Origins of the Hovawart
New research throws light on the origin of the Hovawart
For many years, it has been authoritatively stated that the genetic makeup of the Hovawart consists of Kuvascz (Hungarian Mountain Dog), Leonberger, Newfoundland, German Shepherd, “Typedog” or general farm dog. Even African Wild Dog.
Recent research by Dr Jens Kerl, which was presented in June to the IHF 100 Year celebration, shows this is very far from the case. A mistaken annotation in the early breeding records and repeated over many years seems to have been the cause of this misunderstanding.
Dr Jens Kerl painstakingly went back to the earliest breed records and stud books and showed without any doubt that most of the original dogs listed in the Hovawart stud books were in fact German Shepherds (and to prove it the same dogs could be found listed in the German Shepherd (SV) stud books.) This makes it very clear that the first Hovawarts were in fact straight-forward crosses between German Shepherds and the farm dogs of the Harz region (described as “typehund” and from which the modern GS had evolved).
This becomes even more obvious when you realize that Kurt Konig the man called the father of the modern Hovawart was, it is now clear, an established GS breeder with a mission to bring back the more protective aspects of the older style GS with less emphasis on its herding characteristics.
Kurt Konig (pictured above in 1935) came to Thale as a wounded soldier in WW 1, where the Hotel Zehnpfund (above) had been converted to a hospital. After the war, he settled in Thale (a small town in the Harz region) and in 1920 set up a local group of the German Shepherd Club (SV). In 1921 the German SV decided to adopt a breed standard and Kurt Konig became the local administrator. At the time there were two different types of German Shepherds in the SV, “herd working dogs” and “protection dogs”.
Kurt Konig was particularly interested in the protection qualities of the breed, rather than the herding qualities. And he saw these qualities in a type of dog that was locally called the “Hovawart” and which was regarded as the ancestor of the German Shepherd.
He described the breeding goal as “A thoughtful dog, a naturally guarding dog (without training), one who does not have a pronounced passion for wild animals (!) and is compatible with pets.”. And a new club was founded in Thale in January 1924 Hovawart – Verein fur Deutsche Schutzhunde with 13 members.
Back to the origin of the modern Hovawart. The first entry into the Hovawart Stud Book was in fact in 1922 (see below) and what is very interesting is the hand-written notes that have been added on the first and second litters.
The handwritten notes suggest that the mother of the first litter was “Hungarian Shepherd Dog” (=Kuvasz) and the father of the second litter “Leonberger” ! And ever since, and without any further efforts to identify the breeding animals, the assertion has been made that the first litter was a Kuvascz litter and the second litter a Leonberger litter.
But this is not the case. For instance we can read what Kurt Konig himself said when describing an earlier attempt to use Kuvascz dogs which clearly failed.
“… the offspring of large old Swiss mountain dogs with our shepherd dogs resulted in the same shapes and colors as those of goral dogs or Hungarian shepherd dogs.. Large Gordon setters were tried and a few other breeds that seemed appropriate.” And now comes the crucial sentence which has apparently been misinterpreted or overlooked in the Hovawart literature up to now: “After the loss of all these dogs by the first World War I was looking for such dogs in the Harz Mountains and in the Bavarian Forest with which I could resume the Hovawart breeding that I had started.”
This means that Hungarian shepherd dogs were only used in the first series of reconstructions before the First World War. But not in the second series of reconstructions from 1922, on which all Hovawarts alive today are based.
A second and even more compelling reason for eliminating both Kuvascz and Leonberger from the breeding history is the research carried out by Dr Kerl into the entries in the early Hovawart and GS stud books. And it transpires that all the dogs mentioned in the Hovawart stud books were also listed in the SV stud books.
Above is the litter registration form for the first litter listed in the Hovawart stud book with stud book numbers 1-4. The father’s name was “Baron” and was described as a “old-fashioned shepherd dog”. The mother was Ortrud Husdan, for whom there is a reference to the SV stud book as a comment.
Further to this, the dam of the second litter in the Hovawart stud book, and which was previously described as a Leonberger litter, can now be shown, using the litter registration form archived at the HVS, to be German Shepherd Almost all of the ancestors of this bitch (Karin Fangmann) were entered in the form with the corresponding stud book number of the SV stud book. So this is also a pure German Sepherd litter and by no means a Leonberger litter.
With the information gathered from the sources mentioned, the majority of the dogs on the first page of the Hovawart stud book can now be clearly identified. And they are all German Shepherd dogs with stud book numbers from the SV stud book!
What about the Newfoundland ?
It is true there is Newfoundland in the Hovawart make-up. During Kurt Konig’s absence, Alwin Busch had bred his shepherd bitch Asta Zwies to a Newfoundland dog. The litter can be found in the Newfoundland stud book (NZB) as a B-litter “von Qualitz” and the litter produced two males who were further used in Hovawart breeding: Barry Busch and Bob Busch.
The emergence of the modern Hovawart
Kurt Konig and his colleagues finally achieved what they regarded as the ideal Hovawart in terms of qualities, behavioural traits and structure. In 1932 Castor Meyer-Buscch was entered into the stud book ! The picture below shows him with Kurt Konig. He was the prototype of the black-branded Hovawart and had all the required behavioural traits; the defensive behaviour without prior training, tameness towards domestic animals, and physical endurance, strength and robustness.
Castor Meyer-Busch’s pedigree showing the German Shepherd, Typhund and Newfoundland dogs used. ALL modern Hovawart lines can be traced back to him !
Many thanks to Dr Jens Kerl for his work on the origins of the Hovawart and to the “Hovawart-Vereine fur Deutsche Schutzhunde Thale e.V.” for permission to use their breed records.
As a result of these findings, the genetic proportions of the dog breeds involved in Hovawart breeding can now be recalculated. On average across all active bloodlines after Castor Meyer-Busch, there is a proportion of 65% of so-called type dogs, which do not belong to any specific breed, but have passed all Hovawart breeding ability tests according to Kurt Konig. Shepherd dogs make up 20.2% and Newfoundland dogs make up 14.8%. These are the genetic parts that can still be found in every Hovawart even after 100 years