Petcare Hints

Dogs that work for man

For countless centuries man was a hunter and gatherer. The next meal was usually still on the hoof and had to be located, hunted and killed and if game was scarce the hunter starved. The domestication of animals marked a tremendous stride forward in civilisation and many Middle Eastern civilisations are known to have kept herds of sheep and goats. These appear to have been tended by shepherds without , as the dogs which are known to exist in these were

hunting breeds of type.

Some civilisations kept dogs of the mastiff type to protect their herds from predators and the breeds which are descended from these dogs today are Pyrenean Mountain Dogs, Komondor, Kuvasc, Maremma, Anatolian Karabesh. Some of these breeds are today finding favour with farmers who use them to protect their flocks against attack by feral dogs.

Britain appears to have been the birth place of herding breeds and although there can be no certainty as to when dogs became pastoral it is known that by the Bronze Age the chief wealth of the tribes of this era was in the flocks and herds. Pytheas, a Greek voyager, visited Britain in 330B.C and observed that the Britons were a pastoral people using dogs to both protect and control their animals.

In 1570 Dr John Caius of Cambridge University wrote "Our shepherde's dogge is not huge, vast, and bigge, but of an indifferent stature and growth, because it hath not to deal with the bloodthyrsty wolf, since there be none in England and went on to describe how the shepherd could, by voice or whistle, order his to turn the flock to the left or right, halt or go forward.

It appears that the sheepdog in England was varied in type and was any sort of dog which could be trained and was of the right size and temperament. No doubt the shepherds would have

mated together animals which had proven working ability and, since travel was difficult, working dogs would vary in appearance from area to area, establishing the various breeds we know today.

In 1870, Stonehenge wrote in his book The Dog, that the English Sheepdog was difficult to describe as there were so many different breeds. British sheep herding breeds include the , Border , , Smooth Collie, . Every country of the world has its strain of sheepdogs, as where there are sheep there must be dogs to help control them. Most of these breeds share the same characteristics although they may vary in outward appearance.

European herding breeds include the Dog, the Belgian Shepherds and the Hungarian Puli. The German Shepherd Dog is the most popular breed in the world and his athletic build and trainability also has been channeled into other uses such as police and military dogs.

The Border Collie is one of the most efficient working sheepdogs in many countries outside its native Scotland and is the dog generally used in sheepdog trials Australia. His ability to herd sheep through the course under the direction of his handler keeps spectators enthralled but he also has difficulty adapting to life in the suburbs unless he is given an outlet for his boundless

energy. www.petnet.com.au Herding breeds are among the most popular dogs kept as companions due to their willingness 1800 631 784 to please and the Collie, Old English Sheepdog and have all the attributes [email protected] of herding dogs yet have adapted to a life in the suburbs.