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Herding dog breeds developed in response to local situations and needs. In many cases, the work required versatility, while in other cases there were particular conditions that led to some specialization. Conditions could change over time. The Way They Work provides a view of many 

of the tasks of stock-working dogs.

Some of the herding breeds have pages galore, others have at most a mention in passing on a general list of dogs breeds. I have tried to include pages that provide information or the most direct links to pages with such information. If you know of a page which should be included on this list, or come across any broken links with regard to any of links set out below, please let me know. 

          ALPINE SHEPHERD DOG:

      •  Alpenhuetehund (in German)

          ALTDEUTSCHER SCHAEFERHUND / ALTDEUTSCHER HUETEHUND:

• Altdeutscher Schaeferhund -- The Altdeutscher Schaeferhund is the principal herding dog in Germany and retains the full variety of coat, color, and type.  In the 19th century, some of these dogs were at work in America, too.
• Altdeutscher Schaeferhund / Altdeutscher Huetehund (in German)
  
  APPENZELLER MOUNTAIN DOG:
• Appenzeller Mountain Dog  
  
  AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOG:
• Australian Cattle Dogs On-Line  
• Australian Cattle Dog Club of America
• Everything Cattle Dog
• ACD Spotlight - Australian Cattle Dog On-Line Magazine
• New ACD Gazette - Australian Cattle Dog On-Line Magazine - English and German
  
  AUSTRALIAN KELPIE:
• The Australian Kelpie
• Working Kelpie Council of Australia
• North American Australian Kelpie Registry, Inc
  
  AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD:
• The Working Aussie Source -- dedicated to the working Aussie stockdog
• Australian Shepherd Club of America
• Australian Shepherd Club UK
• A View of Australian Shepherd History
  
  AUSTRALIAN STUMPY TAIL CATTLE DOG:
• Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog Club of NSW
  
  BASQUE SHEPHERD:
• Perro de Pastor Vasco/Euskal Artzain Txakurra -- shepherd dog of the Basques of Spain (in Spanish)
  
  BEARDED COLLIE:
• Bearded Collie Herding Association
• Bearded Collie Club of America
• Shepherds with Beardies -- working Beardies and beardie-like sheepdogs; extensive site with many articles and photos  (note:  For copyright and contract reasons, the website cannot be translated into other languages, but must remain just as it is.  The information on the website will not be appearing as a book, unless the University that is taking over the materials decides at some point in the future to produce one.)
  
  BEAUCERON:
• American Beauceron Club
  
  BELGIANS:
  In the United States, the Belgians are considered separate breeds by the American Kennel Club. In other countries, and by the United Kennel Club, all four are considered varieties of one breed.
• United Belgian Shepherd Dog Association
  
  BELGIAN LAEKENOIS:
• American Belgian Laekenois Association
  
  BELGIAN MALINOIS:
• American Belgian Malinois Club
  
  BELGIAN SHEEPDOG (GROENENDAEL):
• The Belgian as a Stockdog
  
  BELGIAN TERVUREN:
• American Belgian Tervuren Club
  
  BERGAMASCO SHEEPDOG:
• Bergamasco Sheepdog Club of America 
• Bergamasco Sheepdog Association of Canada 
  
  BERGER PICARD:
• Berger Picard Club of America
  
  BERNESE MOUNTAIN DOG:
• Bernese Mountain Dog Home Page
  
  BLUE LACY
• Texas Lacy Game Dog Association
  
  BORDER COLLIE:
• American Border Collie Network
• United States Border Collie Club -- "dedicated to preserving the Border Collie as a working stockdog"
• Border Collie Museum -- articles about the history and lore of the Border Collie and related breeds
  
  BOUVIER DES ARDENNES
• Bouvier des Ardennes (in French)
  
  BOUVIER DES FLANDRES:
• North American Working Bouvier Association
• American Bouvier des Flandres Club
  
  BRIARD:
• Briard Home Page
• Briard Club of America
  
  CANAAN DOG:
• Canaan Dog Club of America
• Israel Canaan Dog Club of America
  
  Cão Da Serra de Aries (PORTUGUESE SHEEPDOG):
• The Friendly Serra Club (FSC) -- in the U.K.
  
