"More Aggressive LGD Breeds": Is That What We Really Need?

It has become most apparent that no one in America wants to openly discuss the increasing and in some cases, epic fail rate of highly complex or hyper aggressive LGD breeds in the hands of novice unprepared American hobby farmers, sheep operations, ranches and homesteads.  

Breeds who were barely heard of in this country only five or seven years ago, now flood shelters and pounds and rescues as frightened owners give them up (as the disturbing newspaper article at the end of this blog post below will show you).  

Why?  Part of it is the dog: these dog breeds, many of them, either are or becoming, fringe or borderline livestock guardians in their home countries.  They perhaps once were once flock guardians but now are heavily fought in the sport ring, and used for military and police work, where aggression is encouraged.  There is in reality, very minimal cuddling of flock lambs and lots of tearing at men in thick black padded suits or drawing blood in the ring.  

Why? Because bad breeders amplify the aggressive traits with bad choices.  It increases.  Stability goes out the window.  And these are the breeds the USDA Wildlife Services is eyeing as the "solution" for American farmers and ranchers.  But are they?  I happen to think they are not!

A prior post I put up on my Spanish Mastiff blog, discussing German Airline Lufthansa's designation of certain "LGD" breeds as dangerous and/or fighting dogs, brought the expected howls from the slander slinging gaggle of self-promoting pseudo "Facebook LGD experts" who hang on every word of a few un-credentialed nobodies you have never heard of outside of a Facebook page.  In typical shallow response, these people accused me of breed bashing.  

Not hardly.  I am not bashing breeds as much as I am calling out the people who breed these amplified aggressive dogs.  I am calling out people like the dog fighters and bad irresponsible breeders - the unscrupulous people who sell pups and dogs to anyone, including incompetent or inadequate homes. In most cases it is the human who fails the dog, not the other way around.

No - it isn't about bashing breeds - its about educating people with facts about breeds instead of sugar coating them to make a quick sale.  It is about being honest about one's capability to own more complex breeds.  And no one seems to want to hear about that, or own up to it, let alone do it.

The needs of American farmers and ranchers are not the same as nomads trailing sheep across 100's of miles of unfenced desert in Turkey, or Armenia, or any other country where nomadic shepherding is a lifestyle.

The wannabe LGD breeder with dollar signs in their eyes, brings these exotic fighting and military work breeds over who are either accustomed to being run on open ranges with no fences and miles to roam, or used in police work and the fighting ring.  

These dogs subsequently take off from their livestock on much smaller, American fenced operations and farms,  roam miles away, jump fences, dig out, fight the neighbor's dogs, chase coyotes for miles and leave their flocks open to predation because the dog is not doing its job right, for what is needed here.  

And the owner is an epic FAIL in that he is not prepared or knowledgeable enough to own these dogs.  And since in many cases he bought them from flakey breeders, all support goes out the window as soon as his check clears.  Then, instead of introspection and serious assessment of the situation, the panicked owner relies on bad advice from inept breeders promoting ridiculous "yokes" or other torture devices to hang on his dog in order to make them stay put.

On Joe Hobby Farmer's shabbily fenced ten or forty acres, the wanderlust canine does not fit the bill.  Again, this is not so much about dog breed failure; its about the failure of people trying to make some breeds into something they by nature, perhaps can never be.  This is about people trying to promote the wrong breed for the job. Again, this is ALSO about unprepared farmers and operators who do not securely fence in their flocks and LGDs, then have the audacity to complain when their roaming-prone breed of choice, escapes.

Its also about a very disturbing trend - only amplified by the USDA's current "breed testing" - of people trying to promote LGDs as predator killers, maimers and hunters.  These dogs are NOT predator hunters.  They are guardians.  Protectors of flocks.  LGDs are supposed to nurture - not butcher!!!!!

Tried and True: The Great Pyrenees LGD

More than capable of deterring predators when run in the right numbers, and reared correctly

by a knowledgeable, responsible breeder breeding good quality dogs

As the fan base of the uber aggressive breeds grows, the latest trend is to bash tried and true more gentler, stable breeds such as the Great Pyrenees and the Maremma.  There is no reason why these breeds cannot work successfully.  The "failure" of these breeds is really the failure of their owners who run them in inadequate numbers, and buy inferior stock from puppy mills and flash in the pan backyard breeders.  A buyer is not about to get the type of quality from a $200 pup they will from a $1000 pup.  This again, is the heart of the problem. We don't need more aggression.  We need quality and stability, from good reputable breeders - not puppy mills and backyard fad breeders!

