By Anna Abney
There are many myths that have become "common knowledge" over the years regarding livestock guardian dogs in the United States. Some of these myths are simply nonsensical, while others are actively damaging to the dogs' ability to perform their function & can even turn a working dog into a potential liability. This list, while not exhaustive, will touch on several of these myths & explain why they are incorrect.
Myth #1: A good working dog should not be handled, not even during puppyhood.
This myth is probably the number one cause of failures in LGDs (with the possible exception of myth #2 & #3). It arises from the fact that a working dog is, of course, expected to work, which means it needs to live outside with the stock. Obviously a livestock guardian can't guard the livestock while lying on the sofa in the living room. But just because a dog is not a pet does not mean it should never have any human contact. In no other job in which dogs are employed will you ever hear this advice, & that is because with ANY job, the dog is doing it for the benefit of a HUMAN, not for itself. All working dogs should be handled daily from puppyhood, & depending on the breed, should have some level of manners and obedience training. Coming when called & walking on a leash are incredibly useful skills for a working LGD, as is accepting restraint calmly. This allows dogs to be easily moved from pasture to pasture, examined & treated for any injuries, & just generally makes them easier with which to live. An LGD who knows how to ride quietly in a car & relax in a confined space like a crate will make the farmer's life infinitely easier should the dog ever need to visit the vet, or if the farmer decides to move & has to transport the dog as well as the stock. Handling pups daily also helps breeders determine which dogs have the best temperaments, as shyness can be the result of lack of handling OR it can be genetic. Genetically shy dogs should be culled from a breeding program as they will run from danger rather than confront it. Poorly socialized dogs can also be so shy they will run instead of fight. A fearful guardian dog is a useless guardian dog. Confidence is ALWAYS superior to shyness. Appropriate handling, done in the pasture where the dog is expected to stay, only makes the dog better at his job, & in no way turns him into a pet.
Myth #2: Any breed or mix of breeds will be a good LGD if it is raised with livestock from puppyhood.
This myth was propagated by a a well-known author & is a constant thorn in the side of experienced LGD folks. The fact is, while certain individual dogs of a non LGD breed or breeds may occasionally work out as a working livestock guardian, this in no way suggests that just any dog anywhere can do it. Breeds exist because people discovered the simple genetic truth that breeding like to like has a greater tendency to produce like. LGD breeds have been bred for many years, in some cases millennia, to have a particular set of traits that predispose them to be good at the specific task of living with livestock 24/7, without immediate human direction, & protecting them from all threats. These traits include:
These traits, all of them, are what make up a good working livestock guardian dog. Plenty of other breeds may have some of these traits, but they either do not have the whole package, or do not have the right degree of them in order to do the work. Most dogs bred for work are high prey drive animals which were developed to work directly for humans, such as herding dogs, or high prey drive animals which were developed to chase, hold and/or kill game. While herders may occasionally make decisions for themselves, they are mostly meant to take orders directly from a supervising human. And dogs bred for hunting obviously have no business being left unsupervised with livestock 24/7. When dogs not of LGD breed lineage are introduced into LGD stock, there is no telling which instincts will be dominant, & consequently at best you generally end up with a dog who just will not stay with the stock, preferring human companionship, or at worst a world class stock killer due to the combination of LGD power with herding or hunting dog prey drive. There is a class of dogs known as farm dogs or farm guardians which have some guarding ability but which are still not LGDs, because they lack one or more of the traits above. If the dog has any breeds in its recent lineage which are not LGD breeds, it is not an LGD & the likelihood that it will work out as a working livestock guardian is much lower than if you acquire a dog from known LGD lineage.
Myth #3: Good LGDs don't need fences. They bond to their stock & won't leave them. Also, there aren't any fences in the Old World where these dogs were developed.
The first part of this myth is demonstrably untrue. While some individuals may not roam, nearly all LGDs of all breeds will roam given the opportunity. Most of them were developed when massive annual migrations were a matter of course, or were employed on very large tracts of land, not the small farms so prevalent in the United States today. They are territorial animals which will naturally seek to expand their territories. Also, many types of livestock (goats spring to mind!) are also roamers always in search of "greener pastures" & the guardian dogs will follow their stock if they leave the premises. Since all domestic hoofstock are derived from nomadic herd species, this desire to roam is inherent in them & is, in turn, inherent in the dogs that protect them.
