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Herding dog breeds developed in response to local situations and needs. In many cases, the work required versatility, while in other cases there were particular conditions that led to some specialization. Conditions could change over time. The Way They Work provides a view of many of the tasks of stock-working dogs.

Some of the herding breeds have pages galore, others have at most a mention in passing on a general list of dogs breeds. I have tried to include pages that provide information or the most direct links to pages with such information. If you know of a page which should be included on this list, or come across any broken links with regard to any of links set out below, please let me know. 

• APPENZELLER MOUNTAIN DOG:
• Appenzeller Mountain Dog -- a Swiss cattle herder 
  
  AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOG:
• Australian Cattle Dogs On-Line -- Australian Cattle Dogs On-Line - information about the breed, with many helpful Livestock Links.
• Australian Cattle Dog Club of America
• Everything Cattle Dog
  
  AUSTRALIAN KELPIE:
• The Australian Kelpie (Dogs Down Under) -- information from Australia
• The Australian Kelpie
• Working Kelpie Council of Australia
• North American Australian Kelpie Registry, Inc
  
  AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD:
• The Working Aussie Source dedicated to the working Aussie stockdog
• Australian Shepherd Club of America
• Australian Shepherd Club UK
• A View of Australian Shepherd History
  
  AUSTRALIAN STUMPY TAIL CATTLE DOG:
• Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog Club of NSW
  
  BASQUE SHEPHERD:
• Perro de Pastor Vasco/Euskal Artzain Txakurra -- breed information and photos (in Spanish)
  
  BEARDED COLLIE:
• Bearded Collie Club of America
• Bearded Collie Herding Association
  
  BEAUCERON:
• North American Beauceron Club
• Beauceron Club of Canada
  
  BELGIANS:
  In the United States, the Belgians are considered separate breeds by the American Kennel Club. In other countries, and by the United Kennel Club, all four are considered varieties of one breed.
• United Belgian Shepherd Dog Association
  
  BELGIAN LAEKENOIS:
• American Belgian Laekenois Association
  
  BELGIAN MALINOIS:
• American Belgian Malinois Club
  
  BELGIAN SHEEPDOG (GROENENDAEL):
• Belgian Sheepdog Club of America
• The Belgian as a Stockdog
  
  BELGIAN TERVUREN:
• American Belgian Tervuren Club
  
  BERGAMASCO SHEEPDOG:
• Bergamasco Sheepdog Club of America 
• Bergamasco Sheepdog Association of Canada 
• The Bergamasco -- a sheepdog from Northern Italy
  
  BERGER PICARD:
• Berger Picard -- an old herding breed of France
• Berger Picard Club of America
• Berger Picard (in German and English, with photos)
  
  BERNESE MOUNTAIN DOG:
• Bernese Mountain Dog Home Page
  
  BORDER COLLIE:
• American Border Collie Network
• United States Border Collie Club "dedicated to preserving the Border Collie as a working stockdog"
• Border Collie Museum -- articles about the history and lore of the Border Collie and related breeds
• Border Collies in Herding
  
  BOUVIER DES FLANDRES:
• Bouvier des Flandres
• American Bouvier des Flandres Club
  
  BRIARD:
• Briard Home Page
• Briard Club of America
  
  CANAAN DOG:
• Canaan Dog Club of America
• Israel Canaan Dog Club of America
  
  Cão De Fila De São Miguel (AZORES CATTLE DOG):
• Kennel Auto de Fé
  
  CATAHOULA LEOPARD DOG:
• Catahoula Home Page
  
  CATALONIAN SHEEPDOG (GOS D'ATURA):
• The Catalan Sheepdog working group
  
  COLLIE (ROUGH AND SMOOTH):
• Collie Club of America
• American Working Collie Association -- promoting the working abilities of Rough and Smooth Collies
• Keystone Collie Club: Eastern Pennsylvania, USA
  
  COOLIE (see GERMAN COOLIE, KOOLIE)
  
  DUTCH SHEPHERD:
• American Dutch Shepherd Club
  
  ENGLISH SHEPHERD:
• The English Shepherd -- An American Breed
  
  ENTLEBUCHER SENNENHUND:
• Entlebucher breed information and photos
• Entlebucher Sennenhund
  
  GERMAN COOLIE:
• International German Coolie Society and Registry -- an old Australian stockdog breed
  
  GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG:
• German Shepherd FAQ -- information about the breed
• German Shepherd Dog Club of America
  
  GREATER SWISS MOUNTAIN DOG:
• Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Club of America 
• Greater Swiss Mountain Dog
  
  ICELANDIC SHEEPDOG:
• Icelandic Sheepdog Association of America
• Canadian Icelandic Sheepdog Club 
• The Icelandic Sheepdog
  
  KOOLIE:
• Koolie -- one of Australia's oldest working breeds
• Koolie Club of Australia
• Working Koolie Association Australia --founded to promote and preserve the Koolie as a working breed
  
  LANCASHIRE HEELER:
• The Lancashire Heeler Club (UK) -- an English droving dog
• The American Lancashire Heeler Club
  
  LAPPHUND (FINNISH LAPPHUND, SWEDISH LAPPHUND):
• Lapphunds
• Finnish Lapphund Club of Great Britain
• Finnish Lapphund Club of the Netherlands (Finse Lappenhonden Vereniging Nederland) -- in Dutch
• Finnish Lapphunds On The Web
• Swedish Lapphund Club of Sweden
• Lapponian Herder
• Original Reindeer Herder -- in Finnish, with many photos; and a little information in English
  
  McNAB:
• The McNab Dog
  
  MINIATURE AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD:
• North American Miniature Australian Shepherd Club of the U.S.A.
• Miniature Australian Shepherd Club of America
  
  MUDI:
• The Mudi, Hungary's "Driver Dog" -- the working Mudi (link is to a list of articles, scroll down to find the article)
• American Mudi Association  
• Mudi Club of America 
• Mudi Association of Canada    
  
  NORWEGIAN BUHUND:
• Norwegian Buhund Club of America
• The Norwegian Buhund
  
  OLD ENGLISH SHEEPDOG:
• The Official Old English Sheepdog Web Page
• Old English Sheepdog Club of America
  
  OLD FARM COLLIE/FARM SHEPHERD:
• Collies -- Back to the Future: The old farm collie or farm shepherd was the ancestor of several modern herding breeds; a few individuals of that ancestral type still remain.
• Old Time Farm Shepherds
• American Working Farmcollie Association
  
  OLD GERMAN SHEPHERD (ALTDEUTSCHER SCHAEFERHUND):
• Altdeutscher Schaeferhund -- The Altdeutscher is the principal herding dog in Germany and retains the full variety of coat, color, and type.
• Altdeutscher Schaeferhund/Altdeutscher Huetehund (in German)
  
  OVELHEIRO GAUCHO:
• The Ovelheiro Gaucho, from Brazil
• Ovelheiro Gaucho -- in Portuguese
  
  PICARDY SHEPHERD -- see BERGER PICARD
  
  POLISH LOWLAND SHEEPDOG (POLSKI OWCZAREK NIZINNY):
• American Polish Lowland Sheepdog Club (APONC)
• Canadian Polish Lowland Sheepdog Club
  
  PORTUGUESE SHEEPDOG (Cão Da Serra de Aries):
• Portuguese Sheepdog Club of America
• The Friendly Serra Club (FSC) -- in the U.K.
• Canil da Casa do Seareiro -- in Portugal
  
  PULI:
• The Puli Club of America
• The Herding Puli
  
  PUMI
• The Pumi, from Hungary
• Hungarian Pumi Club of America
  
  PYRENEAN SHEPHERD:
• Pyrenean Shepherd Club of America
• Berger des Pyrénées (in German and English, with photos)
  
  ROTTWEILER:
• Rottweiler FAQ -- information about the breed
• American Rottweiler Club
  
  SAMOYED:
• Organization for the Working Samoyed
• The Samoyed Club of America
  
  SCHAPENDOES
• The Schapendoes, a shaggy herder from The Netherlands
  
  SCHNAUZER:
• Giant Schnauzer Club of America
• Standard Schnauzer Club of America
  
  SHETLAND SHEEPDOG:
• The Shetland Sheepdog Home Page
• Herding With the Shetland Sheepdog
  
  SPANISH WATER DOG:
• Spanish Water Dog Association of America
• Spanish Water Dog Club, Inc.
  