But no one wants to hear that, because that's not as romantic and sexy, as landing a fat grant to travel to Ankara or Budapest under the guise of researching "new and better" breeds.  Thus, the USDA falls lockstep into this "blame the breed" mentality, while repeatedly and pointedly ignoring any sound owner training and education, and gullible people…...buy it!

Now, shelters and rescues begin to fill up with Kangals, Armenian Gamprs, Caucasian Asian Shepherds, "Boz Shepherd" and kangal crosses, and Caucasian Ovcharkas, because bad breeders sold perhaps unstable or badly bred dogs to unprepared, unscreened homes that never should have bought one to begin with.  

Note below in the article at the end of this blog post, how none of these dogs are labeled as LGDs.

The government (USDA) would prefer you didn't read blogs like mine and find stories like the unsettling one below.  

With the recent disturbing events in Burns, Oregon, in my opinion, we all need to re-assess our trust in some "LGD experts" in the government at the USDA.  

Do they really have the rancher's best interests in mind in promoting more aggressive LGD breeds? 

Or are they actually setting a bunch of ranchers, farmers and operators up for future liability lawsuits stemming from their dogs attacking hikers, bikers and public lands users?  Are they hoping we'll go out of business?  Get sued by people into oblivion?  Food for thought……!

At the recent ASI sheep industry convention, I was told a certain Wildlife Services USDA employee talked to one group about the USDA's Pacific Northwest LGD breed "testing" and in this test, they found that the sheep didn't like darker colored guardian dog breeds.  

So what did these government "brain trusts" do?  Did they take the time to try to work with the flock and dogs to incorporate them and desensitize the sheep to darker dogs, as I have done here a dozen times with my own sheep who were used to only white dogs?  Did they go deeper than surface "quick fixes"? Did they expend any effort to understand the psychology behind this and how to introduce dark dogs to sheep?

NO.  Instead, the USDA people PAINTED THE DOGS WHITE.  

These are the same people promoting farmers use more aggressive LGD breeds.

Tell me something. Are these the kind of people YOU want to believe, trust or even follow?  

Think long and hard on that.

10:50 am - November 04, 2015

Business owner wants to house more dogs

Oksana Higgins, operations manager at Est-Alfa K-9 Security Service, and Robert Adams, member of the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission talk during the official tour to Est-Alfa K-9 Security Service on Wednesday, Oct. 28. DARIA SOKOLOVA/PAHRUMP VALLEY TIMES

By Daria Sokolova

Pahrump Valley Times

The barking noise could be hardly heard from the remote Pahrump property, despite the large number of dogs that live on it.

For years, Vasili Platunov has been breeding Caucasian Ovcharka on his property tucked into the far southern Pahrump corner. But after the number of dogs spiked recently, he had to apply for reconsideration of a conditional use permit that would allow him to increase the number from the original 30.

After moving to Nevada from New York, Platunov, a long-time breeder, had a steady pack. The number quickly grew to 131 when people started dropping off their dogs. Now Platunov has dozens of kennels with Caucasian Ovcharkas, Turkish Kangal, Armenian Gampr and Georgian Nagazi that had been left there due to their age, behavioral issues or other reasons.

Oksana Higgins, operations manager at Platunov's Est-Alfa K-9 Security Service, which specializes in providing professional canine security services, said that sometimes they receive calls from as far away as Canada.

"I believe about 4-5 years ago, people started bringing dogs to us because we were advertising that we will take dogs with bad behavior just for boarding or fostering or something because that breed is famous for their no tolerance to the strangers, so it's always an issue for the people to find the place for the boarding when they are going on vacation or something," Higgins said.

While young puppies can find homes within weeks, Higgins said typically they end up being stuck with older dogs because they are harder to get adopted.

"We are constantly looking for homes for dogs that we are not going to breed, because for security we don't need that many (dogs). All we want (is) just to extend the amount on the license," she said.

Among the services listed on Est-Alfa K-9 Security Service website are guard, patrol and detection dogs. According to the information posted on the website, Platunov started his professional career as a trainer for canine obedience and protection. He also served as a judge in dog shows in Russia, Estonia and Latvia prior to moving to the United States…..