Mastines working in Leon.

We went to Asturias to compete and stayed in a casa rural in Leon, and very close there was a pastor with about 1000 sheep, three mastines and another Leones dog called a Carea he had three of those too, its a type of spanish sheepdog originating from Leon. The mastines lay around the flock of sheep , either on the outskirts or smack bang in the middle of them all. The Careas are the ones who move the herd from one place to another with the pastors orders, and the mastins just lay around watching and guarding. It was interesting to see, and also to talk to the pastor about his experiences with his dogs. He told us a few storys and also mentioned that they put the pups with the mother to mind the flock at a very early age, 2 months old. They learn from watching their mothers what they have to do. Natalie went into the middle of the flock and one of the female mastinas started to growl and bark at her, she was doing a very good job of guarding her flock. Natalie didn't get frightened at all as she is used to our dogs, but it was funny to see how protective the female was with an intruder.
He said the Careas need hours of training a few times during the week to become good herd dogs. And also mentioned the tracking instinct of the mastin, mentioning how mastines had been loaned to other pastors, had gotten lost and found their way home, some nearly 100 km away.