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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).


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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday March 14 2018, @07:03AM (2 children)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday March 14 2018, @07:03AM (#652190) Homepage Journal

    A sheep dog or a German shepherd or one of these golden retrievers, all controlled by whoever feeds them -- total control. Bing bing, bong bong bong, bing bing. You know what that is, right? You leave your herd with a dog, along comes a thief with a steak, with the most fabulous steak. Believe me, I know more about this than anybody. Because I sold the most delicious, most gorgeous steaks you've ever seen in your entire life. Or in the history of the world. And I fed so many of them to dogs. And I always, always got what I wanted.

    People don't know this, but dogs have NO LOYALTY. You get a dog, you get let down. So this is what you do, you find the BEST wolf. Find a very strong and independent wolf. A real leader. Who, maybe, is just getting into herding for the first time after a very successful career. A wolf who always, always puts your interests and the security of the livestock first. Who can't be bought. Not by the other wolves, not by anybody. And he'll make your herd great again!

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 14 2018, @12:38PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 14 2018, @12:38PM (#652320)

    My god, you are an imbecile.

    • (Score: 2) by Spamalope on Wednesday March 14 2018, @06:44PM

      by Spamalope (5233) on Wednesday March 14 2018, @06:44PM (#652540) Homepage

      My God, it's amazing they can keep the parody up this long and stay in character.