I would have thought herding or keeping large animals was quite dangerous, especially without modern technology. One of my wife's not-so-distant relatives was killed by a domestic pig.
The village kids would get up, take the cows out to the road where the other cows also came, then together, a big group of kids and cows would head to a pasture and spend most of their day watching cows, playing games and messing about.
It was great.
Realistically the cows and goats took more care of the kids than the other way around.
Pigs are extremely dangerous to children in all cases (they will eat body parts with no hesitation and no effort, like carrots).
Goats are incredibly awesome and accept you as part of their pack and defend you from predators. They can also be assholes but playfully. As with cows, female only herds, as males are dangerous.
I've never herded sharks so I'll go with your opinion on those.
I was able to hang out with a group of cuttlefish though. Cuttlefish are weird and cool.
"A report by two shark experts has concluded that regular feeding of the large assembly of sharks at the site had encouraged the animals to adopt “begging behaviour” that led to the fatal incident. "
It won't stop me hanging out with sharks when I get a chance (but only some species - not Tiger sharks or White sharks!).