Polish Tatra Sheepdog, Caucasian Shepherd Dog, Himalayan Sheepdog, Anatolian Shepherd, Carpathian Shepherd Dog, Georgian Shepherd, Karst Shepherd, Bucovina Shepherd, and Maremma Sheepdog – what these breeds all have in common is that none of them is a sheepdog as we know the term, but a livestock guardian dog.
Today, most of us define “sheepdog” as a herding dog that moves sheep by droving, using eye, gathering, boundary style work, fetching or holding. This is not what an LGD does, but we’ve noticed considerable confusion over the years in various sources we’ve read that such “shepherds” (meaning LDGs) also herded the animals they were entrusted to watch. We have to conclude that there is a misunderstanding of terms.
Shepherds – as in the human kind – moved flocks using herding dogs. Their LGDs came along for the ride, so to speak, which is why we often see these dogs strolling alongside or ahead of the sheep on YouTube videos. Those “in the know” see the dogs in these videos and recognize it for what it is: An LGD moving along with a flock or herd, or at best, keeping an eye on incoming threats. Others, however, have made the mistake in assuming that when a dog is moving with stock, it must be herding them. It’s not.
Dogs owned by shepherds were often referred to as sheepdogs or shepherds, as author, Janet Vorwald Dohner, notes in her marvelous book, Farmdogs. She adds that LGDs likely preceded the use of specialized herding dogs, and may themselves have been among the first dogs with a true “specialty,” namely, guarding the stock.
One such dog is the Georgian Shepherd, also known as the Nagazi, and there, too, is some confusion. There is a difference between Nagazi type and the Nagazi breed, though some have written as if the Nagazi breed is interchangeable with the Caucasian Ovcharka. It isn’t. Many cynologists regard as the Georgian Shepherd as the real Caucasian Ovcharka; others believe that it was a significant forbearer of the Caucasian Ovcharka.
Our Nagazi is smaller and lighter than a Caucasian Ovcharka, and at first glance, it will appear to be less imposing than the former. Only a desperate or inexperienced predator, however, takes its chances with a Nagazi on the job. This is a serious dog made seriously effective by its speed, agility, courage and intelligence.
There are two “types” of the Georgian LGD: The long hair “Bear” type, and a short haired “Lion” type considered to be the oldest of the two, but both represent the oldest Georgian dog breed. In 2000, the Cynological Federation of Georgia officially adopted a unified breed standard for the breed which includes distinct breed features and accepted variations. In present day Georgia, there is a community of breed enthusiasts is working on the development and protection of the Nagazi. If you happen to be in Tbilisi, Georgia in Eastern Europe on October 16 and 17, 2021 in Tbilisi, there will be two CAC-CACIB FCI International All-breed Dog Shows where you might be able to meet a Nagazi in person.
For now, we leave you with this lighter look at a serious working dog:
Image of a Georgian Shepherd taken from the video you just saw
it doesn’t match with archeological data. The first dogs were hunting dogs — who helped catch and kill reindeer, mammoth, the original sheep and aurochs. This is a very easy transfer from the original “wolf” (or most recent common ancestor wolves/dogs) because that’s what they do. While protecting the den is also a wolf trait, it is pups and pack members. Expanding to other animals like sheep or goats that are normally prey is a bit more modification — especially as the original sheep, goats and cattle were nothing like the modern domestic animals. (think muflon for sheep and aurochs for cattle. ). But herding? Wolves have been documented to use flanking and other tactics to maneuver herds of caribou — and herding is merely maneuvering on command and without the kill. The archeological record doesn’t show early dogs like the mastiff (who shows up in Sumeria) as preceeding the midsize “bites to control” herding dog. Further, you see this in the repeated assertions that herding dogs were used as hunters by those who couldn’t afford multiple dogs — the “lurcher”. The foundation dog for Belgian Shepherds, Picard, was shot by a game warden. The German Shepherd was banned for a time by Australia as a “sheep runner” . The classic book Bob,son of Battle is a tale of herding dog gone rogue. As for the term “sheepdog” it’s due to a nomenclature issue. Sheepdog is generally used for any dog that “works with sheep” and this includes BOTH the guardian type and the herding type. Yes, it’s known that occasionally a LGD will “guide it’s flock”, particularly in a danger situation. And it’s also well known that a herding dog can and will defend it’s owner and flock in a danger situation. That’s how Malinois and GSDs became the most famous of military/police dogs. But overlap is something dogs do, just as there are sighthounds that can track.
interesting evaluation of LGD dogs at work. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1485&context=hwi Spatial associations of livestock guardian dogs and domestic sheep “We determined space use of LGDs relative to domestic sheep on open-range
grazing allotments used by working ranches in the Rocky Mountains area of the northwest
United States between August 2012 and October 2016. We determined dynamic space use,
measured as proximity of LGDs to domestic sheep, and evaluated if this metric differed by
breed, sex, or age. The LGDs and sheep were fitted with global positioning system transmitters
to obtain location data that were subsequently compared by the above traits using multiple
mixed-effect linear models. We found no differences in proximity to sheep on open range
among LGDs for any of the 3 traits. Overall, we did find a temporal effect in that all of the
LGDs studied were closer to sheep in early morning hours when sheep moved the shortest
distances and predators are most likely to be active. These results suggest any of the breeds
tested, along with sex or age of these LGD breeds, will remain in proximity to sheep when
properly bonded”