Record Breaking Year for Livestock Guarding Dog Program

Our Livestock Guarding Dog program has been officially scaled up! We have increased the number of breeding dogs and, naturally, our puppy numbers have increased dramatically this year! We had a record-breaking year! In the last four months alone, we’ve had five litters of puppies born—and are expecting another litter around Christmas Day. (What a great present!)

Our puppies will grow up to be working livestock guardians and placed with farmers around the country—protecting herds from predators. When the puppies are 10 weeks of age, they will leave our goat yard and sent to their new homes with their farmers (who go through training programs with us) and their own herds to bond with. The rural farmers we work with are interested in and are pursuing predator friendly management of their livestock.

In Namibia, we’ve seen a reduction in the number of cheetahs caught, trapped and brought to us! Fewer cheetahs in is exactly what we want to see and we’re thrilled to see more and more farmers implement active, integrated livestock, wildlife and predator management techniques.

CCF’s Livestock Guarding Dogs are at the core of our efforts to address human-wildlife conflict, which threatens the cheetah. With these new litters, we’ve now placed close to 600 dogs total!

Top photo by Suzi Eszterhas