Monster Hunting Dogs

This is probably a really stupid question but,

A character in a series of writing makes a living off of Monster Hunting, both by getting rid of monsters that are pests to a nearby village and/or farmland, as well as selling bits and pieces in market places. Her specialty just happens to be exterminating Goblins and Goblin Subspecies. In-universe, the average Goblins are green skinned humanoids who are around 3'5 on average, are feral creatures that are smart enough to set up traps, work in packs, and hide in dimly lit areas where they have the advantage over their natural enemies-which is just Humans and anything bigger than them.

The character has three Dogs with her at all times, all trained for the hunting and fighting of Goblins. Going off of purely their breeds, which do you think would be the most effective for the job?

I'd do a basic search of security dogs, such as Dobermans and Rottweilers. If the quarry is going to be mostly humanoid, and there's gonna be actual combat involved, what you want is something with a bit of weight and strength behind it, and enough intelligence to be able to avoid traps and work around an armed enemy. Nothing too big though, because if you're going to be hunting diminutive creatures in tunnels, a large dog would be more of a hindrance than a help. A bit of heritage bias on my part, but look up information on the Korean Jindo, which seems like an excellent breed for this kind of thing. Brave, loyal, intelligent, and capable of taking down large game alone, they seem like they'd make good goblin-hunters if trained right.

edited 14th Jul '17 9:29:26 AM by danime91

I'm pretty partial to the tibetan mastiff but it might be a bit too big for this kind of work. At about 100 pounds minimum they'd be bigger than the goblins they hunt. Considering the intelligence of the goblins you might want to go for a border collie even if they aren't really aggressive enough for this kind of work.

Now I'm suddenly imagining the protagonist of Goblin Slayer training up dogs to help him in his hunts.

...It baffles me how I didn't think about Goblin Slayer when thinking of this...

Anyway, yeah, the size of the Tibetan Mastiff might be a problem-not a direct turn off, but definitely a problem to realistically consider. It's why I considered, but decided not to go with the Caucasian Shepherd. It's an awesome idea to have this large, 200lbs dog hunting Goblins in theory, but would be too big and may be a hindrance. But Border Collie, that's something to consider.

As of now, the Border Collie, Doberman Pinscher, Rottweiler, and Korean Jindo are in a four-way fight to get the position-though I might just end up giving my Hound Master all four dogs since I think that any number that isn't above five seems reasonable enough for her to keep with her, without it reaching levels of ridiculous.

edited 14th Jul '17 11:31:52 AM by HydraGem

Any number above 2 and below 8 or so would be reasonable. Dogs are pack animals by nature, after all, and would hunt more effectively in groups.

I'd still go with some breed of Mastiff myself. If for no other reason than that all mastiffs are essentially 're-purposed' war dogs. And the main thing they've been re-purposed for is hunting and fighting large, dangerous game. (Like bears). Pretty much the only Mastiff breed I wouldn't recommend is the Dutch Mastiff. You'll get why when you look it up.

And I definitely would NOT go with any breed of dog that is primarily meant as a shepherd or guard dog (that includes Border Collies and Rottweilers). Because while shepherd and guard dogs take orders well, their... For lack of a better word 'killing' instinct has been solidly bred out of them. (After all, it's no good to have a herding dog that kills the livestock it's meant to manage and it's no good to have a guard dog that kills all visitors, even the friendly ones). And the only way to get them to kill is usually to turn them half-feral. Basically a shepherd dog that's been trained to fight and kill the goblins you describe wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a goblin and something about the same size and shape... Like a human child.

The only shepherd that is an exception to this is, of course, the German Shepherd (and its Dutch and Belgian cousins), which is basically the Swiss army knife of dog breeds and one of the few breeds intelligent enough to know the difference between a command to attack and kill or a command to attack and simply hold and therefore able to be trained to do both, rather than just one or the other.

If they're hunting dogs, I'd advise looking at actual hunting dog breeds.

What kind of hunting would the goblin-hunter do? If he's going to chase goblins across open land, he'd want a sighthound. A mastiff is definitely capable of being fast, but they're also damn huge. They may not be fast ENOUGH to catch goblins, thanks to physics.

If the hunting is more "sniffing out their hiding places and getting them underground," you'd want a Dachshund or terrier for burrowing and finding their traps.

Really what everyone else has been saying, but each dog being a different breed for different jobs.

A Sighthound (ex. Afghan) being good for crossing fields/running/pointing, a dachshund/terrier-type to go down holes and a Rottweiler-type to go in for the kill especially if said Goblins have their own dog-like beasts for protection.

Another idea w/o mixing with the above is for the dogs being shapeshifters that mode-shift either naturally to better pursue their prey or needing some kind of device/guidance from their owner to best do so.

I actually had a similar idea about mortal yet non-human hunters created to specifically hunt Physical Gods where among the items and abilities to get the job done, they ride giant terror birds/"Chocobos on 'roids" as horses that can both run and fly while also carrying Entelodont/tapir-like beasts to sniff out, eat magic weapons, grow strengthened leather from shed skin like a snake/sheep wool and paralyze said physical gods via saliva w/o ability to shift from boar to ferret-like depending on the situation.

edited 14th Jul '17 11:14:48 PM by K2Misfit

There are a few multi-purpose breeds out there like the Airedale Terrier. A sort of catch all breed. They have been used for everything from working dogs, guard dogs, and hunting dogs for all varities of game including big game. They were generally popular for their intelligence and ability to operate independently when properly trained. The animals are considered fairly robust creatures and their coats were easy to keep. The breed averages 35-50 lbs for the standard. However a breeder in the US bred a variety sometimes referred to as the Oorang Airedale that can be as much as 80-120lbs. Before the advent of the German Shepard the Airdale was commonly used in a lot of the same roles.

Another good choice would be Otterhounds.

I've changed my mind, she should just have a team of eight Dutch Mastiffs. It wouldn't actually be effective, but it'd be hilariously adorable.

Lol. That would be pretty funny.

What would be funnier is if it turned out the pack was good at it.

edited 15th Jul '17 11:50:16 AM by TuefelHundenIV

There's the Molossus, which is a breed that's now extinct. They were from Albania, and are the ancestor of the modern Mastiff as well as several other breed. How big and heavy they were is a matter of some debate (with some legends stating that smallish soldiers could actually ride them into battle, which while an interesting image ain't terribly likely), but they're supposed to have trained for hunting and fighting. Some think they may have been the "Dogs of War" Marc Antony was referring to in Shakespeare's Julius Ceaser.