Kuvasz Facts You Should Know (with Pictures).

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Kuvasz Breed Overview

The Kuvasz is a giant-sized dog.

The adult Kuvasz stands 26 to 30 inches tall at the shoulder.

The Kuvasz belongs to the Working Dogs group.

Dogs in the Working Dogs group, like the Kuvasz, were developed to assist humans in some capacity – including pulling sleds and carts, guarding flocks, guarding homes, and protecting their families.

Breeds in the Working Group are known for their imposing stature, strength, intelligence, and fearless.

Because of their size and strength, working dogs require a structured home life and firm, fair, consistent training by someone who can provide leadership without resorting to anger or physical force.

The fact that the Kuvasz belongs to the Working Dogs group is one of the reasons why Kuvaszs have the personality and temperament that they have.

The temperament of the Kuvasz is generally described as:

  • Clownish
  • Independent
  • Intelligent
  • Loyal
  • Patient
  • Protective

History of the Kuvasz Breed. Where Kuvaszs came from

The Kuvasz originated in Tibet, but it was developed into the breed it is today by the people of Hungary.

It is described in history as a sheepdog that accompanied Turkish refugees and their flocks as they fled the Mongols and sought refuge in Hungary in the year 1200.

Kuvasz means “protector” in Hungarian.

King Matyas of the fifteenth century was a big fan of the dog.

He claimed to trust his Kuvasz dogs more than his family.

When he was pleased with someone, he would often give them one of his dogs as a gift.

The Kuvasz was a royal dog who lived a spoiled life during his reign from 1458 to 1480.

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What the Kuvasz Looks Like

The Kuvasz is a fearless, bold dog who is used to protecting a flock or its family.

It is a lovely-looking dog with a muzzle that is proportionate to its head.

This breed has a medium boned body that is slightly longer than its tail, a well-defined stop, a black nose, and deep brown almond-shaped eyes.

The tail is normally carried low, but when excited, it is slightly raised.

The mane of hair on the strong neck reaches the chest area, with shorter hair on the feet and head.

The skin is heavily pigmented, and the coat, which can be wavy or straight with a thick, dense undercoat, is highly pigmented.

The Kuvasz is a true beauty, with an elegant and impressive build.

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How Much is the Kuvasz Puppy?

How Much Kuvaszs Cost

The average price of a Kuvasz puppy is $2000. The price of a Kuvasz puppy ranges from $2000 to $2000.

A lot of factors determine the price of the Kuvasz. These factors include what health records the Kuvasz puppy has, the lineage of the Kuvasz puppy, the US state the breeder is located in, etc.

To estimate how much you can expect to pay for a puppy Kuvasz based on the many factors that determine the price of the Kuvasz puppy, check out our calculator that lets you estimate how much you should expect to pay for the Kuvasz puppy based on what you want in the puppy.

When looking to buy a puppy, look at buying a puppy only from well-established breeders that breed puppies primarily for the love of the Kuvasz breed, and secondarily for profit. Do not buy a puppy from a puppy mill. Puppy mills mass-produce puppies in bad living conditions for maximum profit.

You may also consider adopting instead of buying a puppy. Adoption costs are very low compared to the price of a puppy.

Best Kuvasz Breeders

Kuvasz Breeders in the United States

We have researched reputable Kuvasz breeders that you can buy a puppy.

Go to this page for our complete list of reputable Kuvasz breeders in various states in the United States.

On this page, you will see how much these breeders sell their puppies for, and how many puppies they have available.

A few of these breeders are listed below.

  1. Rising River Kennels/ Ben Warnock

    Puppy Price: Check with breeder

  2. Szumeria Kuvasz

    Puppy Price: Check with breeder

  3. Kathy Ringering

    Puppy Price: Check with breeder

  4. Aegys Kennels

    Puppy Price: Check with breeder

The Temperament of the Kuvasz

The temperament of the Kuvasz based can be summarized as in the table below.

The table shows the scores of the Kuvasz for 13 important dog behavioral factors.

We obtained these scores by analyzing raw data from the C-BARQ dog personality survey tool. The higher the score of a dog for a factor, the worse the temperament of the dog regarding that factor.

