Want to know more about the different dog groups? We are doing a series of articles about each of the groups. This month it's the Pastoral group. This group is defined by the Kennel Club as 'herding dogs that are associated with working cattle, sheep, reindeer and other cloven footed animals.
The Pastoral group is basically made up of dogs that used to be bred purely for working with livestock. This includes drovers, guarding dogs and herding dogs. The word pastoral is defined as 'of land) used for the keeping or grazing of sheep or cattle'. Some examples from this group include the Border Collier, German Shepherd, Komondor and Samoyed.
Pastoral dog breeds are generally very intelligent and require a large amount of exercise. They were bred to work for hours rounding up livestock, so they have excellent endurance. Therefore they have a lot of energy to burn and need a lot of exercise off the lead. Pastoral dogs also require a large amount of mental stimulation to keep them happy. This is because they have to use their brain to successfully herd and guard cattle.
Pastoral dog breeds are usually very good at dog sports such as Agility and Flyball. If you own a dog that belongs to the Pastoral group they will probably enjoy getting involved in one of these activities.
Many of these breeds have thick double coats which keep them warm and protect them from poor weather conditions. They need to be tough to be able to work in severe weather. Consequently a lot of the dogs in this group require constant grooming to keep their coats in good condition.
Here is a list of all the dogs in the Pastoral group:
- Anatolian Shepherd Dog
- Australian Cattle Dog
- Australian Shepherd
- Bearded Collie
- Belgian Shepherd Dog (Groenendael)
- Belgian Shepherd Dog (Laekenois)
- Belgian Shepherd Dog (Malinois)
- Belgian Shepherd Dog (Tervueren)
- Bergamasco
- Border Collie
- Briard
- Catalan Sheepdog
- Collie (Rough)
- Collie (Smooth)
- Estrela Mountain Dog
- Finnish Lapphund
- German Shepherd Dog
- Hungarian Kuvasz
- Hungarian Puli
- Komondor
- Lancashire Heeler
- Maremma Sheepdog
- Norwegian Buhund
- Old English Sheepdog
- Polish Lowland Sheepdog
- Pyrenean Mountain Dog
- Pyrenean Sheepdog (Long Haired)
- Samoyed
- Shetland Sheepdog
- Swedish Lapphund
- Swedish Vallhund
- Turkish Kangal Dog
- Welsh Corgi (Cardigan)
- Welsh Corgi (Pembroke)