Livestock Guardian Dogs
The earliest evidence of domestic sheep is from 10,000 B.C. The evolution of the Livestock Guardian Dogs we know today correlates to the spreading of domestic sheep and goats both geographically and in time. This means that the job of Livestock Guardian Dogs is probably at least 12,000 years old, existing long before written history. Modern DNA evidence backs up this theory[1].
Research also shows that the livestock guardians of Eurasia were of the Molossoid type and that the sheep guarding dog was originally the Mastiff of Tibet[2].
Why Livestock Guardian Dogs Developed
From 40,000BC, the Tibet plateau was occupied by nomadic people who later realized that the raising of livestock was more supportive of human life than growing of crops. By 10,000BC these people had developed villages along defined trade routes through fertile grasslands between the East (Mongolia and Tibet) and the West (Assyria). These are shown by the yellow line in the accompanying map (please click to enlarge). As this was before the domestication of the horse, these nomadic people travelled between villiages on foot. So, these ancient trading routes developed gradually village by village.
As generations of sheep and goats slowly drifted along these trading routes towards Assyria in the West, generations of large guardian dogs accompanied them, protecting the flocks against predators particularly wolves and bears. This trading went as far as Egypt which was part of the large Assyrian Empire at that time. So, Egyptians exchanged goods for sheep and goats that had originated in the South East Asian region (Tibet).[3] Obviously the guardian dogs that also drifted West originated from the Mastiff of Tibet. These dogs would have evolved as those most suitable for the protection of the flocks of sheep and goats they had bonded with in this early period of time.
The Influence of the Mastiff of Tibet
So it is a credible theory that the Asiatic Mastiff (i.e. Mastiff of Tibet) was imported into Europe in the days of early intercommunication between East and West.
"The Tibetan Mastiff is one of the most ancient of the canine race, for his type has been preserved unchanged, since a period dating long anterior to the beginning of the Christian era. There can be no doubt that the great dogs depicted in the sculptures from the palace of Nimrod (640BC) are of this and no other breed. In these carven representations accompanying sport-loving Assyrian kings, we have the wrinkled head with pendant ears, the massive neck, the sturdy fore-quarters, and occasionally also the heavy tail curled over the level back - all characteristics of the Asiatic Mastiff. Cynologists have discovered a yet more ancient testimony to the antiquity of the dog of Tibet, contained in Chinese writing in a record of the year 1121BC, in which the people of Liu, a country situated west of China, sent to the Emporer Wou-wang a great dog of the Tibetan kind". [4]
“It is certain that throughout the northern half of Asia and Europe, the Tibetan Mastiff was chiefly responsible for size and strength of the breeds evolved; in fact, according to Professor Keller, Tibet is the fatherland of all the large breeds of dogs" [5].
Livestock Guardian Dogs
According to the Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27BC)[6], livestock guardian dogs were first used in Europe to protect flocks of sheep and goats from attack by wild animals, especially wolves. Probably descending from the Asiatic Mastiff of Tibet or Molossoid type of dog, this dog was generally white so it could be more easily distinguished at night. This made it less likely that the dog would be unintentionally mistaken for a wild animal and injured by a huntsman. They were worked either alone, in pairs of one male and one female, or in the case of particularly large flocks several of these Livestock Guardian Dogs could be used. These dogs were carefully bred from families of dogs that bonded instinctively with the flocks of sheep, rather than with the shepherd who cared for them. So strong was this bond, it was recorded that if the shepherd wished the dog to follow him instead of the flock, he must throw the dog a boiled frog.
References and Further Reading
[1] Savolainen, Peter; Ya-ping Zhang, Jing Luo, Joakim Lundeberg, and Thomas Leitner (2002-11-22). "Genetic Evidence for an East Asian Origin of Domestic Dogs"
[2] The Kuvasz, Andras Kovacs, 2000, kuvaszinfo.com
[3] Late Neolithic megalithic structures at Nabta Playa (Sahara) southwestern Egypt, Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild 2000, comp-archaeology.org.
[4] The New Book of the Dog, Robert Leighton, Cassell, 1911. p511-512.
[5] The Story of the Dog, Cecil G. Trew, Methuen, 1940.
[6] Rerum Rusticarum (On Agriculture) Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27BC) from his book translated by William Davis Hooper and Harrison Boyd Ash and published by William Heinemann, London and Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1934