In the early 90s, soon after Armenia gained independence from the USSR, a large group of people convened to write a standard for the breed and began documenting many dogs to save the breed. This collaboration took many months, and the cataloged work can still be seen while the website is no longer updated.   Some of the people 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, among others.

Also, in the 1990s, Armen Khechoyan personally went across Nagorno-Karabakh, or Artsakh as it is known historically, collecting as many Gamprs as he could, saving those who were left behind due to war. Armen kept the dogs and got them healthy, and later when villagers and shepherds were ready, he placed them back into the community, earning him the nickname the "Godfather of Gamprs."  

In 1998, Tigran Nazaryan collected data on 300+ Gamprs & mixes in Armenia and posted 100 of them on his Tiknapah website.  Tigran, Armen Khechoyan, and a veterinarian friend Avetik arranged for the transportation of several dogs to the United States to establish the breed. Some of the dogs were lost, and a few were bred.

​

During this time, other kennel clubs, such as Aspar, Gampr, Aralez, and several others, registered and showed Armenian Gamprs in traditional dog club fashion.  However, due to internal disagreements,  the clubs disbanded, and little progress resulted.

​

As a result of the imports through the Tiknapah club, our Club founder, Rohana Mayer, became involved in 2007 and formed the Armenian Gampr Club of America.  Without her determination over the years, our breed would not be where it is today, and we would not be so fortunate to have Gamprs protecting our farms & livestock. In recent years, HS Riley, current President, formed the legal 501c3 non-profit entity and has focused on genetic diversity through importing, and finalizing the implementation of Club programs and breed education.

Our Club has grown exponentially and continues to seek out working aboriginal Gamprs and facilitate placements to homes and farms across the US & Canada while maintaining the world's largest, most in-depth pedigree database.  Today the Board continues to focus on ongoing efforts to increase breed awareness, education, and conservation efforts to save the breed from extinction.

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.