Wild Transylvania

By Paul White

Donkeys are regularly seen with shepherds in Romania. They compliment the deterrence provided by livestock guardian dogs (LGD) from depredations by wolves and bears. What you can't see in this photo are the large number of dogs guarding the flock. So what role does the donkey play?

They are very sensitive to the presence of predators and kick up an enormous and noisy fuss when they approach the flock. They are especially useful at night when it's dark and quiet. That said, they are never used as a substitute to livestock guardian dogs.

Recently I've seen a worrying trend in online debate about replacing LGD's with donkeys because it's believed by some, that they'd be less of a danger to humans walking near to or passing a flock. Yes, a donkey can be incredibly feisty and noisy but they are no match for a top apex predator.  

Even LGD's are occasionally killed by wolves if not adequate in numbers and strength, so what chance would donkeys have? Shepherds have honed their skills over generations of experience, so the necessary knowledge on how to effectively protect livestock is already available to anyone wanting to learn more.

I have always been a proponent of human shepherd presence when packs of LGD's are used to protect unfenced flocks/herds in the mountains. The shepherd not only increases the effectiveness of the deterrent to repel predators but also reduces the potential danger to passing walkers who do not know how to deal with approaching LGD's. 

So we shouldn't be thinking in terms of replacing dogs with donkeys and eliminating the presence of a human shepherd. Yes, it's an additional cost to the farmer but not as costly as losing your flock or herd. Shepherds not only care for the livestock in their charge, but also milk sheep daily and make cheese. This is a traditional way of life and they provide society with some very high quality food products.

We have few walkers in our location, mainly due to the large local population of bears. But in those areas where large predators are returning (such as wolves in rewilding programmes), teaching walkers and cyclists about LGD etiquette is just as important as education about coexisting with bears and wolves. They go hand in hand.

Author: Paul White

This is Zorro, our twelve month old Sarplaninac livestock guardian dog (LGD) keeping close to us in local fields. He is reassuring to have around on our daily walks as bears have taken up temporary residence amongst the corn. This occurs each year in autumn which does pose some danger to farmers and walkers alike. Bears love to eat corn and will gorge themselves until full, but rather than return to the forest to sleep they often remain in the fields, sheltered and hidden by the tall stems. However, as the corn ripens the leaves dry and constantly rustle in the breeze making it hard for both humans and bears to hear each other on approach. 

Of course one LGD is no match for a bear but Zorro often senses or notices dangers well before we do. Having a few extra seconds of warning can make all the difference. We still carry bear spray, but Zorro offers an extra layer of reassurance.

I have studied livestock guardian dogs for several years but have never had one of my own. I was always reluctant to walk in areas where there are bears with our other dogs, especially off leash. There is always the danger that after confronting a bear, a dog will lose confidence when charged, turn and run back to the owner closely followed by the bear. In general the advice is not to walk with your dog off leash.

Zorro's introduction to our family

So Zorro joined our family when slightly less than 12 weeks of age on January 18th, 2021. It was an exceptionally cold day (-11.5 Celsius) when I visited Tibor, my shepherd friend. There was a biting wind, so several of the pups huddled together with an adult LGD, including Zorro (below) looking directly at the camera. 

After taking several photos of Zorro, Tibor unexpectedly offered him to me as a gift! This was such a pleasant surprise and it didn't take me long to accept his generous offer. Tibor knows how much I love these dogs and knew that I had been considering getting one as a companion. 

At that time we had no livestock, but now have chickens. Bears do enter gardens and kill livestock, so Zorro will have an active role in deterring predators from our garden. Earlier this year a bear entered our neighbour's garden and killed several of her chickens.

Zorro (above left) looks black in photos but he's actually dark brown in colour, with some light tan markings too. The other two grey Sarplaninac puppies are from an earlier litter and the dark dog in the middle is a Mudi (Hungarian breed of herding/driving dog).This was Zorro's last play with his puppy pack before he came home with me in the car.

By 15 weeks of age we were staggered by Zorro's rate of growth. Our vet gave calcium capsules to assist his bone development. It was a challenge getting them down his throat from day one. The vet demonstrated how to do this which involved my right hand disappearing between his pin sharp teeth with the capsule between my thumb and forefinger, I would release the capsule at the back of his throat, removing my hand quickly, holding his jaw shut, head tilted back with fingers over his nostrils which triggered him to swallow. Sounds easy right?