Not all LGDs are stock bonders & even those which are aren't necessarily going to spend 100% of their time stuck right in the middle of the herd. Many LGDs of all breeds will do patrols where they mingle with the herd & then will strike off in search of a high vantage point where they can see as wide area as possible so as to have the best chance of noticing an approaching threat. If this vantage point is not on your property, & you don't have a fence to stop the dog from using it, then the dog will use it. Fences keep the dogs contained safely.
The Old World shepherds who do not have fences also do not leave their stock & go inside the house most of time, but rather live & travel with them full time, or put them in barns (with the dogs) at night. They also do not tend to live in highly litigious societies where people sue if your barking dog makes them startle & stub their toe, or where clueless parents want to let their children pet the cute lambs, or where pet dogs are allowed to roam freely or, dog forbid, are encouraged to play with "those nice big fluffy white dogs next door". Fences not only keep your dogs in, they keep foolish people & foolish dogs OUT. They also keep your dogs from being hit by cars, shot by neighbors, or picked up by Animal Control. Good fences make good neighbors, & they also make good LGDs!
Myth #4: LGDs don't need training.
WRONG! ALL dogs need training. The best herding dogs in the world come with incredible natural ability which is then NURTURED to develop it to its highest potential. Ditto for hunting dogs, service dogs, police dogs, sled dogs, even show dogs & pet dogs. There is no dog job which exists that does not also include training. Getting an LGD puppy & just tossing it out with the stock is equivalent to taking a 3 year old child & expecting it to run an office. A young dog is nothing more than a collection of potential abilities which have to be guided & shaped. Like any growing animal (or human) it will make mistakes, do stupid stuff, & have to be corrected & pointed back at the correct path, probably multiple times. And like any animal, even the most talented LGD can't be expected to work as a full grown, mature guardian until it is, in fact, actually full grown & mature. In most LGDs this is around 2 years of age, with some breeds and/or individuals maturing more or less quickly, & with males typically taking a bit longer than females. It is always helpful for young dogs to have adult dogs who will teach them the ropes but even then you will need to help them by using management tools like escape-proof pens or kennels, tethers, long lines, supervised time with the stock, praise & treats, & if necessary, judicious use of corrections. It is helpful to understand that LGDs will normally go through periods of stock chasing & rough play as they mature & these phases are NOT indicative of a dog that is not going to work out as a guardian. If properly controlled & corrected, the dog will outgrow these phases & then one day you will look out into your pasture, see your beautiful, well-behaved guardian dog lying on a hillock in the sun, gazing out over her charges as they graze peacefully around her, & your heart will swell with the loveliness of the scene.
Myth #5: LGDs are untrainable and stupid.
This one is downright hilarious to those of us who have come to know these breeds! Biddability & intelligence are separate traits & are not necessarily related to each other. LGDs were never intended to follow direct orders in a precise & snappy fashion & so tend to respond to commands with a "Well, why? Is there a good reason to do what you ask?" rather than a "Yes sir, right away, sir!" But this does not mean that they are untrainable & they are certainly not stupid! Many owners of LGD breeds use them for other purposes besides livestock guardian work. They have been trained as service dogs, therapy dogs, personal protection dogs (although are not recommended for these purposes as most of them do not have an ideal temperament for such work). You can find LGDs competing in conformation shows, rally or competition obedience, agility, & weight pull. Many times even working livestock guardian dogs are dual-purpose show or performance competition dogs. Training an LGD requires a different set of skills, perhaps. For example, they learn concepts very quickly & then become bored, so 30 minutes of practicing Stay is not going to fly with an LGD. Most likely you'll get the "Okay Mom, I get it" look & he will wander off if he's loose, or start refusing to make eye contact if you have him on a leash. Then the next time you want to practice Stay, suddenly he's never heard that word before! But if you work on Stay in 2 or 3 minute intervals, using really good treats & quitting before he has a chance to get bored, he will not only retain the information, but will probably enjoy the next session as well. He also isn't going to Stay if he thinks there is something more important demanding his attention, such as a suspicious sound down near the fenceline that may be a varmint sniffing around his livestock. LGDs are supreme independent thinkers & problem solvers & are just not hard-wired to look to you for direction. But if you make it worth their while, they will surprise you with their incredible capacity to learn.
Myth #6: LGDs are lazy. All they ever do is lie around!
Right off the bat, not all LGD breeds are so "lazy". Some are relatively active, & do patrol quite a bit as well as play with each other. But all good LGDs tend to be calm & laid back & there are many good reasons for this.
