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In reply to the discussion: A man in PA shoots 2 family dogs who wander onto his sheep farm [View all]MineralMan
(146,286 posts)That instinct is part of the reason herding dogs are herding dogs. They're trained to use those natural herding skills to benefit people, while wolves are not. Untrained herding breeds can be deadly to sheep. It happens a lot in sheep-raising areas, and sheep farmers routinely kill stray dogs that harass their sheep.
That doesn't mean that the family of these dogs isn't devastated by this. It just means that sheep farmers react badly when herding breeds that are not trained in safe herding start working their sheep. Dead sheep are often the result.
In this particular case, it appears that the person with the sheep isn't actually a sheep farmer, but someone who just has a couple of sheep. That clouds the issue considerably, and I think he should have behaved in a different way. For an actual sheep farmer, though, stray dogs are a constant worry.