However, it didn't take Zorro long to find an effective wriggle technique to evade swallowing the capsules. The vet said it was important that he didn't bite the capsules as the contents could cause vomiting, so Laura started wrapping the capsules in chicken skin which he eagerly swallowed whole.

Livestock guardian dog ownership

So what lessons have I learned about LGD ownership during these last months of Zorro's development in comparison to other dogs that have been part of my life from puppy to adulthood?

I have previous experience with two stray cross breeds (both small in size), Scottish terriers, one golden retriever and one Newfoundland.

Of course each dog has it's own personality and there are often variations of temperament within any one breed. For the purposes of this article I will describe my findings in terms of all livestock guardian dog breeds inclusive of the Sarplaninac.

Should you choose an LGD for a companion?

Livestock guardian dogs are not always recommended as a first dog for an inexperienced owner. I do agree with this to a certain extent. Their working traits are to protect livestock. If they are taken on as a companion dog then you become their livestock to protect and that can be from predators or other people. They tend to be highly protective of their family. They only relax with a stranger when they are introduced and they can see you at ease with somebody new. 

Socialising 

If your LGD is going to be a working dog, it's important to socialise your dog well with both people and livestock from a young age. Tibor's kids are fully involved with the upbringing of their pups and I can see the difference this makes on producing a well balanced dog. If an LGD is never introduced to sheep for example they may still chase them like any other dog. It is important to remember this when walking across farmland.

Guarding and barking

Zorro is very territorial in his/our garden. Anything or anyone approaching the fencing or gate is treated as a potential threat. He can see through our side fencing so he's used to our neighbours, but he can distinguish between them and their guests. 

Does Zorro bark? Yes, when guarding his territory and family, but not all the time. A dog that barks constantly is less effective at deterring threats, as predators will simply get used to it. The bark should be graduated and become more intense when a predator or unknown  human approaches. You must be aware of this, especially if you live on a suburban housing estate with many neighbours. Complaints against a constant barking are one of the leading causes of LGD abandonment.

LGD's really do have the ability to project their 'voice' as a warning. Going outside and shouting at your dog to stop barking will only cause confusion as this is what guardians do, this is their job. Instead go out and see what the problem is. Maybe there is real danger out there? Zorro can't see over our two metre gate but I can with a step. If he's barking, I go out and investigate. I am part of Zorro's pack, so he expects this of me. I step up and look over. Sometimes it's a visitor, or there could be a stray dog sniffing about. Bears are also known to walk down our street. Whatever I see or don't see I let Zorro know. The tone of my voice or my actions is all that he needs.

Exercise

They need space and plenty of exercise. I would not recommend an LGD to a person living in an apartment. If we miss our daily walk because of bad weather, we can see that Zorro is less relaxed. Good long walks keeps them happy, fit and healthy.

Character and training

Zorro is independent, single minded and very curious which are common LGD traits. For me these are positive characteristics for their work in the field where they often required to make good instant decisions, without guidance from their shepherd. Most of what they do to be effective guardians is from instinct. They don't need much in the way of training for their work. But they do need good, positive experiences and exposure to people and farm animals. I would advise early use of collars and leash training, as this will make daily walks and visits to the vet much easier.

LGD's are large, they need to be to adequately protect livestock from wolves and bears. However, they are most effective in deterring predators as a pack of dogs. If they see a predator or unknown human approaching at a distance they often graduate their threat. This warning should be heeded to prevent physical confrontation.

Correction 

As previously mentioned guardians can be stubborn and independent, but that does not equate to a naughty or bad dog. But they do need firm leadership from you. They do not respond well to aggressive or harsh treatment, so temper your corrections. Be firm and use the tone of your voice to send the required message. Messaging should be simple and immediate. Moaning at your dog for an hour after your dog has chewed your shoe will not be effective. Be firm with your voice and remove the shoe. Make sure that you learn the lesson too and keep shoes out of reach. These incidents often happen when a puppy is teething, so make sure that appropriate 'chews' are available and not items that you want to remain intact. 

Hair shedding 

An outdoor LGD tends to shed twice a year, spring and autumn, in preparation for a new summer and then winter coat. This will differ with a dog living in a house with central heating. Zorro lives outdoors most of the time. He prefers to be outside or in the garage and struggles a bit in a warm house, demonstrated with panting and drinking more water. 

Veterinary services

Find a good vet and stick with that person. Zorro loves his vet, even though visits often involve needles. Trust and familiarity goes a long way with guardians. 

