Migratory pastoral communities in the high Himalaya have traditionally relied on Himalayan guard dogs that migrate along and protect their livestock herds against predators such as Himalayan wolf, snow leopard, and brown bear, a practice dating back many hundreds of years. However, this long-standing, and now diminishing, culture has not been methodically assessed as a potential conflict mitigation measure in the Himalaya. As opposed to lethal predator control, livestock guard dogs (LGDs) offer a non-lethal and low-investment solution to mediate conflict between pastoralists and wildlife in shared rangelands. LGDs build a landscape of fear for wild predators, thereby, preventing livestock loss to predation. While ecological impact of LGDs on wildlife have been questioned, observations from South African farms highlight the conservation benefits of dogs as they primarily act defensively towards predators.

In the context of Himalayan rangelands, an incisive inquiry is required to understand the role and effectiveness of LGDs in shaping pastoral herding practices, and gain insights to develop mechanisms to promote safe co-habitation and coexistence among pastoralists, wildlife, and Himalayan guard dogs. Our goal is to collate traditional and modern pastoral practices and assess empirical evidence to understand how guardian dogs effectively mediate human-wildlife conflicts by deterring livestock predators, preventing retaliatory killing, and improving herder tolerance towards predators. These accessible knowledge outputs would be instrumental for local and global pastoral systems, and for conservation policies and practices to actively promote human wildlife coexistence in shared rangelands.