Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs)

A Maremma Sheepdog guarding it's flock.

Many people have never heard of livestock guardian dogs (LGDs), but if you talk to anyone with goats or sheep they know exactly what you are talking about.  Loss of lambs, sheep, goats, or calves due to predators such as coyotes, wolves, wild dogs and even bears is a huge problem to farmers that have such animals on pasture.  It can be a significant economic loss to the farmer and is also a very emotionally upsetting thing to encounter. Good fences will help but are not usually effective on their own.  Guardian animals are a good way to reduce or eliminate your predation problem.  These can include llamas, donkeys or dogs.  There are pros and cons to each type of guardian animals.   Dogs are the most widely used and will generally live with their flock 24/7 year round. They are handled usually by one person and are not accustomed to coming inside a house.  

There are many guardian breeds out there such as Kuvasz, Great Pyrenese, Akbash, Maremma Sheepdog, and Anatolian Shepherd just to name a few.  These have been bred for guarding sheep, cattle, goats and have been used for centuries in Asia and Europe.  There are even parts of Africa where they are used to protect goats from cheetahs.  Their behaviour is completely instinctive and they bond to their flock at an early age through imprinting.  It is very interesting to watch a 3 month old fluffy white Maremma puppy backing himself up against “his” sheep to protect them, even tough he is just a tiny, cute little fluff ball at this stage.  The sheep which are flighty and nervous animals seem to adapt to this new puppy immediately.  Often barking, and displaying aggressive behaviour is enough to keep the predators away, but they will fight if necessary.  Most of these dogs are quite large making them intimidating.   Many flocks will have at least 2 dogs and they often take on different roles.  Some dogs tend to stay close to the flock, whereas the other may stay on the periphery driving off any predators with their bark. LGDs do not often need to kill predators as their bark is enough to cause these predators to look for non livestock prey, such as deer, rabbits, rodents, or birds.  This in turn results in a reduction in trapping, hunting or poisoning of predators to protect livestock.

Some of these dogs become very protective which does not always make them good pets or suited to residential living.  However in recent times some of these breeds have been used as pets and proven to make good companions. 

It is important to feed these dogs a well balanced dog food, and they should be on a large breed puppy food until at least 12-15 months of age.  They generally have not reached full maturity until 1 ½ - 2 years of age.  For some farmers, it is very difficult to get their LGDs to a veterinarian, as some are handled very little and live freely on a large range.  However it is important to keep their vaccines up to date as they have an increased chance of rabies exposure, and are also at a greater risk for leptospirosis due to their proximity to wildlife.  Deworming for parasites such as ecchinococcus ( a tapeworm) is important in these dogs as they can pass this on to the sheep or other livestock . 

Stay tuned for my next blog on my own personal guardian dogs (Maggie, Saiko and Romelus)  and their story.

Brigitte Rudolf, DVM 

Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic