Shepherd dog
The sheepdog is one of shepherds employed for herding of cattle working dog . In addition to the dogs, who work alone with the shepherd and both hold the herd together and defend it, there are also dogs specializing in parts of this work: the herding dog , the driving dog and the herd guard dog .
In the narrower sense, the shepherd dog exclusively describes the dogs that accompany the shepherd in order to protect him and the herd.
Shepherd dogs and their history
As people settled down and did more agriculture, dogs were also increasingly used to guard the yard, house and herds. The natural urge of wolves to keep the pack together was used for breeding. While the wolf pack for this, however, the leader of the pack is mainly responsible, which is supported by the pack members, it has the herding dog to do with a much larger herd of animals, oppose the his efforts partially resistance and would be the wolf prey. It must therefore have cost some breeding effort until the first usable herding dogs were bred. Many of today's herding dog breeds such as the Collies show strong herding behavior. This can sometimes lead to problems with keeping them as a recreational dog, as the dog sometimes sees strollers, children or cars as "herd animals to be looked after".
Today's use
Sheep and herd guard dogs still do a good job with the flocks of sheep, although the importance of the herding dogs is subject to a great change in the present day. Herding dogs have found a new task in dog sports due to their special aptitude (close cooperation with humans, high learning ability, working at greater distances) .
The guard dogs are enhanced since the return of the wolf to central Europe there again, for guarding the herd and for defense against predators used and cattle thieves. These dogs act independently and without instruction from the shepherd; mostly they are also alone with the flock and no shepherd is present. The willingness to cooperate with humans was never a breeding goal, which explains the great independence and difficult trainability of these dogs. In adulthood (approx. Three years), problems often arise with herd guard dogs that live in urban areas and therefore cannot be kept in a species-appropriate manner.
The Balkani Wildlife Society breeds Karakachans in Bulgaria to give them to shepherds free of charge.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans-Joachim Swarovsky (Ed.): BI-Lexikon Hundehaltung , Leipzig 1988, ISBN 3-323-00186-9 , p. 145
