Karl Puckett
A study of the effectiveness of guard dogs in deterring predators from killing livestock that began in Montana has been expanded to four additional states, and two additional breeds from Portugal and Bulgaria are now part being tested along with dogs from Turkey.
The aim is to discover a dog breed that’s the most effective in reducing sheep depredation by wolves and grizzly bears, or another “nonlethal” tool for protecting sheep, as opposed to killing predators that attack livestock.
Guard dogs are used by 40 percent of sheep operations for predator control, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, which handles USDA’s predator control efforts.
But little is known about how carnivores respond to them, said Daniel Kinka, a doctoral ecology student at Utah State University in Logan, who is overseeing the work.
And the study is looking at new breeds from Portugal, Turkey and Bulgaria. The breeds are not commonly used in the United States, but have long histories of defending livestock from bears and wolves in those countries.
“These are dogs who have been bred for many, many generations specifically to do the job they’re designed for, which is guarding sheep,” Kinka said.
As part of the study, researchers sometimes hide in the vicinity of sheep and guard dogs so they can watch the dogs on the job. Cameras also have been set up to record their behavior. And wolf decoys that test the response of the canine guards are in place.
The third field season of the four-year study, which is backed by sheep producers, wrapped up in mid-October.
The final field season will come in 2016, and the results to date still are very preliminary, said Julie Young, a research wildlife biologist for National Wildlife Research Center in Logan, Utah.
The study is being completed by the research center, the research arm of Wildlife Services.
The final results will be available in 18 months to two years.
“In general, guard dogs are not as effective in their first couple of years,” Young said. “They’re still puppies. They’re still learning. We’ve definitely had some results that suggest there are some breeds best suited for certain situations.”
What researches are looking for is how to improve the use of dogs, and which breed works best in certain situations, Young said. For example, one type of dog might work better in forested areas, another in fenced areas.
The results aren’t likely to conclude that there is one fabulous breed that everybody should use, Young said.
In 2014, 585,000 sheep and lambs died of all causes in the United States with 194,395 lost to predators, costing the industry about $102 million, according to USDA.
In Montana in 2014, wolves were blamed for killing 115 sheep; bears, 314; mountain lions, 377; and coyotes, 8,800.
The study began with Turkish kangals on a pilot basis in Montana including at the Rockport and New Miami Hutterite colonies.
It’s since been expanded to Washington, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon.
The project was expanded to get a better sample size, Young said.
And two additional breeds, transmontanos from Portugal and Bulgarian karkachans, have been added to the study, with 41 kangals, transmontanos and Karakachans now in place with 19 sheep producers with 21 sheep bands in the five states.
All of the breeds have shown effectiveness against wolves and bears in their home countries, Kinka said.
“These breeds were very intentionally selected,” Kinka said. “We wanted something that was potentially more effective against large carnivores.”
Researchers also wanted a breed that isn’t too aggressive with people.
The breeds from Turkey, Portugal and Bulgaria are being compared to 18 “white dogs” to see if they’re better at protecting sheep.
White dogs are mixes of Great Pyrenees, Maremmas or Akbash and commonly used as guard dogs in the United States. They are less effective against wolves and grizzly bears than they are against coyotes, Kinka says.
Ideally, researchers would be present to record actual encounters between the dogs and carnivores but that’s not possible, Kinka said.
“We know the dogs and sheep have interaction with carnivores, but they’re almost exclusively in the middle of the night,” he said. “And they happen somewhat randomly.”
Instead, researchers set up wolf decoys in sheep grazing areas, Kina said. The decoy is a wolf hide that’s placed over a skeleton made of plastic pipe. “To give a rough appearance of a wolf,” Kinka said.
An electronic howl box is then placed nearby.
“We set up the decoy and set up the howl box and we’ll go hide,” Kinka said.
The same procedure is done with a mule deer hide and an elk bugling box to simulate a nonpredator.
The aim is to gauge the auditory and visual responses the dogs have to the stimuli from the predator and nonpredator.
“We don’t have any obvious indication one dog (breed) is not working,” Kinka said.
Researchers are also comparing sheep losses to grizzlies and bears occurring under the watch of the different breeds.
“In other words, if you have breed ‘x,’ are you preventing more deaths due to predator ‘y?’ he said.
Cameras have been placed in the field, and sometimes the researchers just sit and watch the dogs themselves.
“We just hide and watch them to see what the daily life of a dog looks like,” he said.
Kinka originally was doing the research on his own, but three regional field technicians are now working with him as the study has expanded.
After the study ends, the dogs will become the property of the producers.
“We’ve been really lucky to have tremendous support from the sheep industry at large,” Kinka said.
George Edwards of Montana Livestock Loss board, which provides reimbursements to producers who lose livestock to predation, said the board supports the study.
“Anything that’s done in Montana so we can get Montana data, our board supports,” he said.
Erin Edge, Rockies and Plains representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said the organization is looking forward to seeing the final results.
The group runs a conflict mitigation program for grizzlies and wolves in which it provides financial and technical assistance for residents who use tools and techniques that minimize conflicts such as as electric fencing.
The group has supported the use of livestock dogs in the past.
“Studies like this, for us, help us to understand more about a particular tool or technique that might reduce conflict with wildlife,” Edge said.