When Coyotes Threatened Livestock on Central Texas Ranches, the Solution Was to Unlock an Ancient Ability in Dogs

Not all guardian dogs are created equal—as Chris Pomorski discovers in his reported essay for Smithsonian Magazine. On Texas’s Edwards Plateau, he follows breeder Bob Buchholz, whose elite livestock guardian dogs are selected for the mix of traits that make them true protectors—and put them in high demand. By tracing the region’s ranching history, Pomorski reveals the scale of devastation once inflicted by coyotes and other predators, and how these four-legged guardians helped rescue a way of life.

By 2016, it was clear to Grant that the status quo wouldn’t hold. He was losing as many as 20 percent of his lambs and kid goats to predators, and he knew things could get worse: On the Edwards Plateau, 50 percent and even 90 percent losses were not unheard of. Coyotes were driving some stockmen out of business, others to the brink of collapse, and generally threatening a way of life that is integral to Texan identity. “It’s like having an ever-increasing-size hole in your canoe, and you’re trying to bail out water,” Grant said. In desperation, he decided to go see a fellow rancher about a decade younger than his father who was reputed to have cultivated an ancient knowledge, largely neglected in the United States, that had allowed him to prosper while his neighbors flailed. His name was Bob Buchholz. He was a man who knew about dogs.