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Drover Me Crazy

© Wendy Smith

According to breed history, the Rottweiler's ancestors were used as drover dogs by the Roman Empire as it spread into Germany. They later continued their role as cattle drovers in the region of Germany where the breed evolved.

But for someone who knows next to nothing about herding, what the heck does "drover dog" mean?

And as someone who knows next to nothing about herding, that's what I tried to find out.

Since I am such a novice on this subject, let me apologize in advance to any of my more experienced readers. If you see anything that I have gotten blatantly wrong, feel free to let me know.

The term "drover" obviously derives from the word "drive". According to most of the sites that I visited about herding, "drive" relates to the direction that the dog is pushing the flock. The opposite of drive is "fetching", or "gathering".

When a dog gathers, or fetches, livestock, his job is bring the sheep to the shepherd. For example, picture a shepherd on a hill sending out his border collie. The collie races to where the flock is grazing on another hill and begins to move them back toward the shepherd. In essence, the sheep have the dog behind them and the shepherd in front.

On the other hand, most of the sites that I visited describe driving as having both the dog and shepherd at the rear of the flock. The dog pushes the flock forward, essentially away from the shepherd. So now picture a farmer driving his herd along a country road to a different pasture. The farmer and his dogs are at the rear of the flock. The dogs trot side to side, pushing the herd forward as the farmer ambles along behind. There might be other people assisting in different positions, but the person actually commanding the dogs is in the rear. Instead of being between the dog and handler, now the livestock is in front of both.

OK, so if Rottweilers are drover dogs, does that mean that they cannot fetch or gather livestock, only drive it?

No, all dogs considered of droving descent can be used to gather livestock. Likewise, herding breeds, like border collies can also be used to drive stock.

OK, then. That just brings us right back to the question of what the heck is a drover dog, then? Why not just call them all herders and be done with it?

That brings us back to our history lessons, again. Before the advent of trains, the only way farmers had of getting their livestock to market was on hoof (once again, picture that farmer moving his herd along a country road). Obviously, the farmer could use his own dogs and move them himself, which many did. But he would be have to leave his farm and the rest of his herd behind while he went to market.