Muddy Acres Farm Gampr's
Registered AGCA Conservation Breeder
Muddy Acres Farm is located in NE Alabama on the Alabama and Tennessee state line. We began this adventure after serving 28 1/2 years in the US Army and settling on our property that resides on the tail end of the Appalachian mountain range. We raise registered Nigerian Dwarf, Pygmy and Boer goats and most recently, rare breed chickens. We quickly realized the need to protect our herds/flocks due to the multitude of predatory animals such coyotes, bobcats, fox, hawks and owls. We researched the typical, more popular LGD breeds and thank goodness we stumbled upon the AGCA and the Armenian Gampr.
After extensive research and study, we petitioned the AGCA and began the process of importing our first girl (Aja) from Armenia. Our first year was both educational and rewarding and shortly thereafter we were asked to sponsor another Gampr that needed to be relocated to a working farm for rehabilitation. We were honored to be selected and entrusted with this opportunity. Shortly thereafter we adopted our first male (Khan). Since then, we have imported our beautiful white female (Luna) and added our youngest male (Bodhi). Our Gamprs live and work daily with their herd and spend a great deal of time with our family in the evenings and weekends. They're raised with kids, goats, chickens, cats and three house dogs. They are the ultimate LGD, protecting our livestock, our property and our family!
We are committed to preserving the heritage of this amazing land race breed, maintaining the purity of the Armenian Gampr line of working dogs by supporting the special genetics program in partnership with the AGCA.
Breed History
The Armenian Gampr is a very rare and ancient, native aboriginal landrace livestock & family guardian dog dating back to at least 12,000BCE, consistently utilized by the Armenian people on historical Armenian lands stretching from the southern Caucasus mountains (Current Armenia, southern Georgia, and the new country of Azerbaijan) and the Armenian Highlands, which is now Anatolia, Turkey.
With an impressive blend of gentleness and discerning caution, courage and immense, formidable power, the Gampr is known for its independent thinking and calm, keen intellect. Primarily used as livestock guarding dogs, today's gampr benefits from the advantage of having over 14,000 years of hardwired natural instinct built right into them, making them a natural choice for livestock protection. Historically, only dogs who were intelligent and hardy could survive to be reliable breeders, therefore natural selection has done a superb job in designing one of the most durable, healthful, and enduring dogs in the world.
The Gampr intensely bonds with its family and those it is charged with guarding, being especially renowned for their natural love and connection to children. They will protect their family and livestock with their life, but only after assessing the situation and deciding on an appropriate, rational reaction. Gamprs are very athletic and powerful, yet graceful, and should exhibit self control in stressful situations.
As a landrace breed, they are not similar in appearance but similar in function and ability. In addition to that, Gamprs of the past commonly fell into a few descriptive categories: hovvashoon (shepherd's livestock dog), gelkheght (wolf choker), archashoon (bear hunter), potorkashoon (search and rescue avalanche dogs) and palace guardians. Over the years however, many dogs were lost and the gampr population drastically declined, with some types being thought gone for good. Today many gamprs are a nice blend of the individual types and the terms rarely used.
Native HomelandHistorical Armenia covered a huge land mass and contained regional varieties of landrace gamprs. Over the millennia, these regional types have been intermittently crossed with each other, due to semi nomadic nature of some shepherds and boundary changes, which moved gampr genetics from the north Caucasus to the Taurus mountains. Due to these vast regional varieties from this large area, the genetics of the gampr are very diverse, which is an indication of a healthy gene pool and excellent adaptability.
Today's modern maps may show certain areas as now belonging to other countries, but the archeology and history of those areas are historically Armenian, as were the dogs native to those areas. Some modern dogs, such as some of the Kangals, Anatolians, Kars and Akbash of Turkey, the Nagazi of southern Georgia and the Gurdbasar of Azerbaijan are descendants of the aboriginal landrace Gampr.
Registered AGCA Conservation Breeder
The goal of the Special Genetics Program is to source true, natural landrace Gamprs who will help balance and stabilize the gene pool to prevent the Armenian Gampr from becoming extinct, due to over breeding of mixed livestock guardian dogs, fighting dogs and war. It is our goal to help educate and bring breed awareness in both Armenia and the United States.
Contact Us
Muddy Acres Farm is proud to be an AGCA Conservation Breeder. Please contact us if you have any questions. We’d love to hear from you, so don’t hesitate in reaching out today.
(256) 529-0091