Diet 

We feed Zorro twice a day with a good quality kibble mixed with cooked chicken. Different LGD owners have varying opinions on the best diet for these dogs. Some prefer a raw diet. I do not have rigid opinions on this. I follow the advice of our vet, including calcium capsule use for the first 12 months and Zorro has developed nicely and appears healthy on it. 

Food drive or aggression 

Zorro never begs for food or eats quickly. Neither is he food aggressive and can be stroked when eating. This is not the same with all guardians and can be quite different when they are fed simultaneously as a working pack.

I can't tell you how long I have waited for this encounter! We were on our morning walk with Zorro between a field and an irrigation ditch, not far from the forest. Laura saw a cat in the distance stalking in lucerne which was nothing unusual in itself as we see domestic cats in the fields regularly. However, there was something about this individuals behaviour that attracted my attention. Many domestic cats will freeze on approach but most often I can still see them. This cat went out of it's way to completely conceal itself, so much so that when I arrived on scene there was no trace of it. I shuffled around a little but saw nothing, so decided to return to Laura. But as I turned I suddenly noticed two eyes peering at me through the lucerne.

When I saw the markings on the cat's head I was pretty convinced it was a wildcat, but wanted to see it's tail to be certain. We both froze and stared at each other for a few seconds before I raised my camera and took the image above. I then backed off and crouched at a comfortable distance between the lucerne and ditch. After a few short minutes the cat popped it's head up to see where I was. I took these photos with a zoom lens and then cropped in, so I was not as close as this looks.

The wildcat eventually decided to move over to the irrigation ditch where I managed to take more photos of it's whole body including the very distinctive wildcat tail, before disappearing into long grass. 

by Paul White

I have only seen dark morph Eurasian red squirrels in this part of the eastern Carpathians. They look quite different from those that I have seen in Scotland which are lighter with reddish, rusty coloured fur. So I decided to post the following video (which I captured on one of my camera traps) on social media to find out what other people's experiences are.

by Paul White

This is Penge a working Šarplaninac shepherd dog with little Melinda. Penge's mother died when he was only 3 days old, so Tibor (Melinda's father) got the puppies to suckle from the sheep. This was Melinda's favourite puppy and she spent a lot of time bonding with and socializing him.

I personally know many livestock guardian dogs from several shepherd groups in Romania, and the way LGD puppies are raised and how this effects the way they work and behave as adults is of great personal interest to me.

I know that some farmers minimize human contact during a puppy's imprinting phase because they believe this will make them less effective guardians. Puppies are penned (corralled) with livestock when weened, often with an adult guardian to learn from. The only contact they have with a human is when they are fed or require immunizations. I have never seen this practiced in Romania and appears to have started when they were first introduced to the 'new world'. 

Later they join the larger pack of LGD's without the presence of a human. The motive for removing the shepherd is reduce production costs, but personally I believe this is unfair on the dogs and a false economy in the long term. Livestock guardian dogs have evolved working alongside humans over many centuries. Without the direction of a shepherd, they are not corrected when required, can turn feral (leaving livestock unprotected), depredations can increase and sometimes the LGD's turn on the livestock themselves. I have been told first hand that this often leads to highly stressed, aggressive and unpredictable dogs. The initial high expectations of inexperienced farmers can quickly turn to disappointment followed by abandonment and ending in euthanasia.  

The opposite approach is to allow puppies to mix with both livestock and humans (including children). I personally do not believe this has a negative impact on an LGD's ability to protect livestock and in fact makes for a more balanced and socialized dog. 

Walkers have a genuine fear of passing flocks and herds where LGD's are working and there have been cases where attacks have occurred. You will still receive all the noise and threatening behaviour if you approach livestock too closely and are unknown to the dogs, but you are less likely to be bitten if a dog has been socialized with people as a puppy. One commentator noted: "I think that many shepherds hesitate to use LGDs exactly because they fear (liability in case of) attacks to humans."

I genuinely understand the fear farmers have regarding litigation which is why these powerful dogs need raising properly in the context of their work. It's important for inexperienced farmers deterring large predators to be supported with good and accurate information, including the correct way to raise their puppies. LGD's need to consistently make good and balanced decisions, like quickly determining the difference between real predatory threats to livestock versus passive humans walking by. 