First of all, boisterous play can be distressing for the stock. Even the more playful individuals tend to keep their wrestling matches away from sensitive stock so as not to alarm them. An LGD's job is to protect her stock, not worry them, so she will naturally tend to move slowly or not at all when they are near.
Second, most people see LGDs during the daytime, since obviously that's when there's enough light to see them. Many predators are either crepuscular (active at dawn & dusk) or nocturnal (active at night) so LGDs are also most active at these times, precisely the times when you are likely to be indoors & unable to see them. During the day, they're lying around snoozing, because they've literally been up all night patrolling. They learn the activity patterns of the predators in their environment & adjust their schedules accordingly. This is one of the reasons why they are so effective at what they do, as they can change when the circumstances change!
Third, LGDs may occasionally be called upon to fight a predator or group of predators. If they were the sorts of dogs that ran around wildly all the time, they might be too tired when the predator shows up to be able to perform in battle. They need to be ready to leap into action at a moment's notice, so beyond normal activity to keep themselves physically fit, they don't tend to waste a lot of energy pacing or zooming around (barring those short bursts that young dogs get, or moments when any healthy, happy animal just has to kick up her heels for the sheer joy of being alive!) If someone you know continually suggests that your LGDs are lazy, tell him or her to watch what happens when a coyote shows its face inside the fence line. Their sudden shift into explosive action will shock & amaze!
Last, LGDs were developed as working animals, not as pampered pets. Much of the time they were owned by poor herdsmen who could not afford to keep a high energy dog fed, let alone a pack of them! Consequently they developed a low metabolism, a "thrifty gene" that allows them to need much less food for their size than other breeds. This low metabolism equals a low energy dog. There is just no room for waste in the life of an LGD.
There are many myths that have become "common knowledge" over the years regarding livestock guardian dogs in the United States. Some of these myths are simply nonsensical, while others are actively damaging to the dogs' ability to perform their function & can even turn a working dog into a potential liability. This list, while not exhaustive, will touch on several of these myths & explain why they are incorrect.
Myth #1: A good working dog should not be handled, not even during puppyhood.
This myth is probably the number one cause of failures in LGDs (with the possible exception of myth #2 & #3). It arises from the fact that a working dog is, of course, expected to work, which means it needs to live outside with the stock. Obviously a livestock guardian can't guard the livestock while lying on the sofa in the living room. But just because a dog is not a pet does not mean it should never have any human contact. In no other job in which dogs are employed will you ever hear this advice, & that is because with ANY job, the dog is doing it for the benefit of a HUMAN, not for itself. All working dogs should be handled daily from puppyhood, & depending on the breed, should have some level of manners and obedience training. Coming when called & walking on a leash are incredibly useful skills for a working LGD, as is accepting restraint calmly. This allows dogs to be easily moved from pasture to pasture, examined & treated for any injuries, & just generally makes them easier with which to live. An LGD who knows how to ride quietly in a car & relax in a confined space like a crate will make the farmer's life infinitely easier should the dog ever need to visit the vet, or if the farmer decides to move & has to transport the dog as well as the stock. Handling pups daily also helps breeders determine which dogs have the best temperaments, as shyness can be the result of lack of handling OR it can be genetic. Genetically shy dogs should be culled from a breeding program as they will run from danger rather than confront it. Poorly socialized dogs can also be so shy they will run instead of fight. A fearful guardian dog is a useless guardian dog. Confidence is ALWAYS superior to shyness. Appropriate handling, done in the pasture where the dog is expected to stay, only makes the dog better at his job, & in no way turns him into a pet.
Myth #2: Any breed or mix of breeds will be a good LGD if it is raised with livestock from puppyhood.
