If you are referring to that National Geographic special, I saw it too. It was totally inaccurate and not up to National Geograpic standards at all. I later saw an interview of some breeders of Russian Shepherds that had seen the progaram and they were appalled for the same reason I was. One breeder said she had been approached by the producers of that show and when she found they were after sensationalism rather than accuracy she wanted no part of it. I saw a litter of pups portrayed on that special that were mean and aggressive little guys. The problem was that they were obviously totally unsocialized. They seemed more fearful than anything, which is behavior typical of puppies that haven't been worked with. Almost any breed of pup will react that way if you don't socialize them. And a dog so vicious that it will attack its own handler is useless for any purpose.
I now have a dog that is half Anatolian and half Russian Shepherd. He is a great dog but he is territorial and he is protective but he is not aggressive. I can't imagine that he would attack anyone without reason. He never has and he is not a young dog so if he were going to attack anyone unprovoked he would have done so before now. His father was pure Russian. When I saw him he was being used as a LGD guarding a herd of goats. They are big, impressive, and imposing dogs. I am sure you could make them mean, vicious, and aggressive, but they aren't born that way any more than a Komondor or other LGD is.
