Actually, I like lots of dogs, but the ones that perform jobs to help humans survive and thrive while making a living from the land have my affection and my respect.

I am enthralled with the idea that even in our modern world dogs continue to play a role in producing the food we eat. I love that working farm dogs can’t be dismissed as some quaint indulgence, like nostalgically saddling up a horse once a month to more slowly do the same task the ATV had been doing the other 29 days. There are still farm and ranch jobs that are most effectively and efficiently executed by dogs day in and day out — dogs that have been bred and trained for centuries to revel in their work and help us get things done.

In 2012 I helped to found Goats On The Go® as a way to profitably produce great food for people while avoiding many of the pitfalls of conventional agriculture. As my goat and sheep herd has grown, so has my need for working farm dogs. Livestock guardian dogs (LGD’s) have joined the farm over the years, and I made a failed attempt at putting a pre-owned Australian Shepherd to work herding my livestock. Meanwhile, my three sons kept growing up and my farm’s workforce began to shrink. In 2020 I decided it was past time to get a good stockdog, and my search began.

Being a total novice, I set out to learn as much as I could and soon realized that if I was going to do this thing right, I was going to be having lots of conversations with any experts who would tolerate me. And if I was having those conversations anyway, why not share them? The Farm Dog podcast was born.

I’m Aaron Steele, and I host Farm Dog. Thanks for coming along with a dog nerd as we explore the working dogs of farming, ranching, homesteading, and rural living.