why continue to breed APBTs and other breeds that can't do their original job anymore?

Corvus, you bring up a really interesting point, and it's something I want to ask about but will start a new thread for it.  Thank you, though, it's something I'd never thought of before. 

o I think if you decide a breed no longer has any use and let it die out, you could be crippling yourself in the future. As long as there is interest enough to keep the breed going, why not encourage that? You never know when a brand new, related job is going to pop up.

It's popular among the sporty and/or conformation herding dog people to say that the job of the herding dog is "dying out".  In fact, recent statistics show that most of the sheep raised in North America are raised on small family farms, and most of those use stockdogs to manage their livestock.

Additionally, the meat industry is rapidly approaching a crisis point.  They must soon rethink the feedlot paradigm.  The way meat was raised in the past was on pasture - usually vast tracts of land no one else wanted.  That meat was more expensive, but it was healthier, lacking in hormones, antibiotics, and full of omega fatty acids and vitamins and minerals - the antioxidants in particular.

Today those areas are still grazed, but more responsibly than in the past, by using livestock guardian dogs to protect the herds from wildlife incursion (rather than shooting wolves, bears, and cats), and by using herding dogs to move herds along in a timely manner, once the forage has been grazed down to a healthy point.  These new herds of the west do the work that once were done by the wild ungulates which are sadly now gone.

A friend uses terriers to sniff out termites in homes (and I think small scent hounds are used for this purpose as well). But, one of his best dogs is a Border Collie!

I retrain Border Collies which have failed as both companions (too nuts) or livestock working dogs (not enough patience), as dogs who clear resident waterfowl off human greenways like parks, golf courses, corporate lawns, and airport runways.  These dogs simply pretend to be predators, which is why the birds have taken up residence in these places, preferring them to their natural habitat.  Once they learn that the dogs not only chase them on land, but also in the water (something natural predators don't do) - they return to natural habitats, which are healthier for them anyway.  

Border Collies, with their stealthy approach and hard eye, are particularly suited for this task - and yet you can't breed a dog "for" this job (believe me, people have tried) - it is best to select from the wide gene pool that breeding for livestock work makes available. 

brookcove

I retrain Border Collies which have failed as both companions (too nuts) or livestock working dogs (not enough patience), as dogs who clear resident waterfowl off human greenways like parks, golf courses, corporate lawns, and airport runways.  These dogs simply pretend to be predators, which is why the birds have taken up residence in these places, preferring them to their natural habitat.  Once they learn that the dogs not only chase them on land, but also in the water (something natural predators don't do) - they return to natural habitats, which are healthier for them anyway.  

Border Collies, with their stealthy approach and hard eye, are particularly suited for this task - and yet you can't breed a dog "for" this job (believe me, people have tried) - it is best to select from the wide gene pool that breeding for livestock work makes available. 

Any chance that a PH could come down and help one of your dogs with that job?  I can't promise he won't catch anything though.  =) 

Xerxes

Any chance that a PH could come down and help one of your dogs with that job?  I can't promise he won't catch anything though.  =) 

Yeah, sure!  First you have to demonstrate that your dog will stop and drop in the middle of a dead run after the bird.  HEE! 

During nesting season many of the birds can't fly, and also it would really stink to have one's dog run over if an Air Force jet suddenly had to put down for an emergency landing.  So strict obedience is #1 priority - the dogs have to have a really great work ethic, but also be team players when they work.

ETA:  Actually, most places they would, regretfully, shoot the dog rather than risk the pilot's life - regretfully in the sense that all of them know the dog and play with it off hours - but we make sure that would never ever happen!

Right on. And the herding dog is still very much alive and well in Australia. We don't have many feedlots. And when I was in Mexico, I saw loads of ACDs flourishing doing what they were originally bred for - which, I might add, was to be a constant companion as well as being gutsy enough to herd near wild cattle. I visited rural Victoria just a few years ago and sheepdogs were still a must where there were sheep.

brookcove

Yeah, sure!  First you have to demonstrate that your dog will stop and drop in the middle of a dead run after the bird.  HEE! 

I guess we'll just do golf courses during off hours then....LOL.

 I really don't know too many self-respecting sighthounds that can be called off with 100% reliability, for that matter I don't know any with 75% reliable recall when they're on game.
 

its my opinion the only reason a breed should be left to "die out" is if you INSIST on keeping it pure and only have a small handful to work with. if you're dumb enough to do that then you are doing a great injustice to the dogs themselves. history be damned.

 after seeing what i've seen, talking to men who work their dogs, the IWH will never die out completely. Well.... the show stock will. few of them can hunt. but the out crossings in the UK and Ireland would do the old kings proud.
 

thankfully my dogs are multi-purpose dogs- as are pit bulls- and will never lose their jobs. the show variety however..... well.... nevermind that.

yes i believe it would cripple us in the future if we stopped breeding hard working drivey dogs. mankind wouldnt have lasted half as long without our ONLY friends in this world.. turn them into unhealthy lumps and you're doing yourself an injustice, even if you do believe that the majority of working dogs have lost their jobs. sure they may be temporarily unemployed, but that could change any minute and you know it.