Livestock Guardian Dogs
Livestock guardian dogs are bred and trained to protect livestock. They are a type of working dog that lives as a farm dog and protect a herd of livestock as its full-time member.
A livestock guardian dog is usually blended with a flock or herd as a member from a very early age. As a result, it develops a natural protective instinct towards the herd and actively guards them. When faced with a threat, the dog first barks and growls to try and drive it off, attacking only if necessary.
Also referred to as LGD, they are trained to identify threats and act independently to take care of the situation without any order from a human.
Most of these are large breeds of dogs, many weighing around 100 lbs. Their size and weight help them protect a herd from larger intruders. They usually don’t do well with strangers, whether humans or dogs (or any other animal) and consider them a threat. Since these dogs can ‘think’ for themselves, they need much attention and socialization during training.
List of Livestock Guard Dog Breeds
- Great Pyrenees
- Komondor
- Kuvasz
- Tibetan Mastiff
- Anatolian Shepherd
- Akbash
- Polish Tatra Sheepdog
- Pyrenean Mastiff
- Maremma Sheepdog
- Cane di Mannara
- Spanish Mastiff
- Karakachan
- Anatolian Shepherd Dog
- Kangal
- Aidi
- Aksaray Malaklisi
- Ashayeri Dog
- Azerbaijani Shepherd Dog
- Bakharwal dog
- Estrela Mountain Dog
- Bucovina Shepherd
- Central Asian Shepherd Dog
- Buryat-Mongolian Wolfhound
- Armenian Gampr
- Carpathian Shepherd Dog
- Caucasian Shepherd Dog
- Georgian Shepherd
- Greek Shepherd
- Himalayan Sheepdog
- Kars
- Karst Shepherd
- Rafeiro do Alentejo
- Maremmano-Abruzzese Sheepdog
- Tornjak
- Mioritic Shepherd
- Kuchi
- Mucuchies
- Persian Mastiff
- Slovak Cuvac
- Mazandrani dog
- Koyun dog
- Romanian Raven Shepherd Dog
- Sardinian Shepherd Dog
- Šarplaninac
- Tobet
- Shirak Sheepdog
- Vikhan Sheepdog
- Tibetan kyi apso
- Torkuz
- Ghadrejani dog
- Mongolian banhar
- Pshdar dog
- Cão de Castro Laboreiro
- Cão de Gado Transmontano
