|
|
Livestock Guardian Dogs
This is our Livestock Guardian Dog, Valkor. Val
is 1/2 Italian Maremma and 1/2 Great Pyrenees, and was ten months old when this
picture was taken. Both his sire and his dam are working LGD's. Val was born in
a barn full of lambing ewes, and in the traditional manner of raising livestock
guardians, was handled only minimally by human beings in his first weeks of life
in order to create a primary bond with the sheep.
Because we have four children, we departed somewhat from the purist approach to
raising a Livestock Guardian Dog. We spend a lot of time outdoors on our farm
and it is important for our livestock guardian dog to be safe with our children
and their friends. Besides, how do you keep children from wanting to play with a
puppy, especially one as white and fluffy and adorable as Val was?
We decided that given a choice between two evils, we would rather end up with
one more pet dog on the doormat than with a great white alien out in the field
that no one could catch or work with. So Valkor (named after the big white
fluffy "luck dragon" in "The Neverending Story") was handled by our entire
family and given basic leash and obedience training. We were careful, however,
to feed and handle him in the field with the sheep, so that he understood that
that was his place. When he left the field to come up to the house, we ignored
him. Val understands that his place is with the sheep. He is happy to see us
when we come to feed, but doesn't try to follow us back to the house.
From the beginning, it was fascinating to watch Val move among the sheep -- his
coloring and his body language combine to make the sheep utterly relaxed around
him, and he often licks the sheep's faces and nuzzles them affectionately as he
moves through his flock. We had just raised a Border Collie puppy when we got
Val, and the contrast was striking. From Cap's first exposure to sheep, the
sheep reacted to the Border Collie body language -- the lowered head, the
tension in his body, the intense "eye" -- and were nervous and ready for flight.
Val's body, on the other hand,was soft and relaxed as he moved through the
sheep, his head was a bit to the side in a classic non-threatening posture, and
he avoided looking straight at the sheep. until they learned to ignore, or even
cuddle, with him.
Val provides environmentally sensitive (non-lethal) predator control -- he
places himself between his sheep and danger, barking and threatening, but will
not leave his sheep to chase an intruder. Therefore, he would only kill a
predator persistent enough to attack the sheep in the face of 110 pounds of
irate Livestock Guardian Dog. Unlike other livestock guardian alternatives,
such as donkeys and llamas, he is fine with all of our other dogs as long as
they are gentle with his sheep. He is gentle and loving with our children and
every smaller animal on the farm.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON WORKING
LIVESTOCK GUARDIAN DOGS, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO SUBSCRIBE TO FLOCKGUARD-L AND LGD-L.
|
