Hi, my name is Zavattaro, Sergio Zavattaro and I am going to introduce to you my site dedicated to a wonderful and special dog breed: the South Russian Ovcharka.

I am a veterinarian; I am married and I have a daughter named Eva. I live in the surroundings of Genova on a green hill.
Since a long time I am suffering of a sickness called “dog lover” (I am the happiest sick man in the world :-))))  Ever since the time I was a little boy I had a dream: to have a dog. I stressed my parents for along time. Finally one day my father stopped to work and my first dog arrived: he was a Boxer and his name was Tell.
Tell wasn’t an excellent Boxer in morphology but he has been a wonderful dog. He lived with me for 14 years, 14 wonderful years.
I followed the Boxer breed for 10-12 years and thanks to a friend of mine, Mrs. Gabriella Pedemonte (a very good Boxer breeder since 20 years) I have learned a lot about the breed but, the most important thing, about breeding and about the respect for each breed. Respect for health, behaviour and origin.
When I grew up I changed my character, my life-style and .......... the breeds that interested me.
I started to take interest in a completely different dog breed than the Boxer, different in look but above all different in the behaviour: the Hungarian Komondor.
I started  reading the poor information about this breed in dog books and magazines and then luck helped me. One day in a Dog Show I met Mr. Fulvio and 3 Komondors: this meeting changed my life.
With Fulvio I went to Hungary several times to visit Dog Shows and to visit Komondor kennels.
The Komondor breed started the interest for all livestock guarding dog breeds as well, specially for livestock guarding dog breeds of the Eastern Countries. Some years later this interest about life stock guarding breeds brought me to write a book about 14 livestock guarding dog breeds of the Eastern Countries.
During one of my trips in Hungary  I met the South Russian Ovcharka,  but this is another story.
 
 

The members of my family are: me, my wife Antonella, my daughter Eva (our little devil), some cats, some goats and 4 dogs: 3 are SROs and 1 is a cross of a Caucasian Ovcharka with a Pyrenean Mastiff.
Antonella is a lawyer and a mother also so she is always very busy. She loves the dogs and the “mix” on the paper is hers.
Eva lives with dogs since her birth  and her first word has been “dede”: in her language it means dog!
Eva has a real feeling with dogs and other animals also. I hope Eva will be “infected” by the same virus I have, the “dog-lovers” virus.
 

During a trip in Hungary with my friend Fulvio and another friend we spoke about the SRO: my friends had never seen this breed. I had seen the SRO for the first time in the Czech Republic some years before in a Dog Show but they didn´t  stir up big emotions in me.
We decided to take advantage of this trip in an Eastern Country to see a real SRO.
In Hungary we stayed at the home of a famous Komondor breeder, Mr. Povaszon. He is the owner and breeder of  Argentina Teri Felix, one of the most beautiful Komondors.
We asked Mr. Povaszon if he knew a SRO that we might go to see. He replied to us that not far from his house there lived a champion. He asked the SRO owner to make an appointment for the afternoon.
When we arrived at the house of the SRO owner we saw in the garden a white dog. She was sitting down, not in a good condition and really without anything to show us. We thought: is this the famous SRO? Not good.
For kindness we rang  the bell: suddenly from the back of the house around the corner appeared a big man together with a wonderful giant dog with a long and full coat (it was January). That was the champion, he was Knyaz Igor Albin. The other SRO in the garden was his bitch and some weeks before she had puppies.
Igor was a very imposing dog and he showed us a very friendly welcome: he allowed us to touch him without any problems.

Some years later into the ring of SROs in a Dog Show in Budapest I saw a young subject completely different from the others SROs. A wonderful big and white SRO. I read in the catalogue and discovered he was a son of Igor. His name was Vac Varosi Astor. Love at first sight....
I decided to have a puppy from that dog and spoke about this project with the owner of Astor.
2 years after that meeting a letter from Hungary arrived at my home: there was a puppy for me.
I organized the trip and on the 7 of January 1995 I went to the border-line between Austria and Hungary, waiting for my dog.
I remembered it was a very cold day: 10 °C below zero at 12 o’clock a.m.
Alekszej arrived: he was 7 months old, 37 kilos and he looked wonderful.
I touched him to check if all was ok and when I checked his teeth.... he “bite” me.
All was ok, the documents also: Ale jumped in my car and we left for Italy.