Excursion working dogs – Livestock guarding dogs on a sheep farm

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After two online days full of information and exchanges on different working methods at livestock protection, participants primarily from Bavaria and Austria met at Robert Eberler’s sheep farm. The grazing areas lie in an area which has in the past few years been inhabited by a she-wolf. Since this year, the area is also confirmed to harbour a wolf pair.

After introductory words by Rene Gomringer and Katharina Mikschl, there was a short round of introductions of the participants, representatives of Bavarian authorities, DVL Herd Protection Project and grazing livestock farmers. The two main presenters, Robert Eberler and Leo Slotta-Bachmayr from Naturschutzhunde Austria, gave the participants some information on their background.

In the morning, Robert Eberler gave an insight into the development of his company livestock protection, his first points of contact, considerations and various information trips, discussions and company visits. Currently, the farm keeps 4 Mastin Espanol. The first animals were brought here directly from Spain. As the breed was placed onto the list of fighting dogs in Bavaria, they require a character test, and any offspring are not allowed to be kept privately.

The group of participants visited the flock with the dogs. The field is bordered by an electric fence. The dogs were alert but, save one, kept their distance. Once on the grazing area, the participants started enthusiastic discussions with the subject specialists and contact persons from the LIFEstockProtect project.

Scatdogs Work on the detection of wolves

After a short lunch break, Leopold Slotta-Bachmayr spoke about the training and work of Scatdogs. Naturschutzhunde Austria train dogs for various roles in nature and species protection. Within the project they offer a training for verification of wolf scat. This certificate is intended to help livestock farmers to protect their animals in good time with herd protection measures or to react to the presence of wolves. With his dogs, Slotta-Bachmayr demonstrated a simulated search and alert. Dog guides have already been trained in all project regions, and have completed their first or even second examination.

Following the official excursion programme, further discussions and exchanges took place. The participating farms readily absorbed the input and received contacts from the dog experts.