Wastage in Livestock Herding Dogs

Abstract

Working dogs contribute to many human endeavours. However, minimal research exists into Australia’s largest group of working dogs – the livestock herding dog. This knowledge gap exposes the sector to the risks of sub-optimal efficiency, compromised productivity and unacceptable animal welfare outcomes. This thesis aims to address this void by characterising the problem of livestock herding dog wastage and contributing to the incremental process of improving management, selection and breeding practices. Data from a questionnaire completed by 812 livestock herding dog owners on 4,027 dogs revealed that livestock working dogs typically provide a lifelong working contribution valued at approximately A$40,000, representing a 5.2-fold return on investment. At least 20% of livestock herding dogs are culled prematurely from work. Behavioural causes were cited for 89% of these failures. Management and owner characteristics associated with failure rates included; acquisition practices, housing methods, training approach, exercise frequency and owner personality and attitude to investment in their dog. To identify traits important to success, a selective sweep analysis comparing the genomic haplotype architecture of working and show Kelpies was undertaken. In the working Kelpie, a selective sweep spanning three megabases on chromosome 3 was identified in the region of genes related to fear-memory formation and pain perception. The Herding Dog Assessment Form - Personality (HDAF-P) was devised to collect behavioural data on herding dogs. Application of the HDAF-P to 261 working Kelpies provided a database of behavioural scores for 17 traits salient to working ability with those correlated most strongly to the owner’s assessment of overall ability being revealed as; initiative (T = 0.42, p < 0.001), intelligence (T = 0.38, p < 0.001), persistence (T = 0.38, p < 0.001), confidence (T=0.37, p < 0.001) and calmness (T=0.32, p < 0.001).