Determining the effectiveness of shepherd dogs in small ruminant breeding

Predatory animals have disappeared, especially in small livestock farming, and are reaching very important levels in economic terms. Among all farm animal species, sheep and goats are the easiest targets for wild animal attacks and are most exposed to attacks. Effective use of shepherd dogs, especially their unique behavior and physical characteristics (body structure, strong condition, ability to smell, courage, vision and hearing ability) are the development characteristics of the dog. In this thesis study; Gaining information about the cause of wolf attacks in sheep farming structures in Burdur, Isparta and Antalya provinces and the importance of lost jobs. The effectiveness of shepherd dogs has been investigated to minimize the damages caused by animals living in small livestock farming. According to the findings, 40% of sheep breeders and 45.5% of goat breeders stated loss of damage due to predators. In the study conducted in the last two years due to wild-predatory pests in these breeders, the total number of animals kept in Burdur, Isparta and Antalya provinces is 3629 sheep and 3297 head of goats. The monetary equivalent for this damage in 2023 is approximately 27 217 500 TL for the damaged sheep breeders and 24 727 500 TL for the goat breeders. It seems that wolf attacks have occurred almost twice in the last two years in all three provinces. It depends on the province which dog breed operates in the herds and is statistically significant (P<0.05). According to the information regarding where the dogs were obtained, the two-way table chi square test statistic is 16.509 and is statistically significant (P<0.05).