No! But if wildlife/varments are allowed to sneak around at night unchecked, that makes them braver IMO, so they stay closer. Whereas if they are constantly being chased off or deterred, day and night, they'll move on.
Mastiff? Very handsome!
Thank you! Old English bulldog.
Wow, he is a gorgeous boy! I really like the "power" look. Reminds me of the Rottweilers and American Bulldogs I've had. Strangers don't mess with them, but with their family they're big bear hug lovers.
I agree with all the posts you have made on this thread. Poultry protection dogs are my personal choice to deter predators because I've always loved wildlife and prefer not to shoot any unless as a last resort to protect my chickens, which come first. In addition, Ive always loved dogs and have an extensive dog-training background too, so training dogs to be poultry-safe is easy for me. But it's also true that dogs are the most expensive kind of predator deterrent. And in addition, playful puppies of any breed will usually kill poultry unless closely supervised, and untrained adult dogs will often kill the poultry they were intended to protect, unless they receive consistent training over a period of time until they learn that the flock belongs and must not be harmed. If I didn't want to invest the time and expense to properly train my dogs to be poultry-safe, I would instead use electric fencing to deter predators. (Though that wouldn't solve the hawk problem, and there are abundant hawks in my area too.) I still feel twinges of guilt when I tell my dogs "Good job" after they occasionally kill clueless opossums that wander too close to the coops, because I had a possum for a pet when I was a kid. But since opossums are known poultry killers and my chickens come first, "good dog" it is.
During the first several years I had chickens, I only had one dog, a 30 pound female cattle dog mix that lived outside 24/7 and was fiercely protective of "her" chickens. The chickens roamed free during the days and were locked up securely every night. That dog was a chicken protector supreme, and never lost a chicken during her watch. Even though a coyote could have killed her due to her relatively small size, i have zero doubts she would have fought to her death. I think predators must have sensed this and so stayed away. (except for clueless oppossums) UNTIL the time came when she developed severe arthritis during her older age, and I began allowing her to sleep inside my house during cold winter nights. Eventually I noticed I was missing a fair number of hens and a good rooster too. They had all disappeared without a trace. Fast forward to one winter day when I finally saw a gray fox stalking a chicken in the woods. The Only reason I spotted the fox was because I had altered my daily routine and returned to bring the chickens fresh water after releasing them from their pen that day. The fox had learned my routine, had learned that only during daytime hours was the chicken buffet open, and so had adapted by adjusting its hunt times. And even though my sole dog was still outside during the day, the sly fox also learned to hunt chickens foraging in the woods when she wasn't nearby and watching closely. The fox was nocturnal until it learned that it needed to hunt during the daytime to capture easy meals.
Most of the stuff I hear about rabies strikes me as fear mongering for the pharmaceutical industry to make more money. Rabies has a 100% lethality rate, I doubt it's anywhere near as common as they claim
