Do they have papers?
No. "Papers" represent a dog that has been bred out of a closed gene pool, almost always for show purposes. We don't participate in inbreeding any dogs with a coefficient of inbreeding greater than the equivalent of cousin to cousin, and don't support the idea of inbreeding animals to create purely aesthetic, frequently unhealthy characteristics for the show ring or current fad. All the information we possess about our dogs' family trees and any genetic testing are publicly available on this site without the need to pay extra for any 'papers'.
What is a working dog?
A working dog is a dog bred to be able to do a job. This includes pulling, guarding, herding, search and rescue, and any other job that we need from them. Like most of the original mastiff breeds, Nordgard dogs are bred to protect their owners' property from predators and confront any trespassing strangers.
Some dogs we breed have stronger working drives than others. A dog bred from working lines is also able to be a pet, but special attention will need to be paid to understanding their capabilities, and giving them healthy outlets for any working instincts they do have.
How do I know if a Nordgard dog is right for me?
If you are a capable dog owner, have adequate housing for a large dog, take responsibility and have anything or anyone worth protecting, a Nordgard Dog is right for you.
What are your dogs like?
We breed for tall, muscular, healthy, clean, protective, family-oriented, driven, agile, tough, intelligent, and beautiful dogs. Things we don’t like in a dog are instability, too much roaming, high prey drive, and too much rank drive. To us a guard dog should be large and intimidating enough to deter almost all threats, and powerful and brave enough to handle the rest. They should always want to be nearby, unless they are confronting a threat. With proper socialization, they should accept any dog or person they are introduced to who is acting normally, and should naturally show suspicion to anything else.
Why blend Midgard Mastiffs and livestock guardian breeds?
In general, Midgard Mastiffs are large, healthy and have very high prey and defense drives. Midgard Mastiffs are very handler oriented, and want to be right next to them all the time.
Livestock guardian dogs are typically large, healthy, more winter capable, have no to low prey drive, and an extreme defense drive. While our LGDs would happily snuggle all day, they have more of an independent streak than the Midgards.
Our goal is to create a dog with low prey drive and very high defensive drives, intelligence and grit. This makes for a dog who is happy to guard their territory all day without wandering far. Put the two types together well and you get large, powerful, intelligent dogs fit for our purpose - companionship+protection at the home property or out in nature.
Is it expensive to keep a Nordgard dog?
Our dogs are about as healthy as large dogs can be due to the benefits of a diverse gene pool and hybrid vigor. They are much, much less likely to experience the expensive health problems associated with large pure bred dogs. That being said, they do eat a lot.
Should I get my Nordgard dog trained in personal protection work?
We do not generally take our dogs off of our property, and therefore we do not feel the need to do personal protection training with our dogs. We believe most of them would have the instincts and drives required for PP work, especially given a PP trainer who is used to working with the training needs of molosser type defense-driven dogs rather than the more common purely prey-driven breeds. Many of our dogs' relatives have successfully engaged in personal protection work. Whether to pursue such training with your Nordgard dog is a personal choice. We can not make any guarantees about working ability in the personal protection arena. We breed primarily territorial/livestock guardians.
Are they safe around kids?
Yes. This is the reason we breed livestock guardians and mastiff types, but not herders, bulldogs or anything else. They are much safer around kids and family than dogs bred to have a high rank drive. Rank drive is the desire to have a high social status, and rank aggression is the will to fight for social status. That may work for a police or military dog, but not the family guard dog. We select against any rank drive tendencies. We are raising a child around these dogs, and we breed for trustworthiness before anything else. For more info on rank and defense see David Ishee's article here.
Both Midgard Mastiffs and livestock guardian dogs have a high pack drive – the desire to be near their family and on good terms with them. Our dogs' place is as part of the family on the property they’re supposed to protect.
Are they good with other pets?
They can live with other dogs if raised to do so. Like any dog with some prey drive, they may have to be trained not to chase cats and other small animals. This is very dependent on the individual dog. We are selecting against prey drive as we continue the program.
With other dogs they are typically very social within the household and love to play. It’s not very useful to have a guard dog who has to work alone, as a pack of guard dogs is much more powerful than a single individual. There may be occasional conflicts if perceived high value items are introduced unequally to the pack, i.e. raw meat, but daily life is calm.
Once a Nordgard dog reaches maturity it is highly unlikely they will tolerate a strange dog in their territory unless the dog is submissive and properly introduced. Many wild predators are canines, and livestock guardian dogs have been bred for centuries to protect against such threats. Our dogs will accept guidance from a handler and refrain from engaging with the strange dog if instructed, but their instinct will be to aggressively deter strange animals.
Is working a dog "abuse"?
No. A well-bred working dog will love their job, as working will be a part of their nature. Working breeds usually need work to feel fulfilled. It is not abuse to let a dog do the work it was born for, especially in the case of guarding property, where the primary "work’" involves walking around, hanging out near their humans and barking at strange things. We never force our dogs to do anything that could harm them, but we don’t stop them from protecting their home either.