Sarabi Mastiff

The Sarabi is a very large Iranian livestock guardian from the Sarab region of East Azerbaijan province, also called the Persian Mastiff.

History

It has guarded flocks on the Iranian plateau against wolves and leopards for centuries, and Iranian sources connect the type to the mastiffs of the ancient Near East. It is a working landrace maintained by herding families, and Iranian efforts to document and standardise it are recent.

Temperament

The breed is known for being calm, deliberate and formidably protective, deeply bonded to its flock and household and unwelcoming to strangers. Like every guardian it works unsupervised and decides for itself.

Care and training

It needs space, genuinely secure boundaries and early, sustained socialising, and it is unsuited to town life. The short dense coat is easy.

Health

Working selection has kept it sound; very large breeds carry the usual joint concerns and bloat risk. These are patterns for the breed rather than a forecast for one dog; the measured facts are in the panel.