22/08/2026
🐕🐑 LIVESTOCK GUARDIAN DOGS IN AUSTRALIA — THEY'RE NOT AS NEW AS YOU MIGHT THINK!
When most Australians think of a dog working with sheep, they probably picture a Border Collie or Kelpie moving a mob through the yards.
But there is another completely different type of working dog — the Livestock Guardian Dog (LGD).
And while their use may seem relatively new in Australia, their history here actually goes back a surprisingly long way.
LGDs IN AUSTRALIA
One of the earliest recorded introductions was the Pyrenean Mountain Dog, with dogs arriving in Australia as early as 1843. They were reportedly used by shepherds to protect sheep from dingoes.
As Australian sheep production changed from shepherded flocks to sheep being run behind fences — combined with greatly reduced dingo numbers in many areas — the need for guardian dogs declined. The original Pyrenean population eventually disappeared, with the breed later reintroduced to Australia in 1939.
Fast forward to today and LGDs are once again being used across Australia as producers look for different ways of protecting livestock from dingoes, feral pigs, foxes and other predators.
🐕 WHAT LGD BREEDS DO WE HAVE IN AUSTRALIA?
Australia doesn't have the huge variety of guardian breeds found throughout Europe and Asia, partly because of our strict animal importation requirements.
Some of the main breeds used for livestock protection in Australia include:
• Maremma Sheepdog — Italy
• Anatolian Shepherd — Turkey
• Kangal Shepherd Dog — Turkey
• Pyrenean Mountain Dog — France
• Central Asian Shepherd/Ovcharka — Central Asia
By a very considerable margin, the Maremma is the most commonly used livestock guardian dog in Australia.
An Australian study involving 150 livestock producers found Maremmas overwhelmingly dominated the working LGDs reported. Other breeds included Central Asian or Ovcharkas, Anatolian Shepherds, Pyrenean Mountain Dogs and LGD crosses.
But here's an important point...
There isn't one "best" livestock guardian breed for every farm.
The environment, predator pressure, livestock, property size, fencing and management system all matter enormously.
🐕 SO WHY DO WE RUN ANATOLIANS & KANGALS AT BUNYA RANGE?
For us, it comes down to matching the dog to our country, our predators and our management system.
Anatolians and Kangals originate from Turkey, where livestock guardian dogs have spent centuries protecting flocks against serious predators across large areas and often very harsh conditions.
They were developed to be independent thinkers.
A livestock guardian dog isn't waiting beside the gate for us to tell it what to do.
It patrols.
It listens.
It scents.
It watches.
And when something isn't right, it makes its own decision.
That independence is incredibly important in our system.
Our dogs work extensive paddocks and rugged country, and we need dogs capable of covering ground, establishing a territory and making decisions without Shane or I standing beside them.
We also really value the size, athleticism, endurance and mobility of the Anatolian/Kangal type.
These aren't simply big dogs.
They are remarkably athletic for their size and were developed to travel with livestock over large distances and cope with extremes of heat and cold.
Most importantly, though, we need dogs capable of dealing with the predator pressure we have here.
Our property backs directly onto the Bunya Mountains National Park, and dingoes and feral pigs are very much part of our environment.
Today, in paddocks protected by our guardian dogs, we've gone more than seven years without losing a sheep to dingoes or feral pigs.
For us, that is ultimately why we run them.
🌱 THE BREED IS ONLY PART OF THE EQUATION
Something we think is incredibly important when talking about LGDs is that buying an Anatolian, Kangal, Maremma — or any other guardian breed — doesn't automatically give you a good working livestock guardian dog.
Genetics matter.
Working lines matter.
Early bonding matters.
Development and guidance matter.
Management matters.
Australian research has found that LGDs can be extremely effective when they're properly selected and managed. In one Australian producer survey, 65.7% reported predation stopped after obtaining guardian dogs, while another 30.2% reported that predation decreased.
That's a pretty impressive result for a predator management tool.
But LGDs aren't a quick fix.
A good livestock guardian dog can take years, not weeks, to fully mature into its role. There is a lot that goes into developing a young dog into a reliable working guardian.
For us, they're now simply another part of our livestock operation.
And once you've seen a genuinely good LGD working with livestock, you quickly understand why shepherds around the world have relied on these incredible dogs for centuries.
📸 And because every serious livestock guardian dog post needs a puppy photo...
The photo is of Yeti & Tinkerbell as pups. These two are now all grown up and out in the paddocks doing exactly what their breed was bred to do — protecting their livestock. 🐕🐑
But seriously... who doesn't love a cute puppy photo!! ❤️😂
