Khechoyan's BB, owner Pia W, Old Washoe Ranch
ABOUT THE CLUB
Past Efforts
series of events
In the early 90s, soon after Armenia gained independence from the USSR, a large group of people convened to document many dogs to save the fragile gene pool. This newly formed group, the Tiknapah Club, collected data on more than three hundred Armenian Gamprs & Gampr mixes and posted one hundred of them on their website, The data collected during this project can still be seen today, including a breed "standard", which was later replaced with a more accurate breed description. Some others who contributed to this project were Andrey Kurbet-Davidiantz, Garnik Ohanyan, Armen Khechoyan, Avetik Asatrian, Karen Manvelian, Edward Sargsyan, Viktoria Maloyan, Norayr Chilingaryan, N. Abajian, Naira Avagyan and Tigran Nazaryan.
During these efforts, Armen Khechoyan travelled across Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) saving Gamprs who were left behind due to war. Armen kept many dogs, returning them to optimal health, and later placed them back with shepherds after they'd rebuilt their lives after the war.
Together Tigran Nazaryan, Armen Khechoyan and Avetik Astrian arranged for the transportation of several dogs to establish the breed in the United States. Some of the dogs were lost, and few were bred, so the conservation effort was not fruitful.
After this time, a few other overseas kennel clubs were started, such as Aspar, Gampr and Aralez. A similar goal among the groups was to create a formal registry so that Armenian Gamprs could compete in traditional type dog shows, which was unsuccessful.
The Tiknapah Club commissioned the painting for the stamp at left, which was created from the old photo (right) by Andrey Davidiantz.
AGCA
history
As a result of the few imports through the Tiknapah Club into California, Rohana Mayer became involved and, in 2007, formed the Armenian Gampr Club of America. In 2017 HS Riley, current AGCA President, organized the club and formed the legal 501c3 non-profit entity, implemented the successful club programs used today, and has remained focused on providing community support and developing genetic diversity and breed-saving efforts through importing.
Later, in the fall of 2018, the AGCA Special Import Program began, and AGCA investigated many dogs for offspring acceptance into the program. Due to the incredibly small gene pool and the abundance of mixed fighting dogs, one litter out of nearly ten is typically approved and accepted as potential imports. As of 2022, AGCA has facilitated the placement of one hundred Armenian Gamprs to North America.
Today AGCA continues to focus on ongoing efforts to increase breed awareness, owner education, and ethical conservation efforts to save the Armenian Gampr from extinction while maintaining the oldest, most in-depth pedigree database in the world.
AGCA Mission Statement
our direction
Our mission is to provide support and education; raise awareness and appreciation, and practice the most ideal methods for conserving this ancient landrace to ensure a stable and diverse gene pool.
AGCA will continuously monitor the Armenian Gampr health, identify and research any diseases or hereditary conditions and contribute to research programs benefiting the breed.
The Armenian Gampr Club of America is dedicated to continuing the advancement of the Registry Database by encouraging all owners to Register and Breeders to join the Approved Breeder Program, along with external projects such as Embark DNA, for the benefit of growing and analyzing gene pool data.
AGCA strives to preserve the Armenian Gampr as a working livestock guardian dog and promote its multipurpose abilities.
