For many years we have been living with stray cats, that were left on their own and had to fight for their survival. In the beginning, when we were still living with our grandma, we were taking care of them, so she wasn’t completely alone when we were not at home. When she passed away, our love to those adorable animals remained. We have really bonded with two of our cats Czarek and Głodek, and we have even infected few our neighbours with love to cats …
Cats are lovable, yet me and my husband always dreamt about owning Tatra shepherd dog. Since we were living in a block of flats, we were afraid that such a dog would suffer (cats don’t mind living in concrete cage as much). Once we moved to our newly built house, dreams of owning Tatra shepherd dog revived, despite of some remarks of my greenthumbed wife – the proud owner of one perfect multipurpose garden. She was afraid that her flowers, vegetables and spotless grass would not survive. There was also an issue of cats. How would they react? How dog will react to them? As we later found out, Tatra shepherd dogs can live with cats under the same roof and without any harm to any party
Cats: Czarek (black) i Głodek (cream-beige), they have accommodated well to live alongside Tatra shepherd dog. Sadly, we have to hide cat food from Bystra, she seems to be a connoisseur, but we are afraid that she would start meowing
Bystra and Czarek are the best buddies. Sometimes she will help him to clean himself, sometimes they will play along. The other cat remains stoic, and rather uncordial (probably because when Bystra was a pup, he tried to show his dominance, but then she grew up...)
Due to our son, who insisted that after hist First Holly Communion he must have a dog, and also my husband – a Tatra mountains lover who said it must be only a Tatra shepherd dogs) – there was not much of a choice: we decided that Tatra shepherd dog would join our household. We were completely “yellow” and the number of options was huge. The main differences, it seemed, were in pricing: from really low to extremely high. This was the moment when we started to wonder – must a dog have a pedigree? Or is it just a useless scrap of paper? Are there some offers really such a good deal? The occasions like “Giving away for a refund of maintenance costs”, “Pedigree without documents” “pass for free, contact…”,… Even if dog has a pedigree, and all confirming documents, who would guarantee, what organization? Does it really matter ?
After a long deliberation, many family discussions and after reading through countless opinions in the internet, we finally knew what we had to do. We realized, that if we wanted a dog of a specific breed, we need a guarantee, that the puppy would be healthy, well-groomed, well socialized, with parents of right characteristics and proper temper as it was stated for this breed.
Pedigree - means that the breeder has the strict rules, beneficial both for dog-parents and their young puppies. This was a moment when we suddenly realized, that there were countless breeders for whom dogs were just goods and profits. Pedigree became for us a sort of warranty, that we would not support any shady breeder for whom suffering of animals would have a ower value than potential financial profit from it.
When we had bought Bystra, which started our Tatra shepherd dogs breeding, we were a little bit shocked with the price. There were dogs available “for free”, but we knew that only the sun shines “for free”. The Tatra shepherd dog, bought directly from a mountaineer costed 300-500 PLN, the one with a pedigree - 900-1300 PLN (it depends if pedigree is inherited form single or both parents, and also “a quality” of this pedigree really matters). A dog with an approved pedigree by (ZKwP/FCI) might cost 2500 - 3500 PLN, sometimes even more, depending on purpose: a dog as a companion or to be used as a champion or a breeding dog. That time we still did not understand quite well all the differences in pricing of a puppy. It only came to us with time.
This is why we bought a female dog with pedigree. It was obvious, that if we would chose pedigree, then it had to be of the reliable organization – ZkwP (The Polish Kennel Club). It is the sole organization in Poland and since 1938 it is a part of Fédération Cynologique International, established in 1911 and associating 90 countries from 5 continents. To this day we have realized for many times, that pedigree is not only a sheet of paper. First of all – it guarantees a good health of a particular dog and all demanded characteristics for a specific breed. Thanks to that we may be also sure, that our shaggy, new family member had good living conditions and happy ‘childhood’ from the beginning, and that neither we, nor the puppy will have any problems caused by a wrong upbringing.