The C-BARQ tool was developed by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, and it is a scientific tool that is used worldwide for reliably measuring the temperament of dog breeds.

See our complete analysis of the temperament of the Kuvasz here.

Factor Score
Dog Directed Fear 8.4 percent
Stranger Directed Aggression 53.6 percent
Dog Directed Aggression 42.2 percent
Prey Drive 41.6 percent
Stubbornness 37.6 percent
Excitability 18.1 percent
Dog Rivalry 16.5 percent
Owner Directed Aggression 14.7 percent
Stranger Directed Fear 14.5 percent
Attachment Attention Seeking 10.8 percent
Nonsocial Fear 1.2 percent
Separation Related Behavior 0.0 percent
Touch Sensitivity 0.0 percent
Energy Level 0.0 percent

How Long Kuvaszs Live

The lifespan of the Kuvasz is typically from 10 to 12 years.

Kuvaszs live long if they eat well, drink well, exercise well, and visit the veterinarian regularly.

How Fast Kuvaszs Can Run

How fast a dog breed can run is a good measure of how athletic the dog breed is.

The American Kennel Club (AKC) regularly conducts dog running competitions. The AKC records the running speed of competing dogs in these competitions. These competitions are open to all dog breeds.

Based on our analysis of the speeds of 14 different Kuvaszs, the average speed of the Kuvasz is 21.7 mph (34.8 kmph).

The fastest speed on AKC record that the Kuvasz ran in a race is 26.02 mph (41.9 kmph) and the minimum speed on record in a race for a Kuvasz is 11.56 mph (18.6 kmph).

Click here to see how the speed of the Kuvasz compares to the speed of other dogs and other mammals such as cats, horses, humans, etc.

How fast Kuvasz can run compared to other mammals

Good Names for Kuvaszs

Here are some really good names that are typical for the Kuvasz ranked by popularity:

  • Bucky

How Intelligent are Kuvaszs?

Kuvasz
Intelligence Rank 42 out of 130 dog breeds
Trainability Tend To Learn New Commands After 25 To 40 Repetitions

According to Prof. Stanley Coren, a Canadian psychology professor/dog trainer, the total intelligence that a dog demonstrates is the addition of three types of intelligence. These intelligence types are:

  1. Instinctive Intelligence: This is the natural intelligence that comes from instinct. For example, dog breeds that have been historically bred to be guard dogs will have a high `guarding` intelligence compared to dogs that were not bred for guarding.

  2. Adaptive Intelligence (learning and problem-solving ability): This indicates what a dog can learn to do for himself or herself. Adaptive intelligence is specific to each dog, and not breed specific. You can improve your dog`s adaptive intelligence by investing time to train your dog.

  3. Working/Obedience Intelligence: This type of intelligence is breed-specific. Certain dog breeds tend to have higher working/obedience intelligence than some other breeds. This intelligence is the closest to what we might call school-learning ability and it is based upon what the dog can learn to do when instructed by humans. This type of intelligence can be measured for each dog breed and compared to that of other dog breeds.

Professor Stanley Coren measured and ranked the working intelligence of about 130 different dog breeds.

Prof. Coren found that the Kuvasz has an obedience intelligence rank of 42 out of 130 dog breeds. Thus, Prof. Coren put Kuvaszs in the `Average Working/Obedience Intelligence Dogs` category.

This means that Kuvaszs tend to learn new commands after 25 to 40 repetitions.

However, we should mention that a dog should not be judged based on its intelligence alone. There are other important factors you need to consider when deciding on which dog breed to get. These other factors include sociability, adorability, and compatibility of the dog breed with your lifestyle.

See the intelligence ranking of some other dog breeds below:

Breed Intelligence Rank
Standard Poodle 2
Weimaraner 21
Pomeranian 23
Cardigan Welsh Corgi 26
Chesapeake Bay Retriever 27
Manchester Terrier 32
Samoyed 33
American Staffordshire Terrier 34
Dalmatian 39
Scottish Deerhound 47
Chinese Shar-Pei 51
Akita 54
Pug 57
French Bulldog 58
Dandie Dinmont Terrier 62
Old English Sheepdog 63
Shih Tzu 70
Beagle 72
Chow Chow 76
Basenji 78

How Popular are Kuvaszs with New Dog Owners?

