RUSSIA, until the present season, has only been represented at our bench shows by the lithe and silky wolfhounds, but a new breed of dogs imported bids fair to become as well known and as popular. They are types of the sheep- dog used in southern Russia, where they are called owtchars. Four have been brought from that country by Joseph B. Thomas, Jr., who visited Russia last year and the summer before to secure pure blooded dogs from the fountain head for the Valley Farm Kennels.

   Mr. Thomas has bought Russian wolfhounds frorn the kennels of the Grand Duke Nicholas at Perchina and Artem Boldareff at Woronzova. On his last trip he had an opportunity to purchase a team of the owtchars.

   They have a great reputation as sheepdogs Besides guarding the flocks from foxes and similar vermin, they have also to give battle in the winter to wolves at times, so the dogs have been bred for many years for courage, size and strength.

   Mr. Thomas had often heard of the owtchars, but as they are only to be obtained from the herders of southern Russia he had not expected to see them unless he took a long journey. By chance, however, he learned that there were some on a farm within a days journey of Moscow, and he went there to see them. The owtchars impressed him by their size and novel points and he bought the team for the United States.

   The dogs are counterparts in appearance of the Old English sheepdog, save that they have long and bushy tails and are fully one-third larger. The Old English sheepdog is a bobtail, but the owtchars wave their heavy tails as proudly as the white plumes of Navarre. They are as gentle as kittens, a characteristic of most big dogs, but possess a strength of limb and jaw, with sharp and heavy rows of teeth that make it easy to believe the tales of their daring in protecting the flocks from wolves or the forays of robbers.

   The team consists of two dogs and two bitches, one pair of a yellowish white coat and the other silvergray in color. They arrived safely after the long journey last fall on the steamer Belgravia, from Hamburg, and they will be benched for the first time in New York at the Westminster Kennel Club show in February.

   Polchan, one of the dogs, at eighteen months stands thirty inches at the shoulder and weighs 105 pounds. Yras, the heavier of the bitches, is one year old and is twenty-seven inches at the shoulder, tipping the scales at eighty pounds.

   The owtchars will be seen under distinguished auspices at the New York show, for Osman has been bought by R H. Williams, president of the Westminster Kennel Club, and Polchan, the other dog, by H K. Knapp of the Jockey Club, Mr. Thomas retaining only the two bitches for his own kennels.

  ''Polchan is heavier and more active than any of the Old English sheepdogs I have ever owned, remarked Mr. Williams of his new purchase. ''I have not seen much of Polchan, as I am now living in town, but my men in the country speak in high terms of his friendliness and of his value as a watch dog. He certainly is equipped with the teeth, muscle and size needed for defense or attack.

   At the quarterly meeting of the American Kennel Club on Wednesday the owtchars were listed as a recognized breed. This puts the breed on the same standing with Scotch collies or any of the breeds better established here.

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