Another issue are the rules, that are not always abided by breeders and appreciated by buyers. According to animal protection act, it is forbidden to breed dogs for trading purposes. This ban doesn’t apply to breeders registered in organizations responsible for monitoring dogs’ pedigree. In case of breeders registered in ZKwP, from the point of view of a buyer, not only safety of dam and her whelps are guaranteed, but also their pedigree. In such document there is an information about the parents and the ancestors of every puppy (up to the 4th generation back). It allows the monitoring for potential genetic diseases and avoid a danger of inbreeding.
Now we know, why Tatra shepherd dog with pedigree costs more. Before puppies are born, the dam has to undergo complete medical checkup (i.e. progesterone levels) so we can specify: when she is the most fertile, later to check if all fetuses are developing properly and, if pregnancy doesn’t cause any harm to the dam (USG). The birth occurs under vet’s supervision (depending on breeder experience and complexity of each birth). After birth, there is a mandatory check, done by ZKwP, when all whelps are registered, vaccinated, microchipped and tattooed, both: whelps and dam are under constant care of not only the breeder, but also a vet doctor. Of course, it is expensive, but also time consuming. In the first few weeks of puppies’life - there is a lot to be done. We have to look after the puppies: that their mother would not accidentally squish them, to take care and feed them properly, to do routine checking, to control their proper development. There is no room for unthought mating and accidental upbringing of whelps. These are the main reasons why the prices differ.
Pedigree emitted by ZKwP contains two pages. On the first one there is a confirmation of Bystra as a Tatra shepherd dog inclusion in the Polish Pedigree Register and the information on mandatory dysplasia genetic checkup. The result is best possible, which means that she has correct hip anatomy. In this part there is also the proof of her entitlement to be breeding dog.
On the second side of the pedigree document there is her birth number, type of breed, the details about breeder and owner along with the information of her ancestors up to 4th generation. It is assumed that there should be no close connections up to 3rd generation to avoid inbreeding. Due to the small population of Tatra shepherd dog after II WW, it is difficult to avoid affinity in 4th generation.
Thus Bystra has become a part of our family in Warsaw. She has been living with us since she was only two months old, and right away she has claimed the hearts of all residents of our household (one cat included and the second one still keeping a stoic position), as well as some of our wonderful neighbours.
We do not regret our choice, Tatra shepherd dog has a balanced personality, it is a perfect dog for kids (in general: a perfect dog for families, no matter how big). Bystra is a surprisingly intelligent dog, even-tempered and mild, but in the same time: vigilant and a great watch dog (she does not allow anyone to enter premises without our consent, but if we do allow someone to enter, she is as friendly as ever).
Bystra is an equal member of our family and takes part in all activities, trips and shows. Our children (son & daughter) love her to bits (even if in more pragmatic way than we do: the walks with her seem to be a duty of their parents, somehow).
Safety of our front yard is owed to Bystra, although few floral specimens paid their life for this. But it is the modest price for security of our fence and her always up-dated knowledge on road users. The rest of the garden has no sign of “guarding”, (well - maybe once or twice in autumn she made sure that all vegetables were dug up form patch).
After second heat, the temper of our Tatra shepherd dog settled down – usually she’s calmly viewing the world around her from our porch, unless there is something disturbing. That needs her immediate attention and presence by the fence. She’s always ready to take care of such “threats” as passersby .
Tatra shepherd dog as a member of our family joins us on holidays and all sorts of our trips. It has no problems with long journeys and long day walks.
Tatra shepherd dog is a perfect dog for families with kids (he teaches, plays, rises them )
Our love and fascination with this breed is still exponentially growing. Bystra on each exhibition was just perfect, when she appeared on her first one as a junior, she became immediately the Junior Champion, the Best Junior, and the breed Champion at the International Dog Exhibition, that took place in July 2017 in Stara Milosna. On many such occasions we met other breeders of these beautiful dogs, exchanging tips and experiences. Though, even exhibiting is nice, it is not the main purpose for keeping Bystra.
