Guardian Dogs Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre Best Practice Manual for the use of Livestock Guardian Dogs

The impacts of introduced predators including wild dogs, the European Red Fox and the feral cat cost the Australian community in excess of 60 million dollars annually through stock losses and control programmes. These figures however don’t take into account the emotional and social impacts of predation by introduced predators on landholders and graziers across the country. Wild dog and fox predation in some instances has become so great that landholders are being forced out of sheep and goat enterprises because they are no longer
financially viable due to impacts.
Participation in coordinated wild dog and fox control programs is varied across the country. A range of factors influence these participation rates including  the type of livestock being  produced, loss of labour in rural communities, greater ownership of rural land by large companies who can absorb the cost of predation, an increase in conservation estate
across the country where management outcomes differ from production outcomes and changes in property ownership from farming enterprises to lifestyle blocks.
The National Wild Dog Facilitator, Greg Mifsud, met a large number of graziers and producers who showed great interest in using guardian dogs to protect livestock from predation, through implementing the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre project “Facilitating the Strategic Management of Wild Dog throughout Australia”. These producers
were concerned about the lack of information to effectively apply livestock guardian dogs to their production practices. This sentiment was also highlighted in a series of predator control field days that discussed the use of livestock guardian dogs conducted by the Leading Sheep, Agforce Queensland and Biosecurity Queensland across western Queensland in September 2008.
The development of a best practice manual for the use of guardian dogs to protect livestock will allow land holders to be proactive by preventing predation rather that reacting to attacks. The use of guardian dogs has been proven to be a cost effective means of managing predation when applied properly. However producers are hesitant about using livestock guardian dogs due to hearing stories regarding poorly managed or trained dogs that have
caused problems for neighbours or have run off never to be seen again. Poor training is responsible for wrecking many working dogs regardless of breed or the dogs potential and a decision to use guardian dogs shouldn’t be made based on the poor examples illustrated by these horror stories. The information contained in this manual has been collated from a range of producers, breeders and owners of livestock guardian dogs and should provide the basis to successfully employ these animals in a range of environments and grazing situations. It should also make prospective owners of livestock guardian dogs aware that there is a level of commitment required for training and management to make them work effectively as part of your business just as is the case with any other working dog, and I hope it reduces the negative impacts of poorly managed guardian dogs and ill-fated attempts to use these animals in the future. This manual provides landholders with another option to assist them to protect their livestock from predation, however I must stress that participation and continued support for community based wild dog and fox management programs is still required to reduce the impact of wild dogs and foxes on producers and landholders at a regional and landscape level.
Brent Finlay,
Chair of the National Wild Dog Advisory Group