Dog protection

[fireflyhatchery]

That is very true to. my dog as trained to kill anything with feathers as a puppy so now its just natural to him. I know of farmers around the area that have boarder collies for sheep and cows. Anyone have any information on them because that is the kind of dog I want.

 

[fireflyhatchery]

By the way thanks for all the information already in such a short amount of time

 

[Shellz]

We moved to the country 4 years ago with our 2 year old Beagle X Boston Terrier X ?. When I got my first day old chicks, I held one up for him to sniff & told him they were to be protected. After a couple more chicks, he was good to go! He chases off coyotes & does patrols around the property scaring off anything around. Fantastic all around dog! No other training. Guess I hit the jackpot with him! Then we got a little 20 lb pug cross that chases foxes! She learned from my other dog. No losses yet this year. I haven't even seen a fox, like I usually do by this time.

 

[coloradoalice]

There is one breed of dog that stands out above ALL OTHERS when it comes to protecting chicken flocks. Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian Dogs. I have dreamed about owning one.



**edited by Staff**

Yep. I have a bird friendly lab and a bird friendly cocker but they can't stay out 24/7 in all weather and we started losing birds to coyotes so we got a GP. Our Pyrenees is the best dog ever. From day one he has just done his job. We haven't had a loss since he started working our property (almost 2 years) and there was no training involved at all. The guardian instinct is extremely strong in the breed once they know what is theirs which simply involved him following me around observing me taking care of everyone. I didn't leave the birds unpenned without me watching for a few days and that was that. The only thing I have to watch for now is him pigging out on chicken feed, lol. We free range our birds 24/7, we usually don't lock their coops and right now we are also housing 21 meat birds in a pen that is only 3 feet high with no roof. Predators don't dare come near our property at this point, he has established that this area is well protected.

I will never free range birds without a GP. I did a lot of research and when we looked at the litter we picked a shy and aloof puppy because I didn't want one that wanted a lot of human oversight. When we spoke to the breeder she said that there are definitely dogs who will not work out for livestock guarding and that I was right to want a more shy dog. He has been perfect. I highly recommend them for anyone who needs reliable around the clock guarding. He's well worth the peace of mind he gives. And he did eventually come out of his shell and he's very friendly and loves attention from us but he's never distracted and he will run from a good belly rub in a split second if he senses something is off.

Really I can't say enough about using a GP to guard birds. I think they are perfect!

 

[khoe]

Yep. I have a bird friendly lab and a bird friendly cocker but they can't stay out 24/7 in all weather and we started losing birds to coyotes so we got a GP. Our Pyrenees is the best dog ever. From day one he has just done his job. We haven't had a loss since he started working our property (almost 2 years) and there was no training involved at all. The guardian instinct is extremely strong in the breed once they know what is theirs which simply involved him following me around observing me taking care of everyone. I didn't leave the birds unpenned without me watching for a few days and that was that. The only thing I have to watch for now is him pigging out on chicken feed, lol. We free range our birds 24/7, we usually don't lock their coops and right now we are also housing 21 meat birds in a pen that is only 3 feet high with no roof. Predators don't dare come near our property at this point, he has established that this area is well protected. 

I will never free range birds without a GP.  I did a lot of research and when we looked at the litter we picked a shy and aloof puppy because I didn't want one that wanted a lot of human oversight. When we spoke to the breeder she said that there are definitely dogs who will not work out for livestock guarding and that I was right to want a more shy dog. He has been perfect. I highly recommend them for anyone who needs reliable around the clock guarding. He's well worth the peace of mind he gives. And he did eventually come out of his shell and he's very friendly and loves attention from us but he's never distracted and he will run from a good belly rub in a split second if he senses something is off.

Really I can't say enough about using a GP to guard birds. I think they are perfect!

Perhaps I know what my next puppy will be....lol

 

[centrarchid]

Fireflyhatchery, also consider the English shepherd which is known for being an all purpose farm dog. It can have a little more size than a border collie yet has coat that can adjust to some degree to season although they will not be as cold tolerant as the larger LGD's bred for sheep and goats. I like dogs with shorter coat because production season occurs spring to fall and my dogs have to be active when heat is on. Bigger dogs can get into real heat stress issues if they have to go after Mr. Fox in afternoon temps up around 100 F. If you have predators like coyotes, then two dogs much better than one. I do not like it to be a fair fight between dog and predator, slam dunk or even outright win by bluffing is the way to go. Even raccoons ding your dog up sometimes, especially when dog does not know which end to bite first. A concern I have for you is the present dog goes after poultry. Most dogs have little trouble distinguishing between bird species and mine can even distinguish individual birds so you can suppress interest in poultry possibly without hurting hunting ability. We did so routinely with coonhounds where they where trained to ignore the much more abundant rabbits encountered while tracking coons. Same dogs also where expected to ignore opossums, deer and poultry they were housed among and even guarded during the daytime. You are going to have to put serious effort into the training part and you will be a good 18 months to 2 years before dog is operating at full capacity. Avoid acquiring two pups at once until you have real experience training with respect to poultry.

 

[Shellz]

I did some research into English Shepherds a while back. I'm thinking of getting one or two when my current dog retires. I've heard they don't have the tendency to roam like most dogs. A big plus when you don't have fencing. I imagine training the boundaries of the property will be easier with this breed.