The Sedmak farm near Pivka (Slovenia) is best-practice example of using livestock guarding dogs (LGDs) for protecting herds from large carnivores. They have been using LGDs for protecting a herd of 150 animals for several years and at least three dogs stay with the herd throughout the year. They have still not experienced any damages by large carnivores.

A few days ago, a female dog named Lora gave birth to first »project« puppies. Both Lora and the male named Ligo are pure-bred Tornjak sheep dogs, which represents a crucial precondition for the development of dog’s abilities to become an effective guarding dog. Both dogs are working dogs, which means the puppies will more likely inherit important features for their future tasks as guarding dogs.

Within LIFE DINALP BEAR project, we established working lines of LGDs in Slovenia to support the use of LGDs for livestock protection. Therefore, the project will support the purchase of puppies that will protect livestock from brown bears and other large carnivores in the future. The dog breeders Aleš and Andrej proudly say that new-born puppies will be ready to join new owners in mid-February 2017.