My Herding Dog, the Wolf

The social adaptation of many wolves from their natural state into a varied strain of domesticated wolves that we now call dogs is well documented. Both animals are now classified by scientists as Canis Lupus.

One of the most interesting developments is the contract that these wolves made with their new pack leaders -- humans -- to herd sheep instead of hunting them. Of course, the contract is more binding when the human is there to enforce it. But a flock of a few sheep or a few thousand sheep is in good hands when led by a human shepherd and tended by a couple of these domestic wolves.

The story is told by German herdsmen that the countryfolk of the Middle Ages noted that the wolf pack in their region made a path around the range of the flock of ruminants (grazing animals) that they fed upon. They followed the ruminants as they wandered to new territories, travelling a path around their own "flock." From this, supposedly, the human herdsman of Medieval Germany reasoned that the herding dog that he used could work in the same way to serve his pack leader, the human shepherd. Whether the herdsman of the Middle Ages knew that his herding dog was indeed the same species as the wolf in the wilds is unclear to me.

However, it is well-known that breedings of female herding dogs with wolves still in the wild was not discouraged, and in some areas, was a deliberate practice. The countryfolk who kept hunting, herding or guard dogs felt that breeding to a wild wolf yielded many improvements to the get of their bitches.

Below is a working photo of my dog herding my own sheep. You can make your own comparisons with wild wolves and with dogs of mixed parentage.



See the photo essay on this dog's regular work with the flock. Another photograph of this dog trotting shows the influence of breed selection under domestication.

E-mail me with questions and comments. 

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Other Sources:
John McLoughlin, The Canine Clan
Richard and Alice Fiennes, The Natural History of the Dog


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