THE CANINE BEHAVIOR SERIES By Kathy Diamond Davis Author and Trainer

Dogs bred to protect livestock have special characteristics for this important work. The wrong dog in the job makes for an unhappy dog and potential harm to livestock as well as the owner’s wallet.

Livestock guardian dogs (also called livestock protection dogs) have proven they can work successfully with all kinds of livestock, but perhaps most and best with sheep. Sheep represent easy prey for wolves, coyotes, stray dogs, and other predators.

The fact that stray dogs represent a serious threat to livestock is reason to take great care when establishing a livestock guardian dog. The wrong genetics in the dog or the wrong training will put a predator inside the fence with your livestock as bad as any you’re trying to keep away from the animals.

A dog of one of the breeds selectively bred for livestock guardian work can be the wrong choices for your family’s pet, due to the very traits that make a good livestock guardian. Most of the breeds contain pups in some litters that can fit the role of pet, but perhaps not the kind of pet dog you had in mind. A Great Pyrenees, for example, is not the equivalent of a Newfoundland that happens to come in white. The two breeds are worlds apart.

Worldwide, quite a few breeds work as livestock guardians, and many dogs of all the breeds are imported to North America for the purpose. The breeds registered with the American Kennel Club most commonly used as livestock guardians are the Anatolian Shepherd Dog, the Great Pyrenees, the Komondor, and the Kuvasz. Other related breeds are nearing AKC registration eligibility.

Traditions, Ways, and Means

Livestock guardian dogs originated in countries where sheep were tended by full-time human shepherds. Thus the dogs had human supervision and the pups were trained in the field by the human shepherds and the older livestock guardian dogs.

In North America, livestock guardian dogs work largely with stock kept in fenced pastures. Once the dog matures and learns the job, the dog will likely work alone most of the time. Surprisingly, most pups from appropriate working pedigrees will be successful. The instinct is powerful.

It is thought that the livestock guardian dog works from maternal or paternal feeling for the sheep. Instead of teaching these dogs their jobs (an impossible goal in a dog with the wrong genetics), the human task is to foster this feeling. Livestock guardian dogs are not family pets. Raised as pets, they will show more interest in humans than in livestock.

A dog raised with the livestock identifies strongly with the animals and feels at home in the field with them. Not having known life as a human pet, the dog does not suffer from the loss of that life. The training of a livestock guardian dog consists as much of what the owner does NOT do with the dog as with what is done. Careful management of the dog’s early life fits the dog for contentment and success as a livestock guardian.

Interestingly, the instincts of these dogs are so strong that they commonly rise above improper upbringing and become successful in the work they were bred to do. They also tend to succeed in a second livestock operation even if they fail in their first one. Part of the reason may be that maternal and paternal instincts grow with maturity. The first livestock owner may simply not have given the dog time to grow into the instincts.

Rough and Ready

On occasion, a livestock guardian dog does become injured or killed. Flaws in fencing can lead to a dog being hit by a vehicle. Medical conditions may not be detected early, since the dog isn’t living closely with the family. The livestock veterinarian may vaccinate and check the dog on large-animal visits to the farm or ranch.

Most of the time the dog’s presence with the sheep will deter predators, but when they’re hungry enough the predators may fight with the dog. And there is no telling what roaming pet dogs will do to the livestock or to the livestock guardian dog. These dogs often roam in packs and kill for sport rather than food.

The notion of “a home in the country” as a place where “dogs can run free” causes the deaths of dogs and livestock when pet-dog owners fail to confine their dogs responsibly. The shocking damage done by these dogs is not the fault of the dogs who are only following their instincts. Their owners are the ones at fault.

Livestock guardian dogs bark. Being big dogs, their barks are big, too. When keeping a dog of these breeds as a pet, plan to bring the dog indoors at night for neighborhood peace. This type of dog requires a large, well-fenced yard for adequate exercise and security.

The dog may exercise more guarding behavior against other dogs and humans than the average family is prepared to handle. An independent nature and strong will mean the dog may not enjoy cuddling, isn’t likely to have natural retrieving instinct, and could become a giant bully to any family member who will back down from the dog. The strong natural instincts needed to live in the field with livestock may also result in a dog who will kill small animals outdoors, such as bunnies and cats, and dig awesome holes.

Training

Training a livestock guardian breed for the traditional job is worlds apart from training the same dog as a pet. The working dog needs socialization to all kinds of humans so as not to freak out later when encountering them, but this socialization needs to be on a surface level. You don’t want the dog who will live in the pasture with the livestock to be miserable due to longing for human companionship. Therefore the dog’s early life is managed so as not to form strong bonds with people. Those bonds go instead to the livestock animals.

Similarly, you do not want to heavily socialize the future livestock guardian dog extensively to other dogs, since the dog will have to protect the sheep from them. The only dogs to socialize the livestock guardian with extensively would be other dogs the dog must accept because they also work on the place.

By contrast, due to the independent nature of these breeds, you need to socialize the heck out of the dog if you’re raising one as a family pet. This dog should go to training classes from an early age and learn to work alongside other dogs and humans.

The dog who will guard livestock needs a few command behaviors, mainly the ability to walk on a leash, come when called, sit and stay on command, and stop a behavior when told “no.” The dog who will be a family pet requires a lot more training as the means to managing that independent, strong-willed nature. The safest way to exert leadership over a dog is to give a command without touching the dog, and have the dog obey it--reliably. This takes a lot of training. The socialization can be done at the same time.

For both jobs, socializing the dog to all the types of animals the dog needs to work around is very important. The livestock guardian dog needs to think of those other animals as family to be protected. The pet dog benefits from developing that concept, too, along with family feeling for humans. Humans don’t take it well when the family dog kills the family cat.

A Solution in Action

Livestock guardian dogs have a long tradition in other parts of the world but are relatively new in North America. Livestock management practices that leave animals unattended in fields can result in high levels of predation by wild animals and by dogs owned by irresponsible neighbors.

Some of the methods tried for protecting the livestock--such as poison, traps and hunts--have created human conflicts. Since these animals were not caught in the act of preying on the livestock, it was usually impossible to tell if the right animals were being eliminated. Killing certain predators, especially wolves, also damaged the population balance and health of the wild animals that were their natural prey.

Livestock owners opposed restoration of a controlled population of wolves out of fear they would prey on livestock. Livestock guardian dogs don’t poison the environment or trap the wrong animals, and the dogs seem to enjoy their work. As a result, more and more livestock operations are employing livestock guardian dogs. This is one of myriad examples of dogs serving humans in ways technology simply can’t equal.

Date Published: 9/19/2005 10:46:00 AM

    

Kathy Diamond Davis is the author of the book Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others. Should the training articles available here or elsewhere not be effective, contact your veterinarian. Veterinarians not specializing in behavior can eliminate medical causes of behavior problems. If no medical cause is found, your veterinarian can refer you to a colleague who specializes in behavior or a local behaviorist.