Certification of livestock guardian dogs
Minimizing conflicts with land users
To minimize conflicts with land users, livestock guardian dogs must be certified in accordance with the Second Animal Husbandry Ordinance. This is done by the Austrian Centre for Bear, Wolf, and Lynx in cooperation with the federal states.
The certification includes both the dog and all people who work with the dog. They must show that they can support the dog in various situations by understanding its needs and behavior and responding accordingly. The examiners are experts in the field of dogs commissioned by the ÖZ.
Overview of certification content
Relationship between dog and dog owner, dog on the farm/civilized environment:
- Handling the dog, trainability, behaviour in stressful situations in familiar and unfamiliar surroundings, also away from the herd.
- Dog allows itself to be attacked (mouth, paw, fur check), loaded into car/trailer
Behavior towards strangers – humans and animals
- Encounter with hikers, cyclists, individual passers-by, other dogs, both in the herd and away in villages/built-up areas
- At no time may the dog show aggressive behavior
Dog – Herd:
- checking herd loyalty, with and without distraction.
- Dog – other dogs in the work environment, behavior towards other livestock guardian and herding dogs, ability to work in a team
- When dealing with the herd, strangers should be perceived as a normal part of the environment
The full certification policy is available at Publications of the ÖZ available for download. The document OeZ_Checklist_Certification_HSH serves as a guide for farmers who want to register a livestock guardian dog for certification.
A brochure about livestock guardian dogs, their keeping, working methods, history and breeding is available at LSP_Livestock_Protection_Dogs_Breeding_Deployment available.
Certified livestock guardian dogs
Livestock guardian dogs must comply with the regulations. 2nd Animal Keeping Ordinance They will be certified. The certification criteria were developed by a working group of the ÖZ (Austrian Centre for Health Education).
Since 2024, the ÖZ has been conducting these certifications in cooperation with the respective home federal state of the company.
| Federal State | Number of dogs | Number of businesses |
| Burgenland | 0 | |
| Carinthia | 4 | 2 |
| Lower Austria | 0 | |
| Upper Austria | 0 | |
| Salzburg | 3 | 1 |
| Styria | 0 | |
| Tyrol | 10 | 3 |
| Vorarlberg | 0 | |
| Vienna | 0 |
Status: January 2026
