Program

Who we are

We are family. We enjoy our time together. Our dogs aren't just dogs, our livestock aren't just animals. We are friends and family. Shepherds and dogs are partners.

Katie has a master's in Equine Business Management. She has taken classes in animal body language.

Our Training and Working Program

• We believe that the shepherd and the dog are partners. 

  • In the old days, the shepherd and the dog spent a lot of time together. Today, the shepherd can live inside the house more often - but that doesn't take away from the vital partnership that the dog and the shepherd should have with each other.

• We believe that our dogs are our family and friends. "Obitelj" (oh-bee-tell) means family in Croatian. 

  • We trust our dogs, and they trust us.

• We believe in understanding the actions of the dog before reacting.

  • A dog isn't doing something for no reason, especially a dog as smart as a Tornjak.

  • For example, Pluto decided that the miniature horses should not be allowed in the barn. Before telling Pluto that he was wrong in keeping the minis out, I tried to understand his reasoning. I realized that I had accidentally taught him this! When I gave the goats their grain, I did not let the minis come into the barn. Pluto continued that thought even when I was not in the barn. Pluto and I will work together to see that the minis can come in the barn, and it is just the goat food that the minis cannot eat. 

• We believe in kindness and understanding.

  • This builds trust, which makes training and working together much easier when you want to work well with each other. 

• We believe in keeping the breed traits and behaviors.

  • Tornjaks use their front feet as we do hands, and touch things (or people) a lot. You will never find me telling a Tornjak not to touch me with their paws - that would be like yelling at a human for shaking someone's hand.

  • Livestock guardian dogs, in this situation Tornjaks, like to stand up on their back feet a lot. While it is rude to jump on a stranger, I would never tell a Tornjak that we cannot hug and look eye to eye while having a serious conversation.

• We believe in not using aversive methods. 

  • You will never find us using a shock collar (shock or vibrate) on our dogs.

  • We do not tie our dogs out for outside time - we may at times hook a leash to a post to ground the dog for a moment, but the dog would not be left alone.

  • We do not spray our dogs with water bottles or any other spray to get them to stop barking or any other unwanted behavior.

  • We do not use prong collars, etc.

    • Show dogs do use martingale or slip collars, but by then, they are walking calmly at your side, and the collar is not used in an aversive method.

  • Our livestock have electric (hot) fencing, so the dogs are trained to that fencing. If the tiny five-pound baby goats (and us humans!!) can handle it, our massive Tornjaks can handle it as well. 

• We believe in positive and trust training.

  • We treat our dogs kindly and encourage good behavior.

• We believe in safety training. If a dog needs to be taken to the vet, an animal hospital, a boarding facility, etc, it is vital that the dog is able to do so without stress and difficulties. 

  • All our dogs are crate/kennel trained.

  • All our dogs are collar, harness, and muzzle trained.

  • All our dogs are vehicle-trained.

• We believe in good fencing.

  • Livestock guardian dogs have a huge protection "bubble". If they can hear the coyote, they are going to try to protect their livestock. All livestock guardian dogs need fencing, all of them. Many can also jump and climb very well - I just saw a video of a Tornjak hopping over a four-foot fence as if it was nothing. I've seen a video of a Great Pyrenees climbing out of a six-foot kennel wall. If a livestock guardian dog thinks they need to get over the fence to take care of a threat, they will try.

Our Breeding Program

Tornjaks are relatively rare in the USA. There is not a standard list of health testing for the breed.

All of our testing results are public - we do not hide results on OFA or other websites. Please check each dog's page for links to their results. All information is available upon request as well, for ones that are not offered publicly (such as PennHip)

• The testing that we do:

  • OFA hip testing

  • PennHip hip testing

  • OFA elbow testing

  • OFA eye testing

  • OFA heart testing

  • WisdomPanel Premium DNA testing

What does it mean to have a Blue Shamrock Tornjak?

• When you enter the Blue Shamrock family, you receive guidance for the rest of your Tornjak journey. 

• Puppies going to guardian homes should leave their parents as late as possible - 14-16 weeks is preferable. If this is your first livestock guardian dog, the puppy can stay longer to receive additional training for a minimal boarding fee.

• Puppies can leave as early as 10 weeks, but 12-14 weeks is preferred. 

• You're welcome to visit our farm whenever you're able to observe the dogs at work and learn more. 

• We can also assist by coming to visit the dogs at your property. 

• You will receive suggested resources from books to social media groups.

• We follow the Better Breeder Code of Ethics 

Resources

• Dog Training

  • https://holisticdogtraining.org/ 

  • https://www.livestockguardiandogcourses.com/ 

• Books

  • Mine! A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs - Jean Donaldson

  • The Way of the Pack: Understanding and Living with Livestock Guardian Dogs - Brenda M Negri

  • Don't Shoot the Dog! The New Art of Teaching and Training - Karen Pryor

  • On Aggression - Konrad Lorenz

  • The Art and Science of Shepherding: Tapping the Wisdom of French Herders - Michel Meuret & Fred Provenza

• Facebook groups / pages

  • Training Support for Livestock Guardian Dogs 

• Facts

  • All livestock guardian dogs wander. If they can sense a predator, they will go after it. You must have excellent fencing.

• History of Tornjak

  • https://www.spiritofbosnia.org/v7n2/tornjak/ 

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornjak 

  • https://animalia.bio/pets/tornjak 

  • https://mytornjak.com/general-info/ 

  • https://www.bhtornjak.com/ 

  • https://riahorter.com/index_htm_files/e%20Tornjak.pdf 

  • http://www.123dog.net/servlets/gateway/user/GalleryNews.jsp/id/256/typeid/3002/jlang/en/dogs.html

• Tornjak pedigree websites: 

  • https://dogs.pedigreeonline.com/breeds/tornjak 

  • https://tornjak.pedigre.net/en/index.php 

• Groups and Clubs

• AKC -  https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/tornjak/ 

  • Tornjaks are currently an AKC FSS breed. We have a lot of work to do before moving up to the Misc group. If you have a purebred Tornjak, please help the breed by registering your Tornjak with AKC - you don't have to show, but we need more numbers.

• UKC - https://www.ukcdogs.com/tornjak 

  • Tornjaks are fully recognized with UKC.

• FCI - https://www.fci.be/en/nomenclature/BOSNIAN-AND-HERZEGOVINIAN-CROATIAN-SHEPHERD-DOG-355.html 

• Tornjak Club of North America - https://tornjakclub.com/

  • We are still in the process of becoming a fully formed club. Please fill out the interest form on the website if you are interested in joining.

History

Tornjak

1067 - mentioned in a document in the Episco-pal archives of Djakovo

1374 - Bishop Peter Horvat documented a large mountain and shepherd dog in Djakovo, Croatia

1752 - Petar Lukić, Djakovo, described a mountain dog with a black, gray, yellow, brown (sometimes red and white) coat color.

1923 - Von Stephanitz wrote about the Bosnian Shepherd dog

1958 - Ratomi Orban published an article in the magazine Moj Pas (My Dog).

June 1, 2007 - Provisional recognition with FCI

August 18, 2011 - UKC recognized the Tornjak breed

May 2012 - AKC FSS recognition

November 7, 2017 - Full FCI recognition