After approximately two years of living under same roof with Bystra, after learning her attitude and after experiencing her behaviour in many different situations, we have grown to love this breed even more. Earlier, when we were just thinking about getting a dog, we were worried that such a “mountain god’ as a Tatra shepherd dog, wouldn’t feel good and develop properly on Mazovian plains.
After almost two years together, the carefully gathered theoretical knowledge from many books and other sources, countless conversations with other owners of this breed, we have learnt that this breed doesn’t belong only to rocky cliffs and steep pastures, but it will also flourish in more leveled regions, with more urban surroundings.
For these dogs it is not about environment in geographical meaning, but about environment that we provide for them, the passion and care that we give them. Enchanted by attitude and characteristics of POLISH TATRA SHEPHERD DOGS we have decided to start a small breeding of them, an we have called our kennel - CHOKEBERRY VALLEY FCI (ARONIOWA DOLINA FCI). Our kennel is registered in ZKwP and FCI.
We take it as just a beginning of our hopefully long adventure with this beautiful breed, which is one of five (soon maybe six) Polish breeds.
We are living on the outskirts of Warsaw, in so-called “Green Bialoleka” ( storks, moose, and lots of other wildlife animals live close and visit us). We live in a small house on a 1600m2 parcel along with Bystra, our two cats, few fishes, occasional birds and above mentioned wildlife, from time to time.
It’s our pleasure to invite You to get in touch with us and our breeding.
Our Tatra shepherd dog always gets perfect scores at exhibitions, often earns medals and trophies. But first of all, for us, she is a member of our family. Because Bystra doesn’t show much interest in catwalk, we rather take her for long walks in parks or forests and we take part in exhibitions very rarely.
A good walk, scratch behind the ear and over the tail. That's what the tigers like best
RODO: Na podst. art. 7 Rozporządzenia Parlamentu Europejskiego i Rady (UE) 2016/679 z 27.04.2016r. w sprawie ochrony osób fizycznych w związku z przetwarzaniem danych osobowych i w sprawie swobodnego przepływu takich danych oraz uchylenia dyrektywy 95/46/WE, każda osoba odwiedzająca tą stronę internetową, poprzez okoliczność podania swoich danych osobowych, wyraża zgodę na przetwarzanie swoich danych osobowych w celu umożliwienia udzielenia przez administratora odpowiedzi na zadane pytanie oraz ewentualnie w celu udzielenia późniejszych informacji o kwestiach związanych z hodowlą Aroniowa Dolina. Informujemy, iż: 1) administratorem przekazanych nam danych osobowych i osobą kontaktową w sprawie ich przetwarzania jest Dorota Pogorzelska-Budek; 2) celem przetwarzania danych osobowych jest umożliwienie udzielenia przez administratora odpowiedzi na zadane pytanie oraz ewentualnie udzielenie późniejszych informacji o kwestiach związanych z hodowlą Aroniowa Dolina – podstawę prawną stanowi zgoda zainteresowanej osoby na przetwarzanie swoich danych osobowych w w/w celach; 3) udostępnione dane osobowe nie będą podlegały udostępnieniu podmiotom trzecim; 4) udostępnione dane osobowe będą przechowywane przez okres niezbędny do udzielenia odpowiedzi lub informacji o hodowli Aroniowa Dolina lecz nie dłużej niż przez okres trwania tej hodowli; 5) osobie zainteresowanej przysługuje prawo dostępu do treści danych osobowych jej dotyczących, oraz ich sprostowania, usunięcia lub ograniczenia przetwarzania danych, a także prawo wniesienia sprzeciwu wobec przetwarzania, prawo do przenoszenia danych, prawo do bycia powiadomionym o sprostowaniu lub usunięciu danych osobowych lub o ograniczeniu przetwarzania, zażądania zaprzestania przetwarzania i przenoszenia danych, jak również prawo do cofnięcia zgody w dowolnym momencie oraz prawo do wniesienia skargi do organu nadzorczego tj.: Prezesa Urzędu Ochrony Danych Osobowych; 6) podanie danych osobowych jest dobrowolne; 7) udostępnione dane osobowe nie będą podlegały zautomatyzowanemu podejmowaniu decyzji, w tym profilowaniu.