare to call it first written dog standard ever, but the text it self is not just plain description of dogs’ measurements and appearance, there is entire set of rules for breeding and use of those dogs, as well as some short indication on history of the breed.
Privilege of owning a Dragon was not exclusively reserved for knights and rulers. Those dogs meant everything to Serbian shepherds, they were guardians of their flocks and homes and protectors from demons and evil forces, although only knights had the right to shape certain types and strains within breed. Capable to fulfill big diversity of duties, of immense intelligence and unbelievable courageousness, these dogs were also one of the most important “weapons” in battles that Serbs fought.

Longhaired tricolored mountain type
All the way from old times till our days, breed was divided into several types, like it was the case with most working breeds:
- On body structure, dogs were divided in two main types:

1. Valley type – very tall and lean dog, capable of fantastic speeds
2. Mountain type – lower but wider, dog of incredible strength

- There were three coat types:

1. Shorthaired
2. Longhaired, and
3. Bearded with curly hair

- And there were four types of coloring:

1. Black and tan – most numerous and most prized since ancient times
2. Black – completely black without white or any other kind of markings
3. Black with white marks – white marks were allowed on lower part of legs, belly, on chests, muzzle and on top of a tail.
4. Tricolored – Same as black and tan but with allowed white marks like on the previous type.

Like I mentioned, black and tan dogs were most prized among Serbs especially the ones who had clearly visible those two tan marks above the eyes. Dogs with those traits were called “four-eyed”. Folks believed that those two marks are an extra pair of eyes and that dog who have them also have some supernatural powers like skill to fight daemons and all other kinds of evil forces, to stop them from entering his masters home and to keep harmony between his master’s family members.

Mountain type

The connection for all those different types (no matter how different they seem to be) was and still is their character, as old tradition is saying: the character is what makes breed to be breed. We could say that for Silvans, female are the main carrier of the character, while males are usually calmer. Females are the ones that are furious, ones that will start a fight or charge on predators, ones that rise hind leg and throw dirt when marking their territory, females are the ones that will go straight to rip of your throat if you make any sudden movement. On the other hand, males are perfectly aware of their strength and aware of their weapon hidden inside of their mouth in shape of long, white fangs. Males will rarely start a fight and that is not because they are scared of the outcome, no. It is because of one, and probably crucial characteristic of Silvans, and that is when Silvan engages in a fight, they don’t spare them self and they certainly don’t spare their opponent. When real Silvan fights beasts or other dogs, final outcome must be death, either his own death or death of his opponents, there is no third solution. One more important trait of Silvans character is that they guard their territory (their master’s property) with same amount of seriousness, being it from beasts, thieves or even from neighbor’s cattle or chickens that wondered to far. Nothing can’t pass Silvan unnoticed, and if the intruder is not smart enough to turn his back and disappear in lightning speed from Silvans territory, all chances are that intruders life will be ended in next few moments. Silvans are real definition of one mans dog. Even their own master has to show serious respect toward his dogs when handling them, and that is something that most dog people didn’t used to do. Actually, most of people today forgot what real dogs were supposed to do and how they behave.
Serbian history, and not exclusively Serbian but history of all Balkan nations sometimes was very bloody. In old times, many of those dogs gave their life on battlefields almost all over Balkan. However, that was not such a big loss for the breed. Something that is much worse happened after famous Serbian battle on Kosovo (year 1389.) when Ottoman forces defeated Serbs and started to rule over Serbian territories. Many Silvans were killed in centuries of Ottoman ruling, but even that was not that dangerous, the thing that is most scary is that most of Serbian people accepted the Ottoman view and way of treating dogs as filthy, indecent animals, Devil helpers. One more big catastrophe for the breed happened in last century. Those were two World Wars and period after them. Killing of dogs that protected their masters homes started to happen again, maybe even worse then in Ottoman time. However, traces of memory on their indigenous dogs were still present in one part of Serbian population, but number of dogs was almost devastated.

Shorthaired mountain type

Today in our time, Silvan population do exist, but in very very small number of specimens. People who own them usually are not willing to share any information about their dogs because of all those disasters that happened in past and led almost to extinction of their beloved breed. Some of those owners are saying that Silvans aren’t good dogs for modern people, because people and everything else around us have changed: men are softer, women are stronger, human relations are twisted, ancient traditions are abandoned, money means everything… They say that is probably more dignified for Silvans to die out and stay in a legend then to continue their life as changed, softer and more acceptable animals for modern society. Sad, but somehow I can understand them.
I don’t know why, but I still have some optimism and faith deep inside my soul that Silvans will survive as they were. The reason for that are probably those few last sentences from Dragon Law, the document that I mentioned earlier, that sounds almost as some sort of curse, so in order for Serbs to survive we have to make sure that Dragons will survive also. I have tried to translate in best way those few archaic serbian words, so here they are. Enjoy reading the words of wisdom of our forefathers.
Zmajcici
“To all those who own Dragons, this law is to be remembered and followed forever, because Dragons have always been with us, even before we had letters, so they are to be respected and kept by us, because they are Gods gift. As it is truth that if there were no Dragons we wouldn’t survive, it is also truth that if there will be no Dragons – there will be no us.”
Aleksandar Tomic – Aleksa