I can’t recall ever hearing of a breed called the Owtchar, as described in the article below, but a quick online search turned up a page for Owtscharka, describing it as a collective term for several breeds of livestock dogs.
This short breed profile appeared in the May 23, 1891 edition of The Fanciers’ Journal:
Then we have the French sheepdog, and a description of their working trials, in the English paper The Sketch from July 21, 1897. I looked up “French sheepdog” and found several current breeds, only a few of which I’ve heard of, including Bouvier des Flandres, Briard, Berger Picard, Pyrenean Sheepdog, Beauceron, Great Gascony Blue, and Griffon Bleu de Gascon. So like “the Owtchar”, I think this may be a case where the name is being used as a catch-all to encompass breeds which would be defined in years to come.
