Hi from a kune keeper in East Yorkshire. Am I right in thinking that they are a mastif / guarding / fighting breed that traditionally have their ears clipped or are they more a mastif / guarding / shepherding breed like pyreneans ?
They are beautiful dogs.
Buffy I also keep COs. UK bred COs don't have their ears clipped, only imported ones. They are traditionally bred for protecting livestock from predators such as bear and wolves (hence the clipped ears), and come under the 'livestock guardian dogs' category. They don't 'gather' and 'herd' like collies etc, but are more of a protector.
More recently they've been used in prisons in Russia and Eastern Europe and have had more 'guard' traits bred into them, and less livestock traits. Sadly this means a lot of plonkers are now buying them as aggressive accessories, and will probably eventually end up with them being banned in UK.
Caucasians are hard work, and absolutely nothing like any other UK livestock/guardian dog. Definitely not a 'first dog' for someone, my bitch would eat someone who interfered with 'her' pigs for breakfast! Lots of them unfortunately now appearing in rescue centres
This is a good video about them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyPQHDZ_6HU