Delightful color photos and accessible text describe the important roles of guardian dogs in protecting sheep. Another wonderful example of the value of dogs! ( )

Brave Dogs, Gentle Dogs: How They Guard Sheep by Cat Urbigkit

In this realistic fiction book, it discusses how dogs are trained to be guardian dogs. The book tells how the puppies bedding is sheep wool to help the dogs get used to the sheep smell. Then when the puppies are a few weeks old they meet lambs. The puppies will later meet older sheep when they get used to them and understand they are nice. When the puppies are a few months old they will start following the sheep around. Most pups will spend their lives with one herd.

I like this story because it helps children understand how pups become sheep dogs. I think it is interesting the various steps that go into the process of making a puppy into a sheep dog. It would be a great book to go along with a unit on farming.

I would use this book with Pre-K through 2nd grade to go along with a farming unit. I would talk to the students about different types of farming and explain to them that we will be talking about important animals that help out with sheep farming. I would ask the students to draw a picture of one thing they learned about dogs learning to be guardian dogs.