Since my last post in reply to Sandra was apparently ripped into pieces
I'll repeat here the part of my last post that had to do with her
question  -Could the same dog be used for herding and guarding?

There are several breeds whose owners swear that they can be used for
both.  In addition to ESs, Briards and Bouviers come to mind as well.
I'm sure there are others.  Since I use two separate "specialist" breeds
to do these two jobs, I'm no expert on the multi purpose dog.  However,
the idea appeals to me greatly!  Especially since these dogs are thought
of as good companions and pets , which is not always the case with BCs.
They're just too intense.  I made this comment to someone recently and
they asked me to describe my relationship with the BCs - the only answer
I could think of was "co-dependent".

My apologies if this came through twice - I'm such a techno-flub!

Melissa