My personal findings and experience may be purely anecdotal, but I can say without bias that I feel much more comfortable around LGD's that have been well socialized from an early age around humans. Of course here in Romania a human shepherd is nearly always present with his dogs, so most puppies will have had direct contact with at least one human. But Tibor and several other shepherds I know go out of their way to socialize their dogs with a wide variety of people. This does take some extra effort for otherwise busy farmers, so they must observe positive results for them to invest this precious time.

In this area of Transylvania there's a low human population density with few leisure walkers, but that is not the case in many of those countries that are now introducing LGD's to counter the threat to livestock from wolves. Several countries in the European Union are transforming areas of land back to forestry from arable use as part of a continent wide rewilding program. This is to make for a more sustainable and nature friendly environment and already wolves have migrated all the way from Poland to Belgium.   

However, many farmers and leisure walkers in these countries have not seen these dogs at work and are unaware how they protect their flocks from perceived danger. It's important for walkers to understand how to behave if confronted by LGD's, otherwise misunderstandings can occur. There's a lot of menacing and threatening behaviour involved when a wolf comes anywhere close to livestock, and dogs not properly socialized with humans may treat walkers in a similar way if they get too close.

If we are to give large predators a chance of remaining in these new and rewilded territories, LGD's will become an inevitable consequence and an essential part of the deterrence against large predator involved livestock depredation. People should not shy away from roaming the countryside on foot and will need to be kept onside which means keeping them and their pet dogs as safe as possible. 

Free roaming LGD's guarding livestock on open land requires a new way of thinking for both farmers and walkers. This is the trade off between an apex predator free environment and a truly rewilded one. So using dogs that are as people tolerant/friendly as possible is so important for this to work.

It is well understood that in a one on one confrontation a dog in most circumstances is no match for a wolf. The dog is most vulnerable around the neck and throat and this is taken advantage of by the wolf which has a superior bite force, enabled by powerful muscles around its jaw and neck. 

Wolves know they can kill livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) more easily if they split them up, so it is important that dogs work as a team and support each other.

So what can shepherds do to redress this imbalance between dog and wolf? 

Shepherds may apply a spiked collar (also known as a 'wolf collar') if facing these kinds of attacks on a regular basis. But will wearing such a collar negate the advantage the wolf has over the dog? The simple answer is no. 

Attacking the neck and throat is the quickest and easiest way for a wolf to kill a dog, but just because there's a spiked collar present does not deter the wolf. The wolf will simply change it's approach, for example attacking the chest or abdomen. The spiked collar only slows the wolf down, giving more time for the other dogs or shepherd to support it.

Is a spiked collar only used for protection? This is the conventional wisdom but some shepherds report that their dogs learn to use collars with long spikes as a weapon when engaging with wolves. 

So how can a wolf access the vulnerable parts of a dogs throat if it is not wearing a spiked collar? 

Several shepherds that I have interviewed describe a technique used by wolves working in pairs to kill LGDs. One wolf grabs a dog by its ear, pulling it back whilst simultaneously turning the head to expose the throat for a second wolf to attack. 

This could explain why so many shepherds crop their dog's ears, to prevent them being used as levers. They also crop ears because they get torn, infected and painful in hierarchy fights between LGDs in the same pack or with rival dogs from other packs. That said ear cropping is now illegal in Romania and a recent increase in prosecutions is reducing this practice. 

The use of spiked collars often depends on the local predator burden, for example in areas where meadow grazing falls within the territory of an established wolf pack. These collars will also give LGD's more confidence when a confrontation with wolves becomes unavoidable. 

The more dominant dogs within the pack that most frequently head out to confront approaching predators are good candidates for a spiked collar because they are most at risk of injury and death. Some shepherds also apply them to dogs that have passed their peak age and fitness, giving them extra protection and time to deal with a predator confrontation.

There are occasions when spiked collars are not always advisable, especially when new or younger dogs are introduced to the pack. It's better to let them settle in, reducing the risk of avoidable injury during play or chastisement.

An LGD pack deterring a single wolf is more easily managed as strength lies is in their numbers. However, deterring a pack of wolves is something else, more dangerous and complicated. Wolves can sow confusion amongst dogs with multifaceted attacks. For example, a single wolf may approach the sheepfold drawing the dogs away from livestock, giving others the opportunity to enter the flock. A cohesive and experienced pack of LGDs will be aware of such tactics, with some dogs staying close to the sheep whilst other dogs chase away the decoy wolf. In this life and death power struggle involving much intelligence and bravery a spiked collar could make all the difference to an LGDs chances of survival.

Article updated on May 21, 2023