With the popularity of personal protection sports the term working dog has often been assumed to mean a specialty personal protection dog. My background has included an alternative working style. I was born into a family with a kennel of field trial beagles and ever since then I have had dogs, usually some type of working dog especially farm utility dogs.

“Farm utility” means different things to different people but to us it might more accurately be called “farm duty” and describe a way to evaluate the complex and most important genetic traits of temperament and physiological soundness. In temperament we strive for a dog that, unless its family is threatened, is very peaceful, with good but controllable “drives” and extreme natural courage in the face of danger. We also appreciate intelligence, especially if it coincides with eagerness to please. This makes an all around versatile dog that produces natural guardians and was a breeding emphasis in earlier times when small farms were more common. Relatively few people have a need for a working farm utility dog, but we sincerely believe that the versatility, physical soundness and natural instincts that this breeding emphasis instills is very valuable in a dog to be used as a family pet and protector. By using our Bulldogges in our ranching operation it gives us a way to gauge invisible traits such as temperament, while maintaining soundness. Obviously Bulldogges that require life in air conditioning or misters in their quarters don’t work out very well.

After having tried different methods of working farm utility dogs I have settled on the following techniques. With cattle I use a rotational grazing system and because the grass is usually greener on the other side of the fence I don’t normally need help in rotating the herd to new pastures. The time I most need help is when I’m forced to drive cattle. This occurs sometimes when loading but mainly when a cow gets on the wrong side of a single strand electrical fence, which happens fairly frequently. They always seem to find a way out even with the power on but can never seem to find their way back in even when the power has been turned off. If I’m by myself they usually want to run back and forth along the fence.

In the past I have found that if I encourage any kind of aggression that usually my bulldog ends up liking the work too much and I soon have a catch dog that is just a big problem when working cows. What has worked the best for me, providing the dog has been socialized and is controllable, is to discourage any kind of aggression with the exception of allowing the dog to protect itself against a charging cow. Then the main object is to convey to the dog to stay back and to accompany you for a walk. The result is like having multiple people driving the cow. If the cow tries the dog, the dog knows to defend itself and the cow quickly turns deciding she would be better off on the other side of the fence. Taking pups along with you to retrieve a dairy cow for milking is great early socialization. Taking them along to check beef cows can also work but make sure any electrical fences are turned off. One thing to keep in mind is that you don’t want to be nearby when they learn about the electrical fences else wise the dog can then associate you with the pain of the hot wire.

This off lead control in close quarter bovine management must be very similar to an original use of the “Butchers Bulldogge” before the advent of the so-called sport of bull baiting.

Another way in which I use bulldogges for ranch work is gate tending. When no one is around to keep cattle from coming through a gate that is left open to allow a tractor to come and go with hay bales, the dog is tied to the gate with a long enough lead to move out of the way of the tractor and is trained to keep cattle from moving through the open gate. Most bulldogges will do this naturally