The almost extinct descendants of genetically homogeneous, native, archaic types of shepherd dogs have been the foundation stock for the recreation of the Tornjak breed. The dogs belonging to the original stock had been dispersed in the mountain areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and their surrounding valleys.The major historical dates are the years 1067 and 1374.
Written documents from these periods mention the Bosnianherzegovinian-Croatian breed for the first time.The research about their historical and more recent existence and then a systematic salvation from extinction started simultaneously in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina around 1972 and continuous pureblood breeding began in 1978.Nowadays, the breed’s population consists of numerous, purebred dogs selected during a series of generations dispersed throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.