Dogs in Agriculture
Agriculture and especially livestock production would not be what it is today without the help of a very important tool. This tool has been innovated and refined through thousands of years of development, and, today, can be found in dozens of varieties around the world. This tool, of course, is the dog. Canines have been put to work serving the disabled, fighting crime and sniffing out criminals, finding missing people, and just being a good friend. However, not a lot of people realize that dogs play a very active role in the food that’s on their table. |
Photo from esask.uregina.ca
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With keen senses that are finer tuned than any mans, impressive speed and agility that enables them to surpass even the most athletic humans, and courage that allows them to stand up to predators, dogs do jobs that no man ever could.
Three main roles come to mind when I think of dogs in agriculture: herding, hunting, and guarding. I’m sure there’s others, and please come tell me if I missed the job of your four-legged employee. Many farmers have dogs that can do two or even all three of these things. Training these skills can take months, even years, and there’s many people who make careers out of training dogs to fill these jobs. However, in my experiences, these dogs are born wanting to please, their focus just needs to be directed.
Herding dogs
Origin: Dogs have been used to push or guide livestock for over 10,000 years, but the actual development of breeds started in the 1800s in England and Scotland
Purpose: A herding dog drives livestock, can collect them together and bring them in from a wide plot of land, or keep them contained in wide open pastures, which was important before fences.
Common Breeds: Australian Cattle Dog, Australian Shepherd, Bearded Collie, Belgian Malinois, Belgian Tervuren, Border Collie, Canaan, Welsh Corgi, Rough Collie, Old English Sheepdog
Sources:
http://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/groups/herding/
https://www.americancowboy.com/ranch-life-archive/history-cattle-dog
http://www.clover.okstate.edu/fourh/aitc/lessons/herddogs.pdf
Three main roles come to mind when I think of dogs in agriculture: herding, hunting, and guarding. I’m sure there’s others, and please come tell me if I missed the job of your four-legged employee. Many farmers have dogs that can do two or even all three of these things. Training these skills can take months, even years, and there’s many people who make careers out of training dogs to fill these jobs. However, in my experiences, these dogs are born wanting to please, their focus just needs to be directed.
Herding dogs
Origin: Dogs have been used to push or guide livestock for over 10,000 years, but the actual development of breeds started in the 1800s in England and Scotland
Purpose: A herding dog drives livestock, can collect them together and bring them in from a wide plot of land, or keep them contained in wide open pastures, which was important before fences.
Common Breeds: Australian Cattle Dog, Australian Shepherd, Bearded Collie, Belgian Malinois, Belgian Tervuren, Border Collie, Canaan, Welsh Corgi, Rough Collie, Old English Sheepdog
Sources:
http://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/groups/herding/
https://www.americancowboy.com/ranch-life-archive/history-cattle-dog
http://www.clover.okstate.edu/fourh/aitc/lessons/herddogs.pdf
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Hunting dogs
Origin: Dogs have been used in hunting for over 20,000 years, starting even before agriculture began. Hunting is actually thought of as a main factor that caused the domestication of dogs, but intentional breeding with hunting skills in mind began 9,000 years ago.
Purpose: The job of a hunting dog is to collect game after it has been shot, to fight predators, and to detect or drive prey.
Common Breeds: American Water Spaniel, Boykin Spaniel, Brittany, Cocker Spaniel, English Setter, Field Spaniel, Shorthaired Pointer, Wirehaired Pointer, Golden Retriever, Irish Setter, Labrador Retriever, Sussex Spaniel, Wirehaired Vizsla
Sources:
http://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/groups/sporting/
http://www.hunter-ed.com/blog/a-history-of-hunting-dogs
Origin: Dogs have been used in hunting for over 20,000 years, starting even before agriculture began. Hunting is actually thought of as a main factor that caused the domestication of dogs, but intentional breeding with hunting skills in mind began 9,000 years ago.
Purpose: The job of a hunting dog is to collect game after it has been shot, to fight predators, and to detect or drive prey.
Common Breeds: American Water Spaniel, Boykin Spaniel, Brittany, Cocker Spaniel, English Setter, Field Spaniel, Shorthaired Pointer, Wirehaired Pointer, Golden Retriever, Irish Setter, Labrador Retriever, Sussex Spaniel, Wirehaired Vizsla
Sources:
http://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/groups/sporting/
http://www.hunter-ed.com/blog/a-history-of-hunting-dogs
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Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs)
Origin: Livestock has been protected by LGDs for around 6,000 years, but the development of breeds began in Britain in the late 1700s.
Purpose: Livestock guardian dogs protect livestock species by marking their territory to keep other dogs, coyotes, and wolves away, intimidate predators through barking and posturing, and, in extreme cases, using physical aggression against intruders to protect their herd. Some can even detect diseases.
Common Breeds: Great Pyrenees, Tibetan Mastiff, Pyrenean Mastiff, Anatolian Shephard, Kuvasz, Akbash, Kangal, Komonder, Polish Tatra, Maremma
Additional Fun Fact: For LGDs to be effective, they must be first introduced, or allowed to “imprint on” the livestock species they’re going to protect. Many people think that these dogs believe they are sheep (the most common farm animal they’re responsible for protecting), but the truth is that, through dominating behaviors, the dogs actually train the sheep to behave like other dogs.
Sources:
http://www.lgd.org/library/origins.htm
https://morningchores.com/farm-dogs/
http://sanangelo.tamu.edu/files/2013/08/Livestock-Guardian-Dogs1.pdf
Origin: Livestock has been protected by LGDs for around 6,000 years, but the development of breeds began in Britain in the late 1700s.
Purpose: Livestock guardian dogs protect livestock species by marking their territory to keep other dogs, coyotes, and wolves away, intimidate predators through barking and posturing, and, in extreme cases, using physical aggression against intruders to protect their herd. Some can even detect diseases.
Common Breeds: Great Pyrenees, Tibetan Mastiff, Pyrenean Mastiff, Anatolian Shephard, Kuvasz, Akbash, Kangal, Komonder, Polish Tatra, Maremma
Additional Fun Fact: For LGDs to be effective, they must be first introduced, or allowed to “imprint on” the livestock species they’re going to protect. Many people think that these dogs believe they are sheep (the most common farm animal they’re responsible for protecting), but the truth is that, through dominating behaviors, the dogs actually train the sheep to behave like other dogs.
Sources:
http://www.lgd.org/library/origins.htm
https://morningchores.com/farm-dogs/
http://sanangelo.tamu.edu/files/2013/08/Livestock-Guardian-Dogs1.pdf
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