  SHILOH SHEPHERD:
• International Shiloh Shepherd Dog Club  
  
  SWEDISH VALLHUND:
• The Swedish Vallhund
• Swedish Vallhund Club of America
  
  TIBETAN TERRIER:
• Tibetan Terrier FAQ -- information about the breed
  
  WELSH CORGI, CARDIGAN:
• The Cardigan Welsh Corgi Club of America
  
  WELSH CORGI, PEMBROKE:
• Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club of America
   
  WELSH SHEEPDOG:
• The Welsh Sheepdog, an old strain of working collie from Wales
• Welsh Sheepdog Society                                                                                            

  Information about various herding breeds can be found in dog breed encyclopedias such as The Atlas of Dog Breeds of the World, by Bonnie Wilcox and Chris Walkowicz, and there are foreign-language websites that can be found by using a search engine.

  A few more herding breeds are: 

  New Zealand Heading Dog, New Zealand Huntaway: These are the working dogs developed for handling New Zealand's large flocks. The Heading Dog, used as a gatherer, is a strain of working collie closely resembling the Border Collie in appearance and manner of working. The Huntaway, used for "hunting out" sheep in brushy areas and pushing them along, was developed from old working collie types and a mix of some other breeds (Labrador is one possibility) in order to obtain a dog that has a lot of push and bark; huntaways are trained primarily to drive the sheep ahead of or away from the handler. Huntaways vary in appearance but generally are leggy, short-coated, heavy-eared dogs. 

  Smithfield: An old type of English stockdog, often used as a dover's dog, the name being associated with the Smithfield livestock market in London. It was generally stocky in build, shaggy-coated, drop-eared, often bobtailed, and as a working dog had a tendency to bark and grip. The name is still used for a strain of working dog in Australia; these are strong, close workers, varying in color, with medium-long or shaggy (beardie type) coats.

  Florida Cur, Yellow Blackmouthed Cur, and other Cur breeds:  the  Cur breeds were developed from the all-purpose dogs used for herding and hunting by settlers in remote regions of the United States -- "Old Yeller" was a dog of this type.  Curs closely resemble the related Catahoula in overall body shape and manner of working (for information see "Catahoula Leopard Dog" above). Some strains, however, are used more for hunting than for herding.

  Blue Lacy: like the Catahoula and Cur breeds, a smooth-haired, drop-eared all-purpose dog for herding and hunting. The breed was first developed in Texas by the Lacy family and characterized by a distinctive slate blue color (other colors also occur).

  Alpine Shepherd Dog -- a German sheepdog breed (in German).

  Patagonian Sheepdog:  Spread throughout the pampas regions of Argentina and Chile are strains of working dogs descended largely from collies brought by settlers from Britain intermixed with other local working dogs. Appearance varies considerably, with a wide variety of colors, sizes, and coat types, but the overall impression of many is of working collie characteristics.  Recognized breeds such as the Border Collie and Kelpie also are used as stockdogs in these areas.

  
  General-Purpose Dogs Also Used for Herding

  There are several breeds which, while not primarily bred as herding dogs, included herding among their tasks on the farm. These include such breeds as the Kerry Blue Terrier, Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier, Schipperke, German Spitz/Keeshond, American Eskimo, and others.
  

  Mixed Breeds

  Mixed breeds have also served as helpful herders, and, as is the case with most other breeds, crosses played their part in the development of many herding breeds. Frequently-seen crosses on farms and ranches in America today involve various blends of Border Collie, Australian Shepherd and Australian Cattle Dog. The German Shepherd X Rough Collie was popular as a farm dog for many years in the Midwest.
  

  Livestock Guardian Dogs

  These aren't herders, but serve as protectors for the flock, usually living full-time with the animals they are protecting. In some regions there would be both local guardian breed and a local herding breed; for instance, in the Pyrenees Mountains in France the guardian dog was the Great Pyrenees and the herder was the small, active Pyrenean Shepherd. Some of the guardian breeds on occasion would provide a low-key, gentle guidance of the flock, but they weren't active herders, a behavior that would be frowned upon in a livestock guardian breed. Information about these dogs is available at:
  • Livestock Guardian Dogs (includes an excellent article on the history of breed development applicable to many breeds)
  • Flock and Family Guardian Network

Sources for General Information on Dogs

There are many resources on the web pertaining to dogs. Some sites leading to many Livestock Links providing general information, descriptions and photos, breed clubs, breeders' lists, e-mail lists, etc., are:

• Dog Breed Info Center
• Canada's Guide to Dogs
• Rare Breed Network

 

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Linda Rorem
e-mail Pacifica19@aol.com