Welsh Sheepdog Society
Information
about various herding breeds can be found in dog
breed encyclopedias such as The Atlas of Dog Breeds
of the World, by Bonnie Wilcox and Chris
Walkowicz,
and there are foreign-language websites that can
be found by using a search engine.
A
few more herding breeds are:
New Zealand Heading
Dog, New Zealand Huntaway: These
are the working dogs developed for handling
New Zealand's large flocks. The Heading
Dog, used as a gatherer, is a strain of
working collie closely resembling the
Border Collie in appearance and manner
of working.
The Huntaway, used for "hunting out" sheep
in brushy areas and pushing them along,
was developed from old working collie
types and a mix of some other breeds (Labrador
is one possibility) in order to obtain
a
dog that has a lot of push and bark; huntaways
are trained primarily to drive the sheep
ahead of or away from the handler. Huntaways
vary in appearance but generally are leggy,
short-coated, heavy-eared dogs.
Smithfield:
An
old type of English stockdog, often used
as a dover's dog, the name being associated
with the Smithfield livestock market in
London. It was generally stocky in build,
shaggy-coated, drop-eared, often bobtailed,
and as a working dog had a tendency to bark
and grip. The name is still used for a strain
of working dog in Australia; these are strong,
close workers, varying in color, with medium-long
or shaggy (beardie type) coats.
Florida
Cur, Yellow
Blackmouthed Cur, and other Cur breeds:
the Cur breeds were developed from the all-purpose
dogs used for herding
and hunting by settlers in remote regions
of the United States -- "Old Yeller" was
a dog of this type. Curs closely resemble
the related Catahoula in overall body shape
and manner of working (for information see "Catahoula
Leopard Dog" above). Some strains,
however, are used more for hunting than
for herding.
Blue
Lacy: like the Catahoula
and Cur breeds, a smooth-haired, drop-eared
all-purpose dog for herding and hunting.
The breed was first developed in Texas
by the Lacy family and characterized by
a distinctive slate blue color (other
colors also occur).
Alpine
Shepherd Dog -- a German sheepdog
breed (in German).
Patagonian
Sheepdog: Spread throughout the
pampas regions of Argentina and Chile are strains of working
dogs descended largely from collies brought
by settlers from Britain intermixed with
other local working dogs. Appearance varies
considerably, with a wide variety of colors,
sizes, and coat types, but the overall
impression of many is of working collie
characteristics. Recognized
breeds such as the Border Collie and Kelpie also
are used as stockdogs in these areas.
General-Purpose
Dogs Also Used for Herding
There
are several breeds which, while not primarily bred
as herding dogs, included herding among their
tasks on the farm. These include such breeds as
the Kerry
Blue Terrier, Soft-coated
Wheaten Terrier, Schipperke, German Spitz/Keeshond, American Eskimo,
and
others.
Mixed
Breeds
Mixed breeds have also served as helpful herders, and, as is the case with
most other breeds, crosses played their part in the development of many
herding breeds. Frequently-seen crosses on farms and ranches in America
today involve various blends of Border Collie, Australian Shepherd and
Australian Cattle Dog. The German Shepherd X Rough Collie was popular as
a farm dog for many years in the Midwest.
Livestock
Guardian Dogs
These aren't herders, but serve as protectors for the flock, usually living
full-time with the animals they are protecting. In some regions there would
be both local guardian breed and a local herding breed; for instance, in
the Pyrenees Mountains in France the guardian dog was the Great Pyrenees
and the herder was the small, active Pyrenean Shepherd. Some of the guardian
breeds on occasion would provide a low-key, gentle guidance of the flock,
but they weren't active herders, a behavior that would be frowned upon
in a livestock guardian breed. Information about these dogs is available
at: