Khechoyan's BB, owner Pia W, Old Washoe Ranch
ABOUT THE CLUB
Clubs & Plights
series of events
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 in order to save the breed. This collaboration took many months and while the website is no longer updated, the cataloged work can still be seen. 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.
The group commissioned the painting for the stamp at left, which was created from the image in an old photo from Andrey Davidiantz, at right
Also in the 1990's, 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, got them healthy and later when villagers and shepherds were ready, he placed them back into the community, which earned him the nickname the "Godfather of Gamprs".
Armen with 10 year old Chapo, in Gyumi
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 in order to establish the breed. Some of the dogs were lost and a few were bred.
During this time, other kennel clubs formed, such as Aspar, Gampr, Aralez and several others, which registered and showed Armenian Gamprs in traditional dog club fashion. However, due to internal disagreements, the clubs disbanded and not much progress resulted.
As a result of the imports through Tiknapah club, our Club founder, Rohana Mayer became involved in 2007 and formed the Armenian Gampr Club of America. Without her dedication & 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 more recent years, HS Riley, current President, formed the legal 501c3 non-profit entity and has focused on genetic diversity through importing and finalized the implementation of the Approved Breeder Program.
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 largest, most in-depth pedigree database in the world. Today the Board continues to remain focused toward the on going efforts to increase breed awareness, education and the conservation efforts to save the breed from extinction.
The Board
of directors
HS RILEY
president
DARREN FLAGG
vice president
RHONDA BAILEY
secretary
ROHANA MAYER
genetics director
HRAK KESHISHIAN
armenian liaison
Reach out, we'd love to hear from you! Contact us
AGCA Mission Statement
our direction
Our mission is to provide support and education; raise awareness and appreciation, all while practicing the most ideal methods for the conservancy of this ancient landrace to ensure a stable and diverse gene pool.
AGCA will always 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 also promote its multipurpose abilities.