Livestock-Guardian-Dogs1 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Bonding guardian dogs to livestock Research shows that social bonding between dogs and small ruminants depends on imprinting the puppies when they are roughly four to sixteen weeks old. This developmental stage will “set” the dog’s adult behavior. In other words, imprinting changes the dog forever. During this time, the pup has the greatest capacity to learn particular social skills. This is when dominance hierarchies are formed and dogs learn and practice their submis- sive behaviors. Some people say that the dog thinks it is a sheep, but that is wrong. It knows it is a dog— the social behaviors it directs toward the sheep are typical of dogs, not sheep. Old world shepherd dogs typically spend their first sixteen weeks with one or two littermates, a few adult dogs including their mother, a few hundred sheep or goats, and a shepherd. After sixteen weeks, the dog has been behaviorally molded in such a way that it prefers to spend the rest of its life with the group. Since most sheep in Texas are not herded, a human is most often absent from the flock social structure. During the bonding phase, modifica- tions must be made to allow the young guardian dogs to bond with small ruminants without con- stant human supervision. Guardian dogs are usually trained on the rancher’s property with the livestock they will be guarding. Training these dogs is not difficult and is even easier when you understand some basic concepts. Animals respond and learn more quickly when rewarded than when punished. It is more important to stop inap- propriate behaviors than to punish them and air horns, such as the ones typically used in boats, are a great training aid. These horns are handy and a short blast or two can usually stop unwanted behavior at a considerable distance. When you disrupt and stop certain behaviors, dogs should ultimately abandon them. There are a few simple guidelines to follow when bonding a dog to livestock. ▶ Start them young The ideal time to begin bonding guardian dogs to livestock is from 4 to 8 weeks of age, while they are still nursing. Research indicates that dogs might not properly bond with livestock if the bonding phase is started after the dog is 16 weeks old. ▶ Use small bonding pens Place one or two LGD puppies in small pens (150 square feet) with 3 to 6 livestock animals (Fig. 3). Livestock used for bonding should have previously been socialized with dogs and not be aggressive toward them. Dams and their offspring that have been socialized to guard dogs are excel- lent candidates. However, you can use dams that do not have experience with dogs as long as you are vigilant and remove animals that are aggres- sive toward the LGD. Socialized dams and their offspring will provide companionship to the dogs while not tolerating inappropriate behavior from the pup. If possible, puppies should be socialized with hair and wool sheep and lambs, and meat and angora goats. Although you may have only one class of livestock, your neighbors may have differ- ent animals. If your dogs have not been socialized broadly, it increases the possibility that they may be blamed for injury to neighboring livestock. The LGD puppies should have an area in the pen where livestock are excluded at feeding time. At around 16 weeks, these LGDs-in-training can be released with their bonded livestock into larger pens or small pastures. They should be monitored closely for the following couple of weeks. 3 Figure 3. This is a bonding pen for young livestock guard - ian dogs. In this case, a ewe with lambs are being used. It is important to use animals that are accustomed to guardian dogs and include all species of livestock the dog may be required to protect. Do not allow the dog to bite or chew on weak or small animals. The area in the background is blocked off for the guard dog and its feeding station. Photo provided by John Walker