  Cão De Fila De São Miguel (AZORES CATTLE DOG):
• Azores Cattle Dog
• Kennel Auto de Fé (in Finnish)
  
  CAREA LEONES:
• Carea Leonés - Shepherd dog of the León region of Spain (in Spanish)
  
  CATAHOULA LEOPARD DOG:
• Catahoula Home Page
  
  CATALONIAN SHEEPDOG (GOS D'ATURA):
• Club del Gos d'Atura Català (in Spanish)
• Catalan Sheepdog Club of Great Britain
  
  CHODSKY PES, or BOHEMIAN SHEPHERD:
• Chodsky Pes, from the Czech Republic
  
  COLLIE (ROUGH AND SMOOTH):
• American Working Collie Association -- promoting the working abilities of Rough and Smooth Collies
• Collie Club of America
• Keystone Collie Club: Eastern Pennsylvania, USA
  
  COOLIE (see GERMAN COOLIE, KOOLIE)
• Australia's German Collie -- Some Background on the Coolie/Koolie
  
  CROATIAN SHEEPDOG:
• Croatian Sheepdog
  
  CUR BREEDS:
  The  Cur breeds were developed from the all-purpose dogs used for herding and hunting used by early settlers in the U.S. -- "Old Yeller" was a dog of this type, as are the Catahoula and Blue Lacey.  There are a number of local strains of Cur dogs; some are used more for hunting than herding. 
• Blackmouth Cur
• Photos of Florida Curs working cattle 
  
  DUTCH SHEPHERD:
• American Dutch Shepherd Club
  
  ENGLISH SHEPHERD:
• The English Shepherd -- An American Breed
  
  ENTLEBUCHER SENNENHUND:
• Entlebucher  
• Entlebucher Sennenhund
  
  GERMAN COOLIE (see also COOLIE, GERMAN KOOLIE):
• International German Coolie Society and Registry -- an old Australian stockdog breed
  
  GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG:
• German Shepherd FAQ  
• German Shepherd Dog Club of America
  
  GREATER SWISS MOUNTAIN DOG:
• Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Club of America 
• Greater Swiss Mountain Dog
  
  ICELANDIC SHEEPDOG:
• Icelandic Sheepdog Association of America
• Canadian Icelandic Sheepdog Club 
• The Icelandic Sheepdog
  
  KOOLIE (see also COOLIE, GERMAN COOLIE):
• Working Koolie Association Australia -- founded to promote and preserve the Koolie as a working breed
• Koolie Club of Australia -- the Koolie, one of Australia's oldest working breeds
  
  LANCASHIRE HEELER:
• The Lancashire Heeler Club (UK)  
• North American Lancashire Heeler Club
  
  LAPPHUNDS:
  The Lapphund breeds are the traditional reindeer herders of northern Scandinavia.
• FINNISH LAPPHUND:  Finnish Lapphund Club of Great Britain;  Finnish Lapphund Club of the Netherlands (in Dutch);  Finnish Lapphund Club of Canada;  Original Reindeer Herder (in Finnish), with many photos; and a little information in English  
• LAPPONIAN HERDER:  Lapponian Herder Homepage 
• SWEDISH LAPPHUND:  Swedish Lapphund Club of Sweden
  
  McNAB:
• The McNab Dog
  
  MINIATURE AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD:
• North American Miniature Australian Shepherd Club of the U.S.A.
• Miniature Australian Shepherd Club of America
  
  MUDI:
• The Mudi, Hungary's "Driver Dog" -- the Mudi as a working stockdog
• American Mudi Association  
• Mudi Club of America 
• Mudi Association of Canada    
  
  NEW ZEALAND HEADING DOG:
• New Zealand Heading Dog -- how the Heading Dog and Huntaway work
  
  NEW ZEALAND HUNTAWAY:  
• Huntaway Club
  
  NORWEGIAN BUHUND:
• The Norwegian Buhund
• Norwegian Buhund Club of America
  
  OLD ENGLISH SHEEPDOG:
• Old English Sheepdog Club of America
  
  OLD FARM COLLIE/FARM SHEPHERD:
• Collies -- Back to the Future: The old farm collie or farm shepherd was the ancestor of several modern herding breeds; a few individuals of that ancestral type still remain (due to the server location, this site is offline from time to time).
• American Working Farmcollie Association
  
  OLD GERMAN SHEPHERD (see ALTDEUTSCHER SCHAEFERHUND/ALTDEUTSCHER HUETEHUND)
  
  OVELHEIRO GAUCHO:
• The Ovelheiro Gaucho, from Brazil
• Ovelheiro Gaucho -- in Portuguese
  
