Canines, People, and Agriculture/Pastoralism:
The Beginning
Peoples’ relationship with dogs started long before we settled in agriculture settlements. Wild canines figured out that, while they could chase prey better than people, we were more efficient killers if they brought prey to us. These canines began hanging around the edge of our camps, eating our leftovers, and roaming with us as we hunted and moved. Eventually, this mutually beneficial relationship led to canines moving into our camps, creating deeper people-canine relationships. As people settled, so did our canine companions, bringing us the first landrace dogs. These were canines that evolved over time, through adaptation to their natural and cultural environment, to become working partners in our agricultural and pastoral systems.
From those humble beginnings, ancient agricultural and pastoral systems, particularly in Europe, evolved in conjunction with these landrace dogs. Dogs protected our livestock from predators, fetched our faster four-legged stock, and kept our grain safe from vermin. Our partnership with dogs allowed us to flourish in an intact ecosystem, which included predators and vermin, without toxic poisons or inhumane traps. These dogs were effective partners in the small-scale food production that, without Whole Foods around the corner, was critical for a family’s survival.
These dogs were also part of the family. Ratters lived in family homes, barns, and gardens where they guarded grain bins, pantries, and food stores from hungry vermin. The farm herding dog fetched, drove, and penned whatever animal needed managed that day. Whether the stock was goats, sheep, cows, pigs or poultry the herding dog was ready to go. In addition, these dogs watched over the children playing outside, announced visitors, and in general tended the area around the farmstead. Livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) stayed with the flocks in fields and barns ensuring their safety from predators large and small; the muscle that backed up the shepherds when trouble arose and the beloved companion to all livestock.
The type, or types, of canine partners a family had depended on need and regional adaptation; many of these working dogs learned to work in other skill areas. A good farm-herder dog hunted rodents, as did many LGDs. Some terriers were also bred to herd a bit and a herding dog would protect the livestock with its life, even when too small to be effective against apex predators. England, Scotland, and Ireland, the epicenter for ratting terriers, geographically had limited large predators, but lots of vermin and other small predators, so small dogs made a lot of sense being both effective and cheap to feed. In Eastern Europe they tended toward large livestock guardian dogs who were capable of both intimidating, and matching the power of, the large apex predators that roamed in the same lands as their flocks. Interwoven into it all was always the general farm dog that stayed by the shepherd’s side; ever ready to do whatever needed to be done.
All of these dogs were smart, critical thinkers who had deep relationships with their families; the people who fed them, tended their wounds, groomed them and helped out with the pups. Herding dogs weren’t trained to herd, ratters weren’t trained to rat, and LGD’s weren’t trained to guard; they were born knowing how to do their job. What they learned was how to communicate and live in relationship with their working partners. The women and young children helped mama dog raise the pups in their homes and barns until they were old enough to go to work. During this time they were socialized with everyone in their family’s community, as well as the animals that lived close to the house. When it was time to leave the house, their shepherd and fellow dogs kept them close; teaching them the ropes and building deep, lifelong relationships.
The peoples raising these dogs were very practical in nature, as one would be if your survival depended on your ability to produce food. The mouths they chose to feed were the ones that most benefited them. A dog that might bite a family member or kill livestock could not be tolerated. Dogs that were not sound enough to keep up with the pace of work that needed to be done were not kept around. In this way, the land-race canines evolved to be healthy dogs that were born knowing the basics of their job and primed to develop deep, working relationships with their human and animal community.
With the rise of small-scale food production in the 21st century, including the permaculture, local foods, and prepper movements, we once again need to integrate these working dogs into our food systems and our lives. Unfortunately, particularly in the United States, these dogs are difficult if not impossible to find. Many of these working dogs, like so much of our food systems, have been industrialized or domesticated beyond recognition. However, as we learn the importance of being able to live in balance with the world around us and shorten our food chains, we once again will need the partnership of our intuitive working canine companions if we are to be successful.
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