Best Bird Watch Dog

[animals1981]

german shepherds and husky will often have a field day with livestock goats/sheep/birds if left alone with them, dont get those dogs to guard your birds unless your birds are locked away, they will eat your birds before the predators,

This is not always the case but trust me I have had both breeds a few of each and when they are alone with livestock they change faces out of your site. they have VERY high prey drive.


My friend just lost a bunch of goats to a gsd, his gsd ripped the ears off all his goats because it was left alone with them bored imagine comming home to that? They were the sweetest goats we would let them out of the gates they would not run away they would follow us all over any place we went. they are just not livestock guardian dogs. They need a human with them directing them and telling them what to do. THey do not WORK alone, unless they are doing sentry work with no prey species. I have an article of a german shep killing 3 mini donkey out of a herd of 10. Not even a huge herd of mini donkey could stop it. Not all are like this sometimes you get a low prey drive calm one. But in general they are bred to have high prey drive for the work they do. (tracking, police, shutzund, etc. all requires high prey)

Husky for some reason I dont know why have morbidly high prey drive i never understood why since they are sled dogs.

 

[animals1981]

the german shepherd if its a tough experienced working line or just an experienced aggressive one can take out coons and coyotes they have one of the strongest jaws and insane fighting ability which is a good reason why police select the best for patrol, military and prison work to handle men.


A husky can take out coons and mink and will do it easy (unless they meet a boar monster coon) not coytoes though (mine got their asses kicked) a malamute from good lines can though


This is all if your birds are safe from your dogs cause the dogs will eat the birds first


Real grey wolves (not eastern) like the giant western ones will eat all the dogs (IF they are brave enough to go near houses) including the great pry, you would probably need a pack of CO for them, but if grey wolves are not comming on your property and you dont have sheep I think you will be okay


I am not sure about the other dogs but i did see a beagle get its face torn up bad by a pet cat lol

your ostriches might end up killing some of your dogs though and maybe a person or 2 lol


Also expect your dogs to maybe fight and kill each other, female dogs specially when they mature can turn so nasty to each other and rather than work together when 2 have a problem with each other they decide one has to die. Unlike males they dont always work it out the weaker one dies. Usually happens with harder more dominant breeds.

 

[Chris Duke]

Training and managing a pack takes alot of time, are you able to do that?
I run hunting dogs, herding dogs and livestock guarding dogs and I spend about a year working with a pup before i trust them with the birds 24/7 None of my birds live in pens and i have a couple 100















My hunter

My rott Tucker, he kills snakes that is about it.

A pup i trained for someone else

My herder

Cool pix! Is the first and third dog a Anatolian Shepherd? I hear they are good with birds. What breed is the last one?

 

[Bluebonnet]

Like chickens, ducks, and geese, I also really like dogs. In a while I'm going to get around 6 more dogs (I have one currently who is 16 and will die within a year I'm thinking). They each will have a specific purpose. I need one to watch birds. I'm planning to get these breeds-
Golden Retriever (Hunting Pheasant)
Lab (Hunting Pheasant)
Beagle (One of my favorite dog breeds. I have had a good encounter with literally every Beagle I've met)
Siberian Husky (Another breed I like because of their wolflike appearance, as long as they don't act like a wolf)
German Sheppard (Herding my cows and maybe goats if I ever get them)
Now to the last breed. It just needs to watch and bark at any intruder. I would probably make it a room in my barn where it could sleep (I probably would have everything living in my barn. It won't be too far away from my house). The only breed I want to rule out is a Rottweiler. While most of it has to do with training, I don't want to take a chance of having it be a nuisance if I don't train it well enough. And this is just more of a predator deterrence. My birds will all still be locked up at night. Getting these dogs does ruin my chance of raising domesticated pheasants as pets. I'm still getting chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas, peafowl, emus, and possibly ostriches and/or rheas.

Have you considered a Puli?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puli

Herding dog and livestock guardian.

An expensive breed, but worth every last cent.

