SC - Period dog breed--OT

[DianaFiona at aol.com]

	Given the recent dog thread, I thought this news article might interest some
folks........... Sounds like a neat breed!

			Ldy Diana

Romanian Breed May Get Recognition

.c The Associated Press

 By MIHAI CONSTANTIN

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- What has an Afghan's body, the heart of a lion and
eyes to fall in love with?

For Romanian dog lovers, this riddle's easy: It's the mioritic, a fluffy,
heavyset canine that has been part of Romanian dog lore for centuries. Now,
their push for international recognition for the breed is finally getting some
attention.

``I believe that the Romanian mioritic is a charming, natural, elegant,
intelligent and charismatic dog,'' Dr. Jean Maurice Pachoud of the Belgium-
based International Canine Federation was quoted by the newspaper Ziua as
saying after coming to Bucharest to check out the gentle off-white canine.

He said the mioritic deserves to be recognized by the federation. That gives
the dog a leg up on formal acceptance as a breed when the federation holds it
next international conference in Mexico in 1999.

The dog, which looks something like a bulky Afghan with a lion's head, stands
up to 35 inches high, and weighs up to 198 pounds, comes originally from the
Carpathian Mountains. Its size and strength, along with a gentle disposition,
has made it the ideal sheep dog.

That gentleness is reflected in the eyes, which Razvan Petrisor, deputy head
of the Romanian Sheep Dogs National Club, describes as ``brown, rimmed with a
thin black line, with curved eyelashes.''

Bravery is also one of the mioritic's traits.

A medieval chronicle from 1359 tells of a mioritic named Molda who died while
trying to protect her master, King Bogdan, from being gored by a bull.

In the mid-1970s, newspapers published a story about a mioritic who fought a
bear to protect an injured shepherd and then ran nine miles to the nearest
village to bring help.

At that time, Romania was communist, and owning a dog -- at least in the city
- -- was considered a ``bourgeois habit.'' Fighting back, The Romanian Dog
Association gave a mioritic puppy to dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's son, Nicu.

Given Ceausescu's mania for all things Romanian, the ploy worked. By the early
1980s, the mioritic was recognized as a unique national breed.

Nowadays, the dog's price tag of $250 to $500 puts it out of range for most
Romanians, who earn an average of $120 a month. But that doesn't stop the
well-off from owning the four-legged status symbol: President Emil
Constantinescu's son, Dragos, has a mioritic as does Agriculture Minister Ioan
Muresan.

AP-NY-12-10-98 0201EST

 Copyright 1998 The Associated Press.  The information  contained in the AP
news report may not be published,  broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without  prior written authority of The Associated Press. 
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