Well...

Thanks to Steven I've just gone on Babelfish. 'Shepherd' translates as 'Schäferhund', which suggests that the herder is the 'hund'.

Given the ubiquity of dogs as herders, that may well mean that in German a person who herd's animals is a 'dog'. Or, if you like, that the terms 'shepherd' and 'sheepdog' are homonyms.

Fascinating huh? We're both right and we've learned something new about a foreign culture. Marvelous.

Posted By: Boris Johnson MP, Jun 25, 20:38:14