Livestock & Pet
Texas A&M AgriLife, Courtesy Costanzo 2021
What are the top qualities of a Livestock Guardian Dog? Bill Costanzo – LGD Research Specialist, Texas A&M AgriLife Research
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SouthWest Horse Trader April 2022
"Louise" showing a bond to livestock by laying with them while they eat.
humans. Do not feed or praise your LGD anytime they have left livestock! When the dogs are found at your home or headquarters, they need to be scolded and immediately returned to their charges. This needs to be repeat each time the behavior occurs until the dog learns to stay with their charges. • Understands basic canine commands and training. LGDs should understand at least three basic commands along with knowing their name. The commands of “no,” “come,” and “stay” should all be taught to your LGD during the bonding phase. These three basic commands should cover the common commands needed for a working LGD on most ranches. Commands such as sit and down may be taught to your LGD, but they are generally not needed in large livestock operations. Smaller producers may want to teach their LGD these additional commands. A producer should also leash, and tether train their LGD puppy. Both are helpful training aids later when the dog is an adult. Truck rides and crate training are also helpful things to keep your LGD calm if they must be move to a new location or travel to the veterinarian for treatment. If your LGD has not been trained to ride in a truck or trailer you may want to bring some livestock along to help them remain calm. We look forward to sharing our research with the ranching community over the next several years as the LGD bonding project continues at the Texas A&M AgriLife Center in San Angelo. Weekly progress of the puppies and the project can be viewed on our Facebook and Instagram accounts @TAMUlivestockguarddog. Don’t forget to sign up for our blog The Guardian Way sanangelo.tamu.edu/ research/lgd/ and check out our YouTube channel also. For questions regarding LGDs you can email me at bill.costanzo@ag.tamu.edu or call 325-657-7311. Look for my next article on Livestock Guardian Dogs in next month’s edition "Doc" being of the SouthWest Horse leash trained. Trader. w
Texas A&M AgriLife, Courtesy Costanzo 2021
I get lots of questions from producers about the best qualities of a livestock guardian dog and/or what they should look for in a dog. In this month’s article I will discuss what I feel those top qualities could be. Someone else may have a different opinion, but I think a LGD with these five qualities will give a producer the best chance of keeping livestock alive and predators at bay. They are not listed in any specific order of relevance. • Parents are working dogs of LGD breeds. It’s important to use LGDs from working parents and LGD breeds because you greatly increase the chances that the dogs will be successful guardians of your livestock. LGDs have been bred for thousands of years by herders in Europe to have decreased prey drive instincts. By using non-LGD breeds your chances of the dogs chasing, stalking, biting, and killing your livestock greatly increase. • Strongly bonded to their livestock. A LGD that is strongly bonded to their livestock rarely roams leaving their charges unprotected. This is probably the most important quality a LGD should have. Based on our research, LGDs that roam are more likely to be hit by cars, shot, poisoned, or caught in a snare. In a study by the AgriLife Center, over 50% of LGDs were no longer working on a ranch after 6 years. The main reason for loss was roaming which in turn lead to death of the dog. LGDs that are bonded to livestock by 14-16 weeks of age are often the most successful at protecting their charges. • Defends territory from all threats. A top quality LGD should protect your livestock from both ground and aerial predators. While not all LGDs guard livestock against aerial predators, some dogs will. Some producers/breeders feel that this behavior is instinct while others believe that this is a learned trait in the dogs. Regardless of how or why the dogs defend against these threats, a top quality LGD should guard against them. • Match human/LGD socialization to management. Interactions between people and LGDs, particularly in the first few months of life, will affect how LGDs bond to humans and livestock. Although each LGD is unique, they have inherently different aptitudes. The best LGDs are those that receive the right amount of human interaction early in life so that they will remain committed to their charges and will also approach people in a friendly manner when they encounter them. It is unclear how much socialization is needed and likely it will vary depending on the dog and the style of livestock management. The research efforts we have ongoing limit human socialization during the bonding phase to around 5 minutes per dog, three times per week. Research conducted in the LGD Bonding Project has not shown a correlation with highly socialized dogs roaming more to find human contact than moderately socialized dogs. It’s important for producers to remember not to reward dogs for leaving livestock. It is often perceived that a dog may be over socialized because it returns to locations with humans. Producers regularly feed the dogs assuming they are hungry, or they place them into a pen with feed until they have time to return the dog to the pasture. This practice is reinforcing the bad behavior of leaving livestock and roaming to find
