Country/Date of Origin: Hungary/800s
The Komondor and the Kuvasz, the two large white sheep dogs of Hungary, were first used by the nomadic Magyars to protect their herds from predators, both animal and human. These giant guardians are always white, a color that allowed the shepherd to tell his dogs from the wolves which were darker in color. The actual origins of the dogs is obscure but the Hungarians say they have guarded the herds "since the beginning of time" and leave it at that. Old drawings show us that the Komondor has not changed much in the last five hundred years.