Sheep, Sheepdog, and Wolf--The Flawed Analogy (Updated)

Shetland Sheepdog (Source)

In reading books or articles concerning self-defense, or in classes concerning self-defense, you will sooner or later come across the analogy of the sheep, sheep-dog, and wolf. I don't know if it originated with Dave Grossman, but his articulation of the analogy seems to be the most often cited:

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen: A Sheep.  

If you have a capacity for violence and No empathy for your fellow citizens, then you are A Wolf.  

But, what if you have a capacity for violence and a deep love for your fellow citizen? Then you are A Sheepdog! 

A Sheepdog is a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness into the universal human phobia and walk out unscathed.

A 2011 article at The Truth About Guns delves into Grossman's viewpoints in more detail, and takes the position that the armed citizen should be sheepdogs. It seems to be a common refrain (see here, here, here and here, for example), and used to guilt someone into taking self-defense instruction. The latter most web-site states, for instance:

Most sheepdogs are found in the military, law enforcement and the martial arts communities. They often make the sheep uncomfortable because they remind them that the wolves are out there. Sheepdogs are often targets of ridicule from the sheep that get uncomfortable seeing their weapons, or as Grossman writes, “They have fangs like the wolf and fur like the wolf and they are constantly looking for the very opportunity to engage the wolf in battle…the very thing the sheep fear.” 

Now, if you choose to be a sheep that is your choice. Just remember that you or your loved ones may be injured or die if there is no sheepdog around to handle the wolf. Know that it doesn’t have to be that way. Regular citizens every day step up to be sheepdogs when necessary such as American Airlines passengers against the terrorists on 9/11 and those you [sic] risk life and limb to thwart the muggers, rapists, and murderers who prey on our community.

Caleb at Gun Nuts Media recently took direct aim at the "sheep-dog" mentality, using the example of George Zimmerman. The substance of his article is:

As humans, we excel at many things. Foremost on that list? Lying to ourselves. That really is the problem with the whole concept of “the sheepdog.” Because it feeds the ego and because there’s no effort required to become a sheepdog, it’s easy to slide ourselves into the idea that we’re better than all the people around us because we carry a gun. It creates a mental divide between citizens, where these self-appointed sheepdogs look down on people who choose not to carry. It’s so easy to slip into that. I fall prey to it all the time in small ways. What’s tremendously ironic is that the people who refer to themselves as sheepdogs are also frequently the most vocal critics of “militarized policing” – yet they’re guilty of the same “us vs. them” mindset that they criticize the police for having. 

A concealed carry permit isn’t a junior G-man badge, and it’s not a license to go looking to get into someone else’s gunfight. I’m not saying don’t get involved, in fact I want to say the exact opposite. What’s most toxic about the way the term sheepdog is used today is just what I stated above, that it creates and feeds a culture of us vs. them. The truth is that we’re not protectors of our community, we’re not warrior-heroes walking the path of righteousness. Most of us, myself included, are just folk. I’m just a guy who carries a gun because I want to have the most effective tool available to defend my life, and the lives of my family members. I’m not saying don’t get involved, in fact I would encourage you to get more involved. If you claim to be a sheepdog but you don’t know your neighbor’s names, you’re just lying to yourself. If you really believe you should protect your community, don’t set yourself apart from it. Be a part of it. Get to know your neighbors, create relationships. If George Zimmerman had really been a part of his community, he wouldn’t have been patrolling the neighborhood alone after dark. Those are the actions of someone who has set himself apart from the people around him, someone who’s invested more in his own self-image than the actual safety and protection of his fellow citizens.

I concur with Caleb on this one.

First, the analogy is more correct than you might think. But, if you have ever been around sheepdogs and herders, or even just read Animal Farm, you probably will have a very different idea of a sheepdog. A sheepdog isn't there to protect the herd; the sheepdog is there to assist the sheep herder in managing the sheep. It just happens that one aspect of managing the herd is to keep the herd safe from predators. The dog's purpose is not to keep the sheep from dying or being hurt under any circumstance, but to ensure that only the sheep herder gets to use and cull the herd as he wants. In the end, the sheepdog serves the sheep herder, not the sheep. Is that how you see yourself? As helping control the sheep?

Second, there is a reason that "sheepdogs" are mostly the police and the military. It is not just that they work in packs. It is because the police and military, in their respective spheres, have certain obligations to protect fellow citizens (i.e., the sheep), but are also given certain privileges and tools not afforded to the common citizen in order to fulfill their general obligation. Not the least of these is broader authority to use force. In fact, restricting the use of force to police and military is part and parcel of the state's monopoly on violence.

