UK population of rare Komondor dog is boosted by 25%

A record litter for a rare dog has seen the UK population of the Komondor dog boosted by 25%. A usual litter of pups for the dog is just four, but new mother Kyra had a litter of nine puppies recently, taking the UK population of Komondor dogs from just forty, to forty-nine.

The scarcity of the dogs means that they are also very valuable, as each puppy is expected to sell for £1,000 a piece. The dogs have a unique appearance, as the Komondor dog features natural ‘dreadlocks’, making them the world’s hairiest dog.

As each puppy is identical they’ve been daubed with colours so they can be identified, and they’ve also been temporarily named after their colours, such as ‘Brown’ and ‘Pink’.

Their Cornwall based owners were stunned when nine puppies emerged from Kyra. Debi Young, from Newquay, stated:

We were amazed when she produced a litter of nine – a typical litter is around four. I’ve never heard of such a high number. Komondors are fantastic animals – very loyal and sociable. They are quite a handful though.

They’re all doing well though and are an adorable little rabble. Looking after them is a full-time job at the moment. I think the dogs are so rare because they are very hard to breed, and are also quite a lot of work.

You have to maintain their coats, which grow as a mass of matted dreadlocks. I think generally people are often put off by all the effort.

The Komondor dog hails from Hungary and was originally bred as a sheep dog, protecting sheep from wolves and bears. They were bred with an especially thick coat to protect them from bites.

The family plans to sell eight of the puppies, and keep one. The stud dog father for Kyra’s puppies lives in Manchester, and must be a proud stud father after siring the record litter.

Darren Jamieson