I did some research in sheep farming a number of years ago. One farmer told me a story of the incredible skill and instincts of dogs (in this case, Great Pyren

I did some research in sheep farming a number of years ago. One farmer told me a story of the incredible skill and instincts of dogs (in this case, Great Pyrenees). I'll give a brief re-telling here. Farmer had two large flocks of sheep (500+ each). They lived a few kilometers apart. The farmer had about 15 Great Pyrenees dogs that lived with the flocks. Without any training, the dogs would divide themselves amongst the flocks. A 'sentinel' dog would travel back and forth between the flocks and if one had suffered some recent coyote attacks, the sentinel would adjust the number of dogs to increase 'security' at the affected flock. The dogs would remain with the other flock for days until they were able to fight off the coyotes. After the threat was dealt with, the dogs would naturally re-balance between the flocks and the sentinel dog would continue mobile surveillance.