Cinology in Montenegro

Montenegrin King Nicholas made the first steps in forming the cinology i.e. purchasing the pure bred dogs. He bought trained dogs pointers in England in the 19th century. He usuallyused the dogs in diplomatic hunting at the mount of Lovcen hunting partridges. At the very beginning of the 20th century, King Nicholas bought twenty trained English fox hounds again from England and he used them while hunting foxes, hares and wild hogs. At that time Montenegrin hunters hunted intensively with then black hounds which are regarded as ancestors of today Montenegrin mountain hound and these dogs could cope with rocky and hard terrain much better than the English fox hounds. Because of that, King Nicholas ordered the Ministry of Agriculture to list all of these dogs which can be understood as the first steps towards organized breeding of dogs in Montenegro.

Since Montenegro lost its independence in 1917 and King Nicholas left the country, there are no data on organized dog breeding in Montenegro until the II World War.

After the II World War, Montenegro was among the first republics in then Yugoslavia that formed the Kennel Club of Montenegro in 1947 and became the member of Kennel club of Yugoslavia, which was a full member of the FCI since 1936. The foundations of then Kennel Club of Montenegro were made of hunters so that the majority of dogs at that time were hunting dogs i.e. hounds and pointers. During the following year, Montenegro got its first judges and started with organizing dog shows at which they judged exterior appearance of the dogs which were brought. The first cinologycal manifestations of the national type in the exterior and work were organized by Montenegrin cinologists in 1951. Cinological activity became bigger and bigger then, dog shows and competitions were more and more frequent, which was surely a sign of the great development of cinology.

Kennel club of Montenegro took an active part in the work of the Kennel club of Yugoslavia. At that time the Montenegrin competitors achieved significant results at global and European level, both in exterior and work, and especially regarding the pointers. At that time a lot of international and national dog shows in exterior and work were organized in Montenegro where some eminent judges took part together with our judges. After Slovenia and Croatia became independent from Yugoslavia, a serious breaking of Yugoslav kennel club occurred a short break in the activities of cinology on the international level. But in 1996,  together with Serbia became a contract member of the FCI as Kennel club of Serbia and Montenegro, and in Dortmund in 2003, Kennel club of Serbia and Montenegro became again a full member of the FCI.

At the referendum held on May 21st in 2006, the majority of1 Montenegrin people decided to renew its independence and the Kennel club of Serbia and Montenegro ceased to exist. Kennel club of Montenegro applied to become the member of the FCI after that.

Thus, in Cetinje, on March 28th 2007, for the first time in its history, Kennel club of Montenegro became the member of the FCI by signing the contract with the FCI as a contract partner. The contract was signed by the vice president of the FCI Mr Karl Reisinger on behalf of the FCI and Mr Nikola Sjekloca  and Mr Miodrag Vretenicic on behalf of the Kennel club of Montenegro.

After that, the Kennel club of Montenegro adopted the new Statute and adjusted it with the valid regulations in compliance with the Constitution of Montenegro as an independent state. The headquarters of the club are moved to Bar. Keeping the Central studbook is under the jurisdiction of the Kennel club, as well as keeping the evidence of kennels and judges. Our scope of activities also comprise bringing the plans of cinological manifestations, organizing education and taking exams for cinological judges, issuing the certificates of ‘National champions’ of junior and adult dogs in exterior and working, issuing rulebooks, regulations and editing various cinological publications.

The most important paragraph in the work of the Kennel is certainly taking care of the national breed – Montenegrin mountain hound i.e. increasing the number of dogs and more efficient hunting use. The Kennel constantly organizes education of the breeders and judges and tries to improve the breeding and their presentation. So the Kennel club decided that issuing pedigrees, forming the kennels, entry forms at the dog shows in exterior in Montenegro is free of charge for all breeders of Montenegrin mountain hound. The Kennel club also sends the most successful breeders at its account to World and European dog shows. Every year the Kennel club organizes national specialty dog show and national trial in work of the Montenegrin mountain hounds. These measures gave results so that the puppies of this breed are the most numerous in the last three years in the Central studbook.

Today, the Kennel club of Montenegro is a modern organization which has over 800 members distributed in 8 Kennel associations and 23 special clubs for individual breeds. About 3000 puppies are entered in the register book per year and over 1000 National champion certificates are issued. We organize 16 International and 1 National dog shows and a big number of International and National trial shows. Kennel club of Montenegro has 50 international judges, who are very eminent and they judge dogs in the country and around the world. We made a cooperation with a lot of similar organizations in Montenegro, especially with the Veterinary Faculty in Podgorica where we plan to organize seminars for cinological trainees.

Kennel club of Montenegro is especially proud because its dog shows are visited in big number for the last couple of years and a lot of breeders from abroad visit them. Apart from taking part at dog shows, many of them prolong their stay because Montenegro is today one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Europe. Cooperation between the Club and hoteliers in Montenegro is excellent so that the tourist with dogs are welcome in almost all hotels in Montenegro.

In the upcoming period we expect improvement and faster development of the cinology and engaging bigger number of dog lovers into all activities of the Kennel club of Montenegro. The club will try to improve its activities in order to offer better services to its clients by maximal engagement of its members and better professionalism of the technical service.