Establishment of a livestock guardian dog breeding centre
Shelter in the Andes
Maria Jose Bolgeri
A restful nap
Maria Jose Bolgeri
Waiting to fulfil its protective mission
Maria Jose Bolgeri
The establishment of a breeding centre is a fundamental step in carrying out controlled breeding and imprinting of pups. Imprinting is a biological learning process, which is generated in a short period of time, where pups of most species can identify and learn behaviours of any other species. At the centre we provide the conditions for the pups to be in contact with goats and sheep from birth, and until they are four months old, creating a family bond that will make them protective with the livestock. This stage is critical and essential to achieve LGD that are effective in their function and strategic for carnivore conservation. During the imprinting process we take care of the feeding, health, welfare of the puppies and the livestock, while correcting undesirable behaviour in the puppy-livestock bond. After four months the puppies that are already vaccinated, dewormed and neutered, are handed over to the producers where they will finish their training and gradually start working with the livestock.
To have at least one pair of dogs that belong to breeds created for livestock protection.
Physical space and budget for the period of imprinting the puppies, that includes support for a person responsible for the care, cleaning and feeding of puppies and livestock that is used for training.
Veterinary support for health controls and spaying/neutering.
To build collaborative partnerships between NGOs/government/businesses to reduce costs and make LGD affordable for producers.
During the imprinting process, puppies should be constantly with livestock and contact with people should be minimal but friendly. The health and neutering of puppies is essential for animal welfare and to avoid the spread of diseases in the wild.
Building capacity of local partners was an important part of the project to enable achievement of results.
Capacity was built through online training and informal discussions.
Without capable partners, no field activities would have been implemented during the COVID-19 travel restrictions.
* Capacity building of key local stakeholders included in project design
* Availability of smartphones, computers and network
* Expert trainers available and able to flexibly adapt to online training
* While most stakeholders prefer in-person capacity-building events, responses to the online training was extremely positivea and could be built into future projects to reduce costs and increase flexibility of delivery options
Partnerships with the provincial Taskforce, which oversaw the project's activities in general, and the provincial Agriculture Extension Center and Farmers’ Union helped achieve the expected results despite travel restrictions owing to COVID-19.
Partnerships with these local partners also led to the later integration of the project’s interventions into provincial partner’s programmes.
* Engagement with all levels of government in the province, specifically, at the project's sites, was critically important to establish the partnerships
* Endorsement of the project at national level was critical to ensure provincial and local buy-in
* Widespread availability of smartphones and access to network and desktop computers was vital to ensuring progress even during the pandemic's travel restrictions
* Building strong partnerships is a risk-reduction strategy, as shown during the pandemic wherein local partners were able to conduct many activities with guidance remotely by expert staff
