Living with wolves
AN ANCIENT TOOL
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Livestock guardian dogs have been used across the world for thousands of years to protect livestock from wild predators. With growing conservation efforts to restore predator populations, use of guardian dogs is becoming more popular as a non-lethal method to repel threats.
WORLDWIDE CASE STUDIES
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In the remote Patagonian steppe, researchers provided livestock guardian dogs to local goat herders to protect their flock from
​carnivores. Normal practice for the herders is to kill any animal that they believe threatens the herd, which unfortunately includes endangered species. The study found, however, that having a livestock guardian dog with their herd reduced the rates of predation, and 88% of the herders no longer found it necessary to kill predators to protect their herd.
​In South Africa’s Namaqua National Park, jackals and caracals are frequently targeted with lethal control measures such as poisoning and trapping in order to protect livestock, which can be indiscriminate and have contributed to the decline of other species such as leopards and threatened Cape vultures. Introducing Anatolian Shepherd dogs to protect livestock in the region lead to a reduction or elimination of livestock losses in 84% of cases. Farmers preferred to use non-lethal control methods and 95% considered the dogs to have saved them money in protecting their livestock.
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caracal:
A medium size wild cat native to Africa.
A 2010 study in Michigan demonstrated that livestock guardian dogs are also effective at protecting cattle from wolves. Farms where dogs had been introduced reported no depredations or visits to pastures by wolves during the study, whereas neighbouring unprotected farms experienced losses due to wolves. The dogs also reduced contact between cattle and wild deer, which could help to prevent the transmission of diseases such as bovine TB to livestock from wild animals.
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A summary of the published research on the effectiveness of dogs as livestock guardians in 2000 found that they can reduce livestock depredation by 11-100%.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD LIVESTOCK GUARDIAN DOG?
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Breed
It's important to select the right breed of guardian dog to suit your particular needs. Most of the commonly used breeds originate from Europe or Asia where they have been bred for thousands of years to have the right characteristics to make good guardian dogs, but you should also consider the differences between the breeds.
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For example, Great Pyrenees and Akbash dogs are the least aggressive towards humans and best used in smaller pastures or on public access land where interaction with other land users is likely. Signage indicating the presence of dogs is vital if there is public access to your land.
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However, these breeds may be more vulnerable to or less able to repel wolves. Larger and more canine-aggressive breeds that originated from areas with large predators are better suited to defending against wolves - e.g. Central Asian Ovcharka, Transmontano
Mastiff, Karakachan, Kangal, and Shar Planinetz breeds.
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Guardian dogs have also been shown to be more effective against wolf packs and more confident in their defence where there are multiple dogs to a herd. Groups are also better able to guard against threats coming from different directions or if wolves split a flock. Choosing individual dogs with complementary behaviour styles is best when forming a group.
Great Pyrenees / Pyrenean Mountain Dog
Karakachan dogs
Training
Proper training, although potentially time-consuming, is fundamental to having an effective livestock guardian dog.
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Training begins with bonding the dogs to the livestock that they will spend their lives protecting. This normally begins at 2-3 months old and is achieved by housing the pups with livestock, normally calves/lambs or heifers when older. Physical contact will help to bond the animals. Any aggressive interactions with livestock should be immediately corrected while young. Protective behaviours should are instinctive once dogs are properly bonded to livestock.
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Dogs should also be familiarised with owners enough to be handled and transported, but human interaction should be minimized and always less than with the livestock. Familiarising older pups with the pastures in which they will be working is also beneficial to create a territorial bond.
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See resources (below) for additional practical guidance on integrating livestock guardian dogs into your farm.
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© Jean-Marc Landry
RECOMMENDED:
"Livestock Protection Dogs: Selection Care and Training" by D.E. Sims and O. Dawydiak (2004). 2nd ed. Alpine Blue Ribbon Books, Loveland,CO, USA.
Gehring, T., VerCauteren, K., Provost, M., & Cellar, A. (2010). Utility of livestock-protection dogs for deterring wildlife from cattle farms. Wildlife Research, 37(8), 715. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wr10023
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OTHER:
VerCauteren, K., Lavelle, M., Gehring, T., & Landry, J. (2012). Cow dogs: Use of livestock protection dogs for reducing predation and transmission of pathogens from wildlife to cattle. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 140(3-4), 128-136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2012.06.006
Read it here (requires institutional login)
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Smith, M., Linnell, J., Odden, J., & Swenson, J. (2000). Review of Methods to Reduce Livestock Depradation: I. Guardian Animals. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A - Animal Science, 50(4), 279-290. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/090647000750069476
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Gonzalez, A., Novaro, A., Funes, M., Pailacura, O., Bolgeri, M., & Walker, S. (2012). Mixed-breed guarding dogs reduce conflict between goat herders and native carnivores in Patagonia. Human-Wildlife Interactions, 6(2), 327-334.
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Binge, E. (2017). Guarding dogs as a mitigation tool in human–wildlife conflict Case study: The Anatolian Shepherd Dog breeding project in Namaqua National Park (MPhil). University of Cape Town.