 

[Bluebonnet]

Zazouse : In the 4th and 7th photos, what breed of dog is that and can it kill all kinds of snakes? In the 7th photo, what kind of chicken is that bright and summery golden feathered one? That is a pretty chicken!

 

[Triple Willow]

Cool pix! Is the first and third dog a Anatolian Shepherd? I hear they are good with birds. What breed is the last one?

Australian Shepherd

 

[centrarchid]

Have you considered a Puli?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puli

Herding dog and livestock guardian.

An expensive breed, but worth every last cent.

Using working quality Puli's teamed with Komodores or other standard sized LGD likely was very effective with mobile herds. Existing Puli's may not be working class based on recent breeding and would have a tough time dealing with handling something like coyotes that have a slight size advantage and may be smart enough not to even take on dogs but still steal (in their eyes harvest) birds. Reading into them was very informative. I am pretty sure that old world users of LGD's in general also used herding dogs with same herds and had a management system that is not well transferred to the US. Most here confine much smaller herds / flocks and go the all LGD route which seems most practical with chickens that would not likely benefit from herding owing to normal ranging behavior.


If dog were confined with chickens in something that would detour larger predators, Puli's might be awesome choice. Heat tolerance would be something to watch for. My operation is seasonal starting in April and ending in November. Even with my short-haired dogs (bird dogs), they get heat stressed during heat of summer and that can cause problems if smaller predators try to make trouble while dogs avoiding sun. Also hair length can be a issue. I have a short-haired and long haired pointer with latter prone to pick lost of seeds in coat. Short-haired does not pickup such as all but he is challenged when temperatures get down around zero F in off-season.

 

[Bluebonnet]

Using working quality Puli's teamed with Komodores or other standard sized LGD likely was very effective with mobile herds. Existing Puli's may not be working class based on recent breeding and would have a tough time dealing with handling something like coyotes that have a slight size advantage and may be smart enough not to even take on dogs but still steal (in their eyes harvest) birds. Reading into them was very informative. I am pretty sure that old world users of LGD's in general also used herding dogs with same herds and had a management system that is not well transferred to the US. Most here confine much smaller herds / flocks and go the all LGD route which seems most practical with chickens that would not likely benefit from herding owing to normal ranging behavior.


If dog were confined with chickens in something that would detour larger predators, Puli's might be awesome choice. Heat tolerance would be something to watch for. My operation is seasonal starting in April and ending in November. Even with my short-haired dogs (bird dogs), they get heat stressed during heat of summer and that can cause problems if smaller predators try to make trouble while dogs avoiding sun. Also hair length can be a issue. I have a short-haired and long haired pointer with latter prone to pick lost of seeds in coat. Short-haired does not pickup such as all but he is challenged when temperatures get down around zero F in off-season.

Puli dogs require tasks to perform. If they do not receive something to do and recognition for doing a good job, they can become lazy and develop other undesirable traits. They are not a dog if you are more of a hands off owner. Put in the time to train them right and you will be richly rewarded.

Their long hair becomes resistant when fully corded, as well as water proof. They are hardy dogs, who can tolerate some cold and some heat, but like with any other animal they need to be monitored and provided with some shelter and water nearby where you have them working incase they need it.

I am going to purchase a Puli for my sheep guardian dog when I take the plunge into dairy sheep.

 

[centrarchid]

Go with more than one. Otherwise small size will be a major problem if other dogs threaten herd.

 

[Bluebonnet]

Go with more than one. Otherwise small size will be a major problem if other dogs threaten herd.

I'm considering a kennel, since I enjoy showing dogs, particularly for agility.

It's just that when I read your comment, all I could think of was an army of tiny, shaggy little mop dogs running over a green pasture like they were Spartans.

It is too easy to get caught up with keeping multiple dogs, when you realize how much time and training is required. It just would not be fair to the Puli.

I am not keeping a large flock, so just one can handle it in my situation.

As for the OP, what kind of style are you interested in? Do you need just a flock guardian or are you looking for a family guard dog as well? How much time do you have to devote to their training? There are dogs to match almost any style of ownership, but the guardian dogs require regular, daily time for training.