Anyone Want a Good Poultry Guardian Dog? - Page 4

You puppy is just too young and impulsive  to be left unsupervised  with your flock, but of course she needs to be around a flock to learn. Work with her and in the end you will have a dog that will protect your flock with very little supervision or encouragment.  http://www.flockguard.org/community/

As an aside, this breed also need a gread deal more exercise than most people relalize. if you keep her tired she might mind better and she will definatly be less impulsive.   

If you don't mind my asking, I am wondering why you prefered  a shy dog? .

aggiemae - is that a white puli?

I would be VERY interested as my kids and I are looking for a new dog.  However, in the interest of total honesty, I would get her fixed immediately upon getting her.

Yes. That's Miss Phoebe.  We have three Pulik,  one of each color and a Komodor,  a large white corded  guardian dog, also a Hungarian breed.. I posted some  pictures on  the "other pets" section.  They are both fairly aggressive breeds, that Our male puli Milo is was a fantastic (though somewhat independent)  herder and all three herd goats, small humans and cats and well... pretty much heard anything that isn't going where it be"belongs".  I suspect that  the two bitches will need a great deal of supervision around the chickens until they get used to the idea.

We have four Anatolians and they are awesome on the farm and at guarding our small toy dogs( we breed and show) from predators.  They do require some training.  Why would anyone want to breed a litter without any knowledge of the HOW DIFFICULT it is to find them good homes?  We do a lot of rescue...A LOT!   Anatolians are not for everyone...as you well know.  I would not suggest breeding this breed unless you have homes planned for at least 8 or 9 pups! 

They can all be trained to behave around livestock-  Young dogs need time to mature and training is required for some animals.  They naturally want to play with the lambs-  You need to be there to discourage poor behavior.

I do breed rescue for Puli's and Komondors and make it a point to 'out' breeders who do not rehome or breed litter before having buyer for most of not all the pups. Most good breeders have waiting lists, and since a dog is a 12-17 year COMMITMENT, a responsible dog owner should be willing to wait. Rare breed dogs are rare for a reason and the most common reason are unique  temperaments. It's irresponsible to get a dog based on what it looks like and don't get me started on pet store/puppymill  puppies!

I am old enough to remember when a white puli was the holy grail for breeders!

Bowmaker's Flag's a Flyin as an old man

There was a time when the white (recessive gene) Pulik were culled from litters. And the Maszkos Fako  (wheaten two tone)  which is not even shown in the US at all,  was the  most prized. I have had Pulik all my life and the white's have more prey drive and are excellent herders, but they seem do have more health problems expecially with their skin, and more importantly,  temperament  'issues' than the black ones. So there was probably good reason for the culling the whites back when this was a working breed.  I also notice poor conformation especially in  imported  white puli's I know.  Mostly with their bites but this seems to be  due to modern  breeders trying to over correct over bites by shortening the lower jaw, giving the dog a chinless look.

Back to the topic of dogs and chicks....Any advice on how to introduce herding dogs to chickens?  My concern is my two bitche's teaming up and herding then around the yard. We have allowed them to herd our kids, grand kids and our cats. ...Actually we more that allow it we encourage it by laughing and them.

My Pulik are not nippy, not even when they herd, so my husband thinks that if we keep the chicks in the coop/run whenever the dogs are outside until they are growns it should be OK. I am just as worried that the chickens will hurt the girls as visa versa.

Some people are down right rude.   You are allowed your opinion, but do not be nasty to those who are admitting that they have a problem and asking for help.

I agree that the dog needs training and will probably be a wonderful dog when she matures.  Dogs, especially guardians, require a lot of hard work and dedication.  There is a sister site to this one called Backyardherds.com that you should check out.  Being that it is more directed toward those with goats, sheep, horses, etc you may get some better answers over there.  I know I read a post a few weeks ago about training pups. 

Good luck 

The answers will be the same.

It takes time and effort just like any other breed, and an understanding of how LGD's instinctively behave