Maremma sheepdogs are very good dogs – so why aren’t they used more?
Ever since Europeans introduced sheep into Australia, farmers have needed to protect them from dingoes.
It’s a constant problem, and the default solution has always been culling.
But Dr Linda van Bommel says another solution is standing right in front of us – and it’s big, white, and fluffy.
“Everybody tells farmers to shoot dingoes or start trapping or throw out some baits,” Dr van Bommel says.
“Nobody will even put the option of the guardian animal forward.”
Dr van Bommel, from the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society and University of Tasmania, is an expert on guardian dogs, having spent her scientific career studying the relationships between apex predators, guardian dogs and humans.
She also trains Maremma sheepdogs, the most common guardian dog in Australia, like 18-month-old Rocco who is currently in her care.
Maremmas are gentle giants who will befriend and live among sheep, cattle, hens, even little penguins. These dogs usually are shy and sensitive by nature: their job is to embed themselves in the flock.
Unless you are a predator – then you’ll encounter the more assertive side of livestock guardian dogs, which, as a group, can scare away a whole pack of dingoes.
“They live with livestock 24/7, they’re the personal bodyguard of the livestock and are incredibly intelligent dogs,” Dr van Bommel explains.
“If a predator approaches the flock, they’ll know about it, and will instantly send the predator away.
“They are always on the job.”
To Dr van Bommel, livestock guardian dogs are the obvious solution to dingo predation.
“There's actually a lot of evidence that guardian animals are equally effective, if not more effective, than the lethal control options,” she says.
A survey she conducted with 150 farmers shows that livestock guardian dogs were recommended by almost all farmers (98%) who had used them to protect stock in the past decade. That’s a very positive report card!
She says it’s a cheap, effective (and wholesome) solution that doesn’t involve dingo culling, and it’s better for native ecosystems.
Dingoes, a native Australian species, will suppress problematic invasive species like feral cats and foxes. They also keep large mammals like kangaroos moving through the landscape, reducing overgrazing. Scientists have also shown that ecosystems are more biodiverse in the presence of dingoes than without them.
So why aren’t more farmers using these dogs in Australia?
“It's not so much the case anymore that people are not aware of them,” Dr van Bommel says.
Since she started her research around 15 years ago there has been quite a bit of publicity on using animals for predator protection, such as the popular film about Oddball the penguin-protecting Maremma.
“I think people do know about them, but they're still not using them or wanting to try them.”
There’s still a lack of public understanding about what livestock guardian dogs are like and what they need to thrive in their jobs on the farm, she says.
And when dogs are not set up well, that can give them a bad name.
A small eight-week-old pup in a paddock won’t be able to guard your sheep, but Dr van Bommel hears stories of people leaving untrained puppies with livestock, not understanding the dog needs proper training and gradual introduction over time to their flock.
“And then, of course, things end up going horribly wrong, because you can't do that with a little puppy, and the puppy grows up with no idea of what they're doing.”
Maremmas take a couple of years on their L-plates until they’re able to guard a big flock on their own – and they work best in partnership with at least one other dog, Dr van Bommel says.
Dogs bred for guarding livestock often share a more sensitive, shy temperament and can’t be treated like a ‘normal’ dog.
“They are more like cats than dogs,” she says.
“If you see a livestock guardian dog with his or her sheep, they are very non-threatening,” Dr van Bommel explains. “They are very soft towards their sheep. They tend to walk through the flock with their head down and only glancing sideways because they don't want to scare them.”
Protecting the flock is their number one motivation – not food, or pats or attention, like most other dogs. While they are acutely aware and alert of every happening in the field and afar, that can make them hard to train in the traditional sense, where the dog obediently does what is asked. They’ll instead do what they feel is best for the flock, for example sticking by a vulnerable little lamb.
“They’re incredibly independent thinkers.”
That’s why Dr van Bommel has written a manual on how to train and work alongside these intelligent and independent dogs.
Dr van Bommel would also like to see state governments and farming organisations sharing information and best practice guidelines on how to run livestock guardian dogs.
“It would help a lot if the non-lethal options, such as guardian animals, were put on an equal footing with the lethal options.”
It’s a slow process of education, but Dr van Bommel knows the benefits – for the animals, people and the native ecosystems.
“I'm trying to get some demonstration sites up and running to show people: ‘Look, here’s how you do it’ and 'Here’s the success you can get with it,’” she says.
“I just don’t think people realise that if you raise a guardian dog the right way, and they get the right background, your livestock can’t be any safer than with that dog.”
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