Small farms and large ranches are turning to dogs as a humane and ecologically sound way to protect their investments. This newly revised edition will make it easy to select a breed, care for, and train a livestock protection dog. Training methods have been refined and expanded, and there's even a chapter on guarding unusual stock, plus a discussion of theory, history and selection; livestock protection breeds as dual companion/working dogs; puppy temperament testing and training. Illustrated. Topics include: • What a livestock protection dog can do • Selecting a puppy • Caring for your dog • Behavioral problems and solutions • Preparations for a family companion • Guarding unusual stock • Older dogs • Puppy temperament testing and training • Plus much more!!! Note from Dogwise Publishing: Please be aware that this older title may recommend some training techniques that are now considered outdated. At the time of publication the use of negative reinforcement and positive punishment were more widely used to teach certain types of behaviors, especially with dogs who display a high degree of resilience. We encourage owners to always use the least intrusive, minimally aversive methods possible. https://m.iaabc.org/about/position-statements/lima/

Gain a deeper understanding of your canine friends through these in-depth breed profiles that showcase how working dogs think. From familiar breeds like the Border Collie, Corgi, and Dachshund to the lesser-known Akbash, Puli, and Hovawart, Janet Vorwald Dohner describes 93 breeds of livestock guardian dogs, herding dogs, terriers, and traditional multipurpose farm dogs, highlighting the tasks each dog is best suited for and describing its physical characteristics and temperament. She also offers an accessible history of how humans bred dogs to become our partners in work and beyond, providing a thorough introduction to these highly intelligent, independent, and energetic breeds.

Raise a flock of sheep in your backyard. Even with a limited amount of space, you can enjoy homegrown fleece and fresh milk, as well as the endearing company of these family-friendly animals. Sue Weaver provides all the instructions you need for selecting a breed; housing and feeding; harvesting fleece; and milking. With simple recipes for making cheese and yogurt, and tips on processing fleece for wool, you’ll enjoy the varied and numerous rewards of keeping sheep.

Goat meat production is the fastest growing segment of U.S. agriculture, and an estimated 70 percent of all meat consumed globally is from goats. Storey’s Guide to Raising Meat Goats is the essential reference on raising, caring for, and marketing meat goats. This updated edition gives caprine producers the vital information they need to start a meat-goat business or expand their current operation.

When Homo sapiens sapiens met Canis lupus lupus millennia ago, the result was Canis lupus familiaris, the domestic dog. Since that fateful encounter, the dog has become, arguably, humankind’s greatest creation. The domestic dog is the most widely distributed species (other than ourselves) in the world, being found virtually wherever people live, and is also the most diversified of species, with literally hundreds of recognized breeds. While we have shaped the dog, it, too, has helped shape human history in innumerable ways. Our Debt to the Dog is a critical historical and cross-cultural examination, through the use of case studies, of this most improbable 15,000-year relationship and an exploration of how this relationship shaped the history of the world. It is also very much an apology to the dog because over the course of the partnership horrific acts were perpetrated against it intentionally and otherwise. Our Debt to the Dog enriches our understanding of the dog and extends our appreciation for the profound complexity of past and present human-canine relationships and the dog’s contributions to our lives and our world.

Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks provides vital information for anyone wanting to keep ducks. It covers everything - choosing the right breed, including rare breeds and hybrid ducks; breeding and rearing practices; feeding; butchering; and, a comprehensive resource section for both the novice and the veteran farmer. New and Expanded features include: expanded breed section; more information on facilities for ducklings, health, and disease treatment; a compendium on marketing and record keeping; section on colour genetics; and, new information on rarer breed conservation.

“What Mr. Rogers was to children, Alexandra Horowitz is to dogs: a wise and patient observer who seeks to intimately know a creature... Her chapters, packed with close observations about canine cognition and behavior, are mini-mood lifters." —NPR, Maureen Corrigan on Fresh Air What is it like to be a puppy? Author of the classic Inside of a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz tries to find out, spending a year scrutinizing her puppy’s daily existence and poring over the science of early dog development Few of us meet our dogs at Day One. The dog who will, eventually, become an integral part of our family, our constant companion and best friend, is born without us into a family of her own. A puppy's critical early development into the dog we come to know is usually missed entirely. Dog researcher Alexandra Horowitz aimed to change that with her family's new pup, Quiddity (Quid). In this scientific memoir, she charts Quid's growth from wee grub to boisterous sprite, from her birth to her first birthday. Horowitz follows Quid's first weeks with her mother and ten roly-poly littermates, and then each week after the puppy joins her household of three humans, two large dogs, and a wary cat. She documents the social and cognitive milestones that so many of us miss in our puppies' lives, when caught up in the housetraining and behavioral training that easily overwhelms the first months of a dog's life with a new family. In focusing on training a dog to behave, we mostly miss the radical development of a puppy into themselves—through the equivalent of infancy, childhood, young adolescence, and teenager-hood. By slowing down to observe Quid from week to week, The Year of the Puppy makes new sense of a dog's behavior in a way that is missed when the focus is only on training. Horowitz keeps a lens on the puppy's point of view—how they (begin to) see and smell the world, make meaning of it, and become an individual personality. She's there when the puppies first open their eyes, first start to recognize one another and learn about cats, sheep, and people; she sees them from their first play bows to puberty. Horowitz also draws from the ample research in the fields of dog and human development to draw analogies between a dog's first year and the growing child—and to note where they diverge. The Year of the Puppy is indispensable for anyone navigating their way through the frustrating, amusing, and ultimately delightful first year of a puppy’s life.