Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by mrpg on Wednesday March 14 2018, @03:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the nobody-thinks-of-the-wolves dept.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) evaluated around 120 dogs from three large breeds from Europe and Asia bred to be gentle around sheep and children but vicious when confronting wolves. The four-year study was carried out by the USDA's National Wildlife Research Center and tested how these dogs did guarding livestock against wolves and coyotes in the western US.

[...] Young and her colleagues zeroed in on areas where dogs had been bred to protect livestock from wolves and brown bears. They selected three breeds for the study: Cao de Gado Transmontanos, originally from the mountains of Portugal; Karakachans, bred by nomadic shepherds in Bulgaria; and Kangals, developed to guard livestock in Turkey. The dogs were gathered as puppies and sent to the U.S., where they were used to guard 65 herds of sheep in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, and Oregon.

Another finding was that when the owner and the dogs had a closer bond, the dogs performed their jobs much better. Something that might not be commonly realized in areas where they are kept exclusively for companionship or entertainment is that the different breeds of dogs are bred to gravitate to and specialize in particular activities: they have jobs they like doing.

From The Scientist : The Breeds of Guard Dogs that Best Protect Livestock: Study (2018)
and The Associated Press : Imported guard dogs deployed as part of US wolf-sheep study (2018)
and Agri-Pulse : Got wolves? USDA brings on the big dogs (2014).


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday March 14 2018, @05:46AM (2 children)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Wednesday March 14 2018, @05:46AM (#652164)

    That sounds specifically like a US-centric perspective [satwcomic.com].

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday March 14 2018, @06:09AM (1 child)

    by Arik (4543) on Wednesday March 14 2018, @06:09AM (#652176) Journal
    Nope.

    Europe solved their wolf problem so many generations ago no one remembers it. That doesn't make it US-centric, not in any way.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 15 2018, @01:38AM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 15 2018, @01:38AM (#652720) Journal

      Allow me to point out that European wolves and American wolves are very different. There were documented cases of European wolves preying on humans. You can't find American wolves preying on humans until after humans began meddling in their gene pool by interbreeding dogs and wolves.

      Wolves in America are more dangerous today than they have ever been in the past. Interbreeding and acclimatization with humans have removed the wolves fear of humans. This is a case of humans screwing nature up, yet again.