This myth was propagated by a a well-known author & is a constant thorn in the side of experienced LGD folks. The fact is, while certain individual dogs of a non LGD breed or breeds may occasionally work out as a working livestock guardian, this in no way suggests that just any dog anywhere can do it. Breeds exist because people discovered the simple genetic truth that breeding like to like has a greater tendency to produce like. LGD breeds have been bred for many years, in some cases millennia, to have a particular set of traits that predispose them to be good at the specific task of living with livestock 24/7, without immediate human direction, & protecting them from all threats. These traits include:
- A powerful, athletic, & agile build, able to soak as well as dish out a great deal of damage
- Thick, loose skin (thicker than any other canid) which is difficult to pierce
- A high territorial defense drive that causes them to stand their ground rather than flee from a threat
- A naturally calm, submissive demeanor around flighty prey animals
- A physical morphology which gives them a softer expression which also serves to make them less intimidating in appearance to livestock
- Low prey drive
- An instinctive ability to evaluate threat level & respond accordingly
- An affinity for weak & small animals (including children)
- A harsh, all weather, double coat which protects them from heat, cold, injury, wetness, dirt, & debris
- The ability to think independently, problem solve, take quick stock of any situation, & make effective decisions at a moment's notice
- The instinct to conserve their energy so they are always ready to take action
- A lower metabolism that requires less food for their size
These traits, all of them, are what make up a good working livestock guardian dog. Plenty of other breeds may have some of these traits, but they either do not have the whole package, or do not have the right degree of them in order to do the work. Most dogs bred for work are high prey drive animals which were developed to work directly for humans, such as herding dogs, or high prey drive animals which were developed to chase, hold and/or kill game. While herders may occasionally make decisions for themselves, they are mostly meant to take orders directly from a supervising human. And dogs bred for hunting obviously have no business being left unsupervised with livestock 24/7. When dogs not of LGD breed lineage are introduced into LGD stock, there is no telling which instincts will be dominant, & consequently at best you generally end up with a dog who just will not stay with the stock, preferring human companionship, or at worst a world class stock killer due to the combination of LGD power with herding or hunting dog prey drive. There is a class of dogs known as farm dogs or farm guardians which have some guarding ability but which are still not LGDs, because they lack one or more of the traits above. If the dog has any breeds in its recent lineage which are not LGD breeds, it is not an LGD & the likelihood that it will work out as a working livestock guardian is much lower than if you acquire a dog from known LGD lineage.
Myth #3: Good LGDs don't need fences. They bond to their stock & won't leave them. Also, there aren't any fences in the Old World where these dogs were developed.
The first part of this myth is demonstrably untrue. While some individuals may not roam, nearly all LGDs of all breeds will roam given the opportunity. Most of them were developed when massive annual migrations were a matter of course, or were employed on very large tracts of land, not the small farms so prevalent in the United States today. They are territorial animals which will naturally seek to expand their territories. Also, many types of livestock (goats spring to mind!) are also roamers always in search of "greener pastures" & the guardian dogs will follow their stock if they leave the premises. Since all domestic hoofstock are derived from nomadic herd species, this desire to roam is inherent in them & is, in turn, inherent in the dogs that protect them.
Not all LGDs are stock bonders & even those which are aren't necessarily going to spend 100% of their time stuck right in the middle of the herd. Many LGDs of all breeds will do patrols where they mingle with the herd & then will strike off in search of a high vantage point where they can see as wide area as possible so as to have the best chance of noticing an approaching threat. If this vantage point is not on your property, & you don't have a fence to stop the dog from using it, then the dog will use it. Fences keep the dogs contained safely.
The Old World shepherds who do not have fences also do not leave their stock & go inside the house most of time, but rather live & travel with them full time, or put them in barns (with the dogs) at night. They also do not tend to live in highly litigious societies where people sue if your barking dog makes them startle & stub their toe, or where clueless parents want to let their children pet the cute lambs, or where pet dogs are allowed to roam freely or, dog forbid, are encouraged to play with "those nice big fluffy white dogs next door". Fences not only keep your dogs in, they keep foolish people & foolish dogs OUT. They also keep your dogs from being hit by cars, shot by neighbors, or picked up by Animal Control. Good fences make good neighbors, & they also make good LGDs!
Myth #4: LGDs don't need training.