  PASTOR GARAFIANO
• Pastor Garafiano, from the Canary Islands
• El Perro de Pastor Garafiano
  
  PICARDY SHEPHERD -- see BERGER PICARD
  
  POLSKI OWCZAREK NIZINNY (POLISH LOWLAND SHEEPDOG):
• American Polish Lowland Sheepdog Club (APONC)
• Canadian Polish Lowland Sheepdog Club
  
  PORTUGUESE SHEEPDOG -- see Cão Da Serra de Aries
  
  PULI:
• The Herding Puli
• The Puli Club of America
  
  PUMI
• Hungarian Pumi Club of America
• Herding with the Pumi in Hungary 
  
  PYRENEAN SHEPHERD:
• Pyrenean Shepherd Club of America
  
  ROTTWEILER:
• Rottweiler FAQ  
• American Rottweiler Club
  
  SAMOYED:
• Organization for the Working Samoyed
• The Samoyed Club of America
  
  SAVOY SHEPHERD/BERGER DE SAVOIE
• Berger de Savoie (in French, with some information in English)
  
  SCHAPENDOES
• The Schapendoes, a shaggy herder from The Netherlands (in Dutch and English)
• Schapendoes (in German)
  
  SCHNAUZER:
• Giant Schnauzer Club of America
• Standard Schnauzer Club of America
  
  SMITHFIELD
• The Smithfield Dog --  a shaggy herder from Australia 
  
  SHETLAND SHEEPDOG:
• Herding With the Shetland Sheepdog
• Shetland Sheepdog history, genetics, and other information
  
  SHILOH SHEPHERD:
• International Shiloh Shepherd Dog Club, and herding with Shilohs
• Shiloh Shepherd Dog Club of America 
  
  SPANISH WATER DOG:
• Spanish Water Dog Association of America
• Spanish Water Dog Club, Inc.
  
  SWEDISH VALLHUND:
• The Swedish Vallhund
• Swedish Vallhund Club of America
  
  WELSH CORGI, CARDIGAN:
• The Cardigan Welsh Corgi Club of America
  
  WELSH CORGI, PEMBROKE:
• Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club of America
   
  WELSH SHEEPDOG:
• The Welsh Sheepdog, an old strain of working collie from Wales
• Welsh Sheepdog Society  
   
  WHITE SHEPHERD, SWISS WHITE SHEPHERD:
• United White Shepherd Club
• American White Shepherd Association
• Swiss White Shepherd/Berger Blanc Suisse

   

  Throughout the world there are breeds or strains of herding dogs bred solely for work, unrecognized by kennel club authorities.  Some may eventually be developed into recognized breeds, some may be supplanted, some rare ones may only be preserved at the last minute.  Some of these are:  In Italy, the Cane Paratore/Cane Toccatore and the Cane di Oropa/Cane da Pastore Biellese) -- in France, the Chien de Crau -- in Russia, the Nenets Reindeer Dog/ Nenets Herding Laika, closely related to the Samoyed -- in the U.S., the Hairy Mouth or Wire Mouth Heeler, with an Airedale background, and a new breed developed as a working cattle dog, the Hangin’ Tree Cowdog,  In South America, Patagonian Sheepdogs are spread throughout the pampas regions of Argentina and Chile, descended largely from working 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 loose-eyed working collie characteristics; a beardie-coated type is known as the Barbucho.  (A chapter about these dogs can be found in the book Dog’s Best Friend, Journey to the Roots of an Ancient Partnership.)  Recognized breeds such as the Border Collie and Kelpie also are used as stockdogs in Patagonia.

  Dog breed encyclopedias such as The Atlas of Dog Breeds of the World, by Bonnie Wilcox and Chris Walkowicz, give an overview of many herding breeds.  Information on a wide range of stockdogs and their work, along with photos and illustrations, can be found at the Stockdog Savvy blog.  Many of these dogs can now be seen in action on Youtube.com by searching on the breed name. 

  General-Purpose Dogs Also Used for Herding

  There are several breeds which, while not primarily bred as herding dogs, included herding among their tasks. These include such breeds as the Kerry Blue Terrier, Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier, Airedale Terrier, Barbet (French Water Dog), Danish/Swedish Farmdog, Schipperke, German Spitz/Keeshond, American Eskimo, Tibetan Terrier, 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 (some of these combinations are called "Texas Heelers"). 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:
  • Livestock Guardian Dogs (includes an excellent article on the history of breed development applicable to many breeds)

Herding on the Web