Attack creates worries in West about sheep dogs

Two sheep dogs' attack on a Colorado mountain biker has prompted ranchers in the West to seek better ways to manage the large dogs that protect their herds against predators. The American Sheep Industry Association has been working with state groups and federal agencies to address the problem as more people make their way into once-remote areas where sheep graze. With more hiking and biking trails being cut through public lands the federal government leases to ranchers, sheep herders and outdoors enthusiasts say it's a problem that has become more urgent. "We have more and more dogs in use and more and more encroachment into traditional agricultural areas, and we're running into the need for more management of our dogs and education for the public as to why the dogs are there and what they do," said Peter Orwick, executive director of the American Sheep Industry Association. The dogs, typically Great Pyrenees, protect sheep against coyotes, mountain lions and bears and have become more common since the 1970s and 80s, when the government banned traps and poisons as ways to control predators. Without them, everyone agrees sheep ranchers would suffer huge losses to predators and might give up the business...more