Behaviour and heart rate in sheep when herded by Border collies with different background

Sammanfattning: Sheepdogs have been used for a long time as a tool in the management of the sheep. However in recent years, the interest in herding has increased as a hobby which led to a debate which resulted in the Swedish Sheepdog Society issued guidelines on how the training of the dogs should be conducted with respect to the welfare of the sheep. The tendency the sheep have to flock when in presence of a predator is used when using sheepdogs. If a predator approaches, the conduct of the sheep also changes by that they become quieter, they urinate and defecate more and they can also stomp in the ground or attack. They can also take refuge in a protected location. There are breed disparities in how far the different breeds of sheep escape and how long it takes for them to recover and start behaving relaxed again, where intensely bred breeds have shorter recovery period. Physiological indicators of that the sheep is experiencing stress, can be elevated cortisol levels and increased heart rate. The aim of this study was to investigate how the behaviour and heart rate of sheep were affected by being moved by trained familiar and unfamiliar sheepdogs. In this study, three focal sheep in a group of six sheep and ten different dogs were used, three of which were the sheep owners’ dogs. The sheep and dogs' behaviour was monitored by a digital video camera when they interacted. One sheep was fitted with a heart rate monitor (Polar Equine RS800 G3) to be able to measure heart rate which later was analysed using the program Polar ProTrainer 5. Two different moments were performed, a gathering and a shed. The recordings of the behaviours were analyzed using The Observer XT ®, version 11.0. During the analysis the herding was divided into five phases; before the outrun, the lift, the herding where the sheep and dog interacted, when the dog left the sheep and after the dog left the sheep. The behaviour of the sheep was then recorded to see how it changed during the different phases. Both the behaviour and the heart rate were studied with regard to the differences between the dogs; familiar or not, the age of the dog and if the dog was loose- or strong-eyed. During both the gathering and the shedding, the sheep galloped more when in contact with the unfamiliar dogs. The sheep watched the unfamiliar dogs after the gathering but after the shed they watched the familiar dogs more. The mean heart rate 200 seconds after the dog left the sheep at a gathering was 108.1 beats per minute and after a shed the heart rate was 124.5 beats per minute. The shed also resulted in the highest peak heart rate of 229 beats per minute. The conclusion of this study is that there seem to be differences in how dogs with different background but also with similar background, affect the sheep. The most important thing seemed to be how the dog behaved towards the sheep, not if the sheep was familiar or not, as well as if the dog was loose-eyed or strong-eyed and the age of the dogs. Calm dogs resulted in calm sheep. The behaviour and the heart rate of the sheep indicate that they got more stressed by the shed.