WRONG! ALL dogs need training. The best herding dogs in the world come with incredible natural ability which is then NURTURED to develop it to its highest potential. Ditto for hunting dogs, service dogs, police dogs, sled dogs, even show dogs & pet dogs. There is no dog job which exists that does not also include training. Getting an LGD puppy & just tossing it out with the stock is equivalent to taking a 3 year old child & expecting it to run an office. A young dog is nothing more than a collection of potential abilities which have to be guided & shaped. Like any growing animal (or human) it will make mistakes, do stupid stuff, & have to be corrected & pointed back at the correct path, probably multiple times. And like any animal, even the most talented LGD can't be expected to work as a full grown, mature guardian until it is, in fact, actually full grown & mature. In most LGDs this is around 2 years of age, with some breeds and/or individuals maturing more or less quickly, & with males typically taking a bit longer than females. It is always helpful for young dogs to have adult dogs who will teach them the ropes but even then you will need to help them by using management tools like escape-proof pens or kennels, tethers, long lines, supervised time with the stock, praise & treats, & if necessary, judicious use of corrections. It is helpful to understand that LGDs will normally go through periods of stock chasing & rough play as they mature & these phases are NOT indicative of a dog that is not going to work out as a guardian. If properly controlled & corrected, the dog will outgrow these phases & then one day you will look out into your pasture, see your beautiful, well-behaved guardian dog lying on a hillock in the sun, gazing out over her charges as they graze peacefully around her, & your heart will swell with the loveliness of the scene.
Myth #5: LGDs are untrainable and stupid.
This one is downright hilarious to those of us who have come to know these breeds! Biddability & intelligence are separate traits & are not necessarily related to each other. LGDs were never intended to follow direct orders in a precise & snappy fashion & so tend to respond to commands with a "Well, why? Is there a good reason to do what you ask?" rather than a "Yes sir, right away, sir!" But this does not mean that they are untrainable & they are certainly not stupid! Many owners of LGD breeds use them for other purposes besides livestock guardian work. They have been trained as service dogs, therapy dogs, personal protection dogs (although are not recommended for these purposes as most of them do not have an ideal temperament for such work). You can find LGDs competing in conformation shows, rally or competition obedience, agility, & weight pull. Many times even working livestock guardian dogs are dual-purpose show or performance competition dogs. Training an LGD requires a different set of skills, perhaps. For example, they learn concepts very quickly & then become bored, so 30 minutes of practicing Stay is not going to fly with an LGD. Most likely you'll get the "Okay Mom, I get it" look & he will wander off if he's loose, or start refusing to make eye contact if you have him on a leash. Then the next time you want to practice Stay, suddenly he's never heard that word before! But if you work on Stay in 2 or 3 minute intervals, using really good treats & quitting before he has a chance to get bored, he will not only retain the information, but will probably enjoy the next session as well. He also isn't going to Stay if he thinks there is something more important demanding his attention, such as a suspicious sound down near the fenceline that may be a varmint sniffing around his livestock. LGDs are supreme independent thinkers & problem solvers & are just not hard-wired to look to you for direction. But if you make it worth their while, they will surprise you with their incredible capacity to learn.
Myth #6: LGDs are lazy. All they ever do is lie around!
Right off the bat, not all LGD breeds are so "lazy". Some are relatively active, & do patrol quite a bit as well as play with each other. But all good LGDs tend to be calm & laid back & there are many good reasons for this.
First of all, boisterous play can be distressing for the stock. Even the more playful individuals tend to keep their wrestling matches away from sensitive stock so as not to alarm them. An LGD's job is to protect her stock, not worry them, so she will naturally tend to move slowly or not at all when they are near.
Second, most people see LGDs during the daytime, since obviously that's when there's enough light to see them. Many predators are either crepuscular (active at dawn & dusk) or nocturnal (active at night) so LGDs are also most active at these times, precisely the times when you are likely to be indoors & unable to see them. During the day, they're lying around snoozing, because they've literally been up all night patrolling. They learn the activity patterns of the predators in their environment & adjust their schedules accordingly. This is one of the reasons why they are so effective at what they do, as they can change when the circumstances change!
Third, LGDs may occasionally be called upon to fight a predator or group of predators. If they were the sorts of dogs that ran around wildly all the time, they might be too tired when the predator shows up to be able to perform in battle. They need to be ready to leap into action at a moment's notice, so beyond normal activity to keep themselves physically fit, they don't tend to waste a lot of energy pacing or zooming around (barring those short bursts that young dogs get, or moments when any healthy, happy animal just has to kick up her heels for the sheer joy of being alive!) If someone you know continually suggests that your LGDs are lazy, tell him or her to watch what happens when a coyote shows its face inside the fence line. Their sudden shift into explosive action will shock & amaze!
Last, LGDs were developed as working animals, not as pampered pets. Much of the time they were owned by poor herdsmen who could not afford to keep a high energy dog fed, let alone a pack of them! Consequently they developed a low metabolism, a "thrifty gene" that allows them to need much less food for their size than other breeds. This low metabolism equals a low energy dog. There is just no room for waste in the life of an LGD.