Differences in the Behavior of Landraces and Breeds of Dogs - Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals - page 204

Archaeologists discovered evidence in China of dogs and pigs together by
about 4000 BC, and with cattle and sheep after about 3200 BC ( Olsen, 1985 ).
In the 2nd century BC, treatises by Cato the Elder and Marcus Terentius
Varro dealt extensively with the use of dogs to protect livestock ( Fairfax,
1913 ). In the Bible, Job (30:1), mentions “

the dogs of my flock.”
Behaviorally, there are two distinct kinds of sheepdog. The behavioral
individuality of the two types makes them among the most interesting dogs in
the world. Here are distinct dog populations that work in identical grassland
habitats, directing their behaviors to identical environmental stimuli (live-
stock), but in strikingly different ways. The duty of livestock-guarding dogs is
to be attentive to sheep, to not disrupt their behavior, and to protect them from
predators. Herding dogs are expected to disrupt livestock and to conduct them
from place to place ( Coppinger and Coppinger, 1993, 2001; Spady and
Ostrander, 2008 ). Neither dog breed can be trained to do the other's job.

...

Phenotype
Livestock-guarding dogs vary enormously in body size. The dogs involved
in Eurasian transhumance migrations tend to be large (25 kg), and in African
mountain communities such as Lesotho they are similar in size and shape to
the Eurasian dogs, while the dogs of desert or semi-arid scrub country such
as those used by the Navajo peoples of the American southwest, and the
Damara of Angola, or the Masai cattle dogs, tend to be small (12 16 kg).

Size appears to be an adaptation to the particular climate or elevation, and to
the task the dogs are required to do—for example walk on a 700-km migra-
tion twice a year.
Characters that are detectable at birth are sometimes chosen as breed
markers, such as rough or smooth coats, distinctive coloring, and markings.
Pups without the favored regional marker are often culled at birth. What peo-
ple notice is that the regional characteristics of these dogs give the animals a
breed-like phenotype. But because the selection is post-zygotic, they are
more formally (and properly) referred to as a landrace.

Behavior
Foraging
Livestock-guarding dogs in pastoral villages forage much the same way as
village dogs, scavenging in refuse and latrines. There they seem to have at
least two foraging strategies, being attentive either to the village or to a
flock. Pastoralists are often seasonally nomadic, and on trips away from the
villages the dogs that accompany the flock are routinely allowed to scavenge
sheep by-products such as afterbirths, food scraps, flock carcasses, and
by-products of milk, yogurt, and cheese-making.
Dogs perceived to be useful in protecting livestock receive more attention
than those that are “just” village dogs—in two ways. They gain preferential