My experience is NO NO NO!! My boxer loves to chase and eat small things that move fast.
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It seems like folks on BYC tend to use the term LGD really loosely (to the point of meaninglessness), and to the point that those new to the discussion never actually get to FIND OUT what the term means.
There are several different things. They are *different* from each other. Only the last one, labelled "LGD", is LGD:![]()
-- a dog that gets along well with livestock, ie. does not chase the goats and try to eat the chickens. The mere presence of this dog around the animals may somewhat deter some (fairly casual) predators, but the correct term would be something like "farm dog" or simply "dog that gets along peacefully with my livestock". Cuz it *ain't* actually *guarding* the animals.
-- a dog, usually of a herding breed, that is used to herd livestock. It may work under human direction, e.g. a border collie being used to move sheep from one place to another; or (much less commonly) it may work more or less on its own to keep the livestock within whatever area the dog's been trained to keep them in. Usually the dog does not live full-time with the livestock. This would be a "herding dog", not a guarding dog. Again, its mere presence may to some degree deter some predators but it is not a LGD.
-- a dog of really fairly few breeds most of them pretty obscure these days at least in N America, that lives full-time 24/7 with the livestock, IS NOT a pet or housedog "also", its fulltime existance is guarding its herd of livestock. Like, ACTUALLY guarding, hence the term livestock guardian dog (LGD). Actually many people say that it is not uncommon to have an eventually-good LGD attack or eat a few of your animals while it is learning; the point is to have it eventually learn (mostly) not to, and to have it prevent more losses to predators than it *causes* itselfAgain, not a "I let my dog watch the chickens when they're out and then he spends the rest of the time with me" thing; the dog totally lives with the livestock and is not a pet. Often they are used in pairs rather than alone, too.![]()
So I guess my question would be, does the o.p. really *mean* LGD or do you maybe just mean "dog that won't eat the chickens". Which some boxers would qualify for.
Pat