Focusing on law enforcement, not only can police use force to defend themselves or others, they can use force to affect an arrest of a perpetrator (including stopping a fleeing suspect), to protect public and private property, and enforce court orders. Under surprisingly broad sets of circumstances, they have lawful authority to stop and question people, and search a person or vehicle. With an appropriate warrant, they can enter private property or force their way into a residence. No matter how much self-defense or tactical training you may receive, you will never be a "sheepdog" without being in law-enforcement or the military because you do not possess the legal authority to be a "sheepdog."

Third, as Caleb's article discusses in more detail, is the whole idea of being a "hero" or modern day "warrior." If you decide you are the "sheepdog"--the hero or warrior-- you can easily, as Caleb points out in his article, stray (nay, propel yourself) into a moral or legal morass. I am reminded of an incident related in Mass Ayoob's The Truth About Self-Defense, where a trucker passing through New York City, saw a man pushing a woman up against a wall while the woman cried rape. The trucker was, in his mind, a sheepdog, and promptly shot the "attacker." Only, the "attacker" was actually an undercover vice officer attempting to arrest a prostitute. Not a heroic ending to that story.

Our duty, as armed citizens, is much more narrow than protecting the public at large. If we are going to continue with the animal analogy, I like Christopher Burg's analogizing the armed citizen to the porcupine. "Porcupines are great, they walk around foraging for food, and avoid starting [fights] with other animals. So long as you don’t attack a porcupine you’ll be OK but if you [mess] with a porcupine you’re going to get a face full of wrath filled quills."

Update (3/16/2015): Via Active Response Training, I came across this 2012 article by Jack Feldman on the sheepdog analogy that makes some of the same points I do, although more eloquently:

 "Sheepdog" doesn't describe me and probably shouldn't apply to you, either. First, who do sheepdogs serve? Not the sheep. They serve the shepherd, who owns both the herd and the sheepdogs. What's the shepherd doing with the sheep? Making a living, first by regularly shearing, or "fleecing" them, second by eating them, and third by selling them to someone else for either purpose. Sure, the shepherd wants the sheep alive and healthy. His living depends on them. They're not pets, they're products. The sheepdogs aren't pets, either. They're regarded as employees at best, as tools at worst. They exist to do a job. 

Second, what is the sheepdog's job? It's not to protect the individual sheep, which they couldn't do in any case. There are simply too many sheep and too few sheepdogs. Having enough sheepdogs to guarantee each sheep's safety is not possible. The goal is to keep sheep losses to an acceptable level. Acceptable to the shepherd, that is. Sheepdogs  protect the herd, not each sheep, and to make this collective protection (and fleecing, and roast lamb) feasible the herd must be controlled, which is the sheepdog's primary job.  ... 

Third, how do sheepdogs control the herd? Through fear. Many years ago in New Zealand I watched sheepdog trials. In response to the shepherd's whistles and hand signals his beautifully trained dogs circled the herd, crouching and staring at the sheep, who nervously moved away in the direction the shepherd wanted. If the sheep weren't fearful they couldn't be herded. 

Think about it. Police officers are formally tasked with protecting "society," i.e. the herd, not the individual. ... In our society, governments from the Federal to the local increasingly act like shepherds.  Police, the great majority of whom are fine and honorable people, are in the role of sheepdogs, like it or not. 

Armed citizens are a problem for the shepherds. Not being sheep, they're not afraid of the sheepdogs and are prepared to take on the wolves, hyenas or whoever. They mean no harm to anyone, have no desire to control others, but are much harder to control and therefore to exploit. Worse, their example might spread. They're not  wolves, but not  sheepdogs either. The shepherds, expecting obedience from everything but wolves, have no clue how to deal with them. Their common response is to try to get rid of armed citizens one way or another, typically by removing the arms. Acting like a sheepdog when you're not gives the shepherds that opportunity. 

 From the sheepdog's viewpoint the armed citizen is just in the way, becoming one more source of disorder. They hate disorder. From the herd's viewpoint, they're either scary or a provocation. Sheep have dominance hierarchies, too. Consider George Zimmerman, whose sheepdog fantasies led him to confront Trayvon Martin. Martin might have grown up to be anything from a serial killer to a respected statesman, but at that moment he was just a smartass kid who wasn't going to let himself be pushed around. So he did what sheep do, butted heads with what he thought was another sheep, and now he's dead. Zimmerman, who might have become a respected leader in his community had he learned better judgment, may never get his life back. The shepherds, meanwhile, use this sad incident as yet another excuse to remove the "menace" of the armed citizen from their herds. 

Given all that, if you must have an inspirational totem animal, what fits? Well, two of the most dangerous animals on the planet are the rhino and the Cape Buffalo. They're grass-eaters,  grazing happily if unmolested and seriously aggressive when threatened. Neither seems obligated to protect the zebras, wildebeest and so forth from the predators. Rhinos are pretty much solitary, buffalo live in groups that cooperate in their defense.  I wouldn't try to herd either one. Take your pick.