Job description

I love the fact that some comments and statements from Facebook get me thinking about many LGD related topics. I recently had an interchange with someone about Livestock Guardian Dogs that got me thinking.

So, let me throw out a few random thoughts:

Is it true that if you are a Kenyan, you are, therefore, a great long distance runner?

Are you a psychiatrist because you watch Dr. Phil?

Are you a shepherd if you live in the city, but have never had a sheep or goat before?

No?

You see, in the dog world, we have breeds that are then placed in Groups. The Groups generally describe the similar functions shared by different breeds. For example, a Group of herding dogs would include the Border Collie, Rough Collie, Bearded Collie, Australian Shepherd, Kelpie, etc.

Now, just because your breed falls into a specific Group,
does not necessarily mean that your dog actually does this job.

A working sheepdog is, in my opinion, a herding dog working almost daily in its job of moving stock, penning them, and gathering them.
In other words, they work together with the handler to move livestock.

A “Border Collie” is in the Herding Dog Group, but it is not necessarily a working sheep dog. The same applies to the Rough Collie; it falls into the Group of Herding Dogs but, in all honesty, very few Rough Collies, today, are actually out working cattle and sheep.
Some simply, do not even have any instinct or desire to want to work livestock.
Just because it is placed into the box “Herding Dogs,” that does not mean that it is a herding, stock moving,
and therefore,
a working sheepdog.

Now, on to Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs).

Simply, because a breed falls into the “Sheepdog” Group,
that does not make it a sheepdog (the Saarloos Wolf Dog also falls in this group!).

  To me, LGD is a job description.
The job entails living 24/7/365 in with the livestock; its job is to protect the livestock from predators.

When I see ads for LGDs where the dog is lounging on the couch, living as a family pet, kenneled, or kept chained up (away from stock), it is not a LGD to me.
 It may be a Great Pyrenees, Maremma, Sarplaninac, or a Kangal, which are breeds…
but that still does not make it a LGD.

How can it be a Livestock Guardian Dog if it is not out living with the livestock?

Puppy buyers need to be aware that not all LGD breeds are actually Livestock Guardian Dogs.
In addition, cross breeding between LGDs and non-livestock guardian dog breeds (herding/hunting/retrieving/pets) could end in disaster for your stock.

Being a LGD is a job description performed by dogs of specific breeds.
Without this job, the dog is still a breed,
 just not a Livestock Guardian Dog.