Chicken flock guardians

[mjgigax]

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Very cool and what a beautiful fellow!

 

[Mountain Man Jim]

I've said this before ... if we all get LGDs and train them for chicken guard duty, we can close the Predators part of this forum. Well, a LGD and a bullet proof coop

Jim

 

[mjgigax]

Our mixed breed (Huskey and maybe Pitt?) dog's origional "owners" trained him to kill cats! We rescued him and he has been with us for almost 4 years now. He gets along well with our 4 cats and has a healthy respect for their claws. He chases squirrels and kills gophers though. I got chickens this summer and he has been only moderately interested in them but the other day the runt flew thru the pen fence and he grabbed it in his mouth immediately. When I yelled his name he immediately dropped it but I still am wary of him being around them.

 

[AinaWGSD]

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I don't have any personal experience owning pyrs, but the vet I work for does see several regularly. After I gave my self a severe repetitive stress injury (raised a lump you could see from 6 feet away! and years later I still have to wrap my wrist if I plan on doing any more than 15-20 min. brushing or shaving if I want to be able to use it the next day) brushing mats out of a GP for 3-4 hours I've come to the conclusion that I don't ever want to own one for lack of ability to keep up with the grooming!

You might look into anatolian shepherds. They are a similar livestock guardian breed but they have short fur. They do have a dense undercoat, but it should be much less prone to matting than the GP. If we ever won the lottery and got our "dream farm" I will be looking into livestock guardian dogs and anatolians are at the top of my list to research.

Anyone who thinks that Anatolians don't shed are WRONG. They shed like MAD.

And yes, they do shed. A lot. You really do want that in a working outdoor dog. I never thought I would be glad that my dogs (german shepherds) shed until I had to groom a breed that didn't and man did they get greasy and gross between baths!​

 

[startingover]

Horrible pic but it's the only one I can find quickly with both dogs... Zeus is the large male with the blue collar and Naciye (pronounced like Nacy) is the female in the purple collar. They are just over a year old in this picture. They are a brother/sister Anatolian pair.

 

[chickerdoodle]

My friend's neighbor kept loosing sheep to coyotes and finally got an Anatolian. Never saw a coyote--ever again. They have been so tickled pink that they have told everyone within range about him.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

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The one on the left looks like he's got something else in him??

 

[cackleberrycoop]

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Oh my, they are stunning!

 

[vicki2x2]

We have two Maremma's. We got our first one almost 18 months ago, he was 5 months at the time. We added a second one 9 months ago. We only have 2 1/2 acres and that includes our house, yard, etc. We have 3 1/4-1/2 pastures that rotate our goats and geese/ducks through. The dogs live with the goats. The pastures are in a L shape, the chickens, turkeys, rabbits, etc are all in the barn and coops inside the L shape. Since the day we brought home our first dog, we have not lost one animal to a predator. Before that we lost numerous to fox, raccoons, stray dogs, etc. Our male was being a bit to puppyish with the goats, chasing them and such so we took him back to the breeder who worked with him for a couple of week. Mainly putting him in with a couple of adult trainer dogs, who wouldn't put up with that. We also purchased a second pup for him to play with, instead of the goats. It worked, he has been a perfect gentleman since. Now the second pup is going through that stage, but I know it wont last, with time and training, she too, with outgrow this stage.

I do not brush the dogs everyday, but do have to brush them out periodically. They do get mats but we have a lot of mud, so that doesn't help. I am lucky, my dogs don't even try to get out of our pastures and I know they easily could. I know people have used other non traditional breeds for guarding their poultry or other animals, but why? LGD's were develop and bred for hundreds of years for this very job! You wouldn't use a chihuahua as a schutzhund dog or a pair of shih tzu's to pull your dog sled. If you already have the dogs and they turn out to be great, awesome, you are ahead of the game. But you are much likely to have problems, especially long term ones with a breed that has been selectively bred for this very thing for many, many generations.

 

[startingover]

Nope - both full blooded and registered from show and working lines.... Zeus actually could have been a show dog - but people who show don't care for the white on the face. I like it. They have 3 brothers who got their champion status before 1 year of age.