Every year, the American Kennel Club (AKC) publishes information on how popular a dog breed is in that particular year. The AKC gets the popularity information of a breed from how many dogs of that breed the owners register with the AKC every year. The AKC collects this data for about 200 dog breeds.

The graph below shows the popularity trend of the Kuvasz.

The popularity of the Kuvasz averaged over the years is Number 162 out of about 200 dog breeds.

Popularity of Kuvasz

Do not get a dog breed just because it is a popular dog breed. And do not reject a dog breed just because it is an unpopular breed.

Health Problems in Kuvaszs and How to Prevent Them

Every dog breed has its own set of health problems that it tends to develop. There is nothing like a perfect dog breed.

The Kuvasz is prone to certain genetic health conditions. The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) is an organization that keeps track of genetic health problems in dog breeds.

From the extensive records that the OFA keeps, the OFA knows what health problems each dog breed is naturally prone to develop.

Hence, the OFA recommends which health screening breeders should perform on a dog breed to make sure that the breeders won`t breed `defective` dog parents that can pass down defective genes to their puppy offspring.

If you want a Kuvasz puppy that will grow up to be healthy, make sure that your Kuvasz breeder screens your puppy or your puppy`s parents for the health problems that the OFA recommends for your puppy`s breed. This will increase the chances that your puppy is free from genetic defects.

The following are the health tests that Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) recommends that breeders should screen Kuvaszs for:

  1. Autoimmune thyroiditis
  2. Cardiac Evaluation
  3. Elbow Dysplasia
  4. Eye Examination
  5. Hip Dysplasia
  6. Patellar Luxation
  7. Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA) DNA Test

You can find out more about OFA`s recommended tests for Kuvaszs here.

Dog Breeds That Are Similar to Kuvaszs

If you have not made up your mind on which dog breed to get, you may also want to consider some other dogs similar to the Kuvasz.

We crunched the numbers and found that the following dog breeds that have similar behavior and temperament as the Kuvasz:

Other Things to Know About Kuvaszs

Here are some of the very important characteristics of the Kuvasz that you need to know about the Kuvasz breed:

  • Kuvaszs do not adapt well to apartment living.
  • Kuvaszs are not the best dogs for new dog owners.
  • Kuvaszs do not like to be left alone.
  • Kuvaszs do not get along well with kids. They are not kid-friendly.
  • Kuvaszs are not very friendly towards strangers.
  • Kuvaszs are not prone to nip and chew at things.
  • Kuvaszs have a very low prey drive. This means they get along well with other pets.
  • Kuvaszs cannot tolerate hot weather. They are not suited for hot environments.
  • Kuvaszs do not get along well with other dogs.
  • Kuvaszs are not easy to train.
  • Kuvaszs shed. They are not recommended for people with dog allergies.
  • Kuvaszs are very easy to groom.
  • Kuvaszs are very healthy. They do not suffer from a lot of health problems compared to other dog breeds
  • Kuvaszs gain weight easily. You need to pay careful attention to what you feed them.
  • Kuvaszs are highly intelligent.
  • Kuvaszs have very high energy levels. They need a lot of exercise time to release their high energy.
  • Kuvaszs do things with high intensity. They can be very forceful.
  • Kuvaszs are very playful.
  • Kuvaszs are easily disturbed by noise in their environments. They are sensitive to human tone. They will understand the tone of your voice when you try to correct their behaviors with a firm tone.
  • Kuvaszs can tolerate cold weather.
  • Kuvaszs are great family dogs. They are very affectionate with family.
  • Kuvaszs require a lot of exercise. They are good for owners who like to exercise.
  • Kuvaszs weigh 70 to 115 pounds when fully grown.
  • Kuvaszs are 26 to 30 inches tall at the shoulder when fully grown.
  • Kuvaszs have a lifespan of 10 to 12 years.