Dog Suggestions

[willkatdawson]

I have 2 pound dogs.

They both love and watch over the flock.
This is Annie. She was laying there then she jumped up to see what had made a noise in the woods. Doesn't she look like bring it on, you won't get my chickens.

She's soooo sweet but all business when it comes to her job. She was 4 yr old when I got the chickens and I took alot of time to train her with them.

 

[cmjust0]

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Note to all: Be careful about getting a GSD to tend your flock...

Obviously, this poster has one and it works great...and that's awesome.

Ours, on the other hand, goes into a frenzy and has been known to nip and pull hair off the goats when they scratch themselves on the backyard fence.. I'm fairly convinced that she'd kill chickens if she got half a chance, too.

At best, they're unpredictable around small stock. Some will guard it, some will herd it, some -- like ours -- may kill it for sport. Ya never know.

If wikipedia is to be believed, I'd be just as careful about a Belgian Shepherd, too..."need a job to do," "easily become bored," "thrive on stimulation," "can become...destructive," etc... I have no personal experience with them, though they sound a lot like Border Collies, Aussies, GSDs, and other herding breeds.

Great Pyrenees and Anatolian, however --

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Same here!

For our LGD, I think what sets him off about slow cars is that they're abnormal. He sees cars goes whizzing past at normal speed everyday and has accepted that as normal, but if one goes by really slow -- slow enough for us humans to think "Hmm.. That car's going awfully slow" -- he jumps up and goes over to the fence. If it stops in the road, he goes berzerk and will not stop barking until it leaves.

Heaven forbid someone turn around in our driveway. He'll be on edge all night after that.

Same with bicycles, people walking down the road, tractors, etc...they're "different," and he just doesn't do different, so he jumps up and says "GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! GET OUTTA HERE!"

 

[Trenary Duck Farm]

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I hear you. As you know, a working LDG is not a pet. They literally live with the animals 24/7. I grew up near a large sheep farm, and their little herding dogs were great for culling the flock, but lousy during a feral dog pack attack.

On this forum, I think a lot of people are looking for a dual purpose dog for a small backyard flock. I am basing this on the observation that people are having the family dog spend a little time with the chickens. Their greatest threat may a neighbor's pet dog or a visiting racoon, etc. They won't be having to deal with a coordinated pack of wolves.

If their family dog kills their chickens then the impact will be mostly emotional. For a farmer, it could spell financial disaster. That is why these livestock guardian dog breeds were developed.

So, if a family dog likes to spend a little time with the chickens then I guess that is okay. However, I doubt the family dog would be happy to live the chickens on a 24/7 basis.

Great Pyrenees and the Norwegian Brown Bear:

Picture from http://gregladen.com/wordpress/?p=32

 

[cmjust0]

I guess with all this jabbering, I should probably go ahead and post a pic or two of our Sarplaninac LGD, Ivan.

So, here's 'Big I' (...or, "Big Eye"

), as we call him.

No, that's not an optical illusion. He really is that big. He's a little over a year old in these pictures.

How could you not love this face?

 

[wombat]

I suppose I should have made more of a point about "working line" breeds. Our German Shepherd Dogs have been "German" or "Czech", and aren't the more typical AKC types that have descended from show stock or who knows what as can be quite common here in the US. We've had good results with ours around animals and family, though they do take their role as protector quite seriously and take a while to warm up to new people.

I'd suggest getting a working dog from a good working line breeder who knows their line, regardless of which breed you chose. "Papers" aren't worth much at all ... so if you are considering a German Shepherd Dog, be aware that they've been bred rather indiscriminately in the US for quite some time, and aren't "working line" dogs unless you know that's what you are getting.

My original point, though, was that "tending" breeds differ from "herding" breeds, and might be more suited to have around free range birds. If poultry and small livestock were my main interest, I'd definately get a Gr Pyrenees over a GSD, though ... GSDs aren't for everyone.

This whole thread might have strayed a bit from the OP's question, anyway ... I think they're just looking for a pet that's not likely to kill their chickens, and I wouldn't want to push a large breed tending dog on someone that was not planning on getting a serious dog in need of a serious job

As you pointed out, a bored working line dog with no job to do can become a problem.

As a side note ... you'll also need to convince the dog as to what is to be protected and what is not. Most dogs would consider a bird flapping and squawking across the yard to be fair game, unless you've spent some time introducing them. Most tending dogs will tend whatever you've handed off to them, though. Ours would even interpose himself between our children and stairs when the children were young, and made a good "babysitter."

Our GSD can be funny around our chickens. One of the hens decided to stare him down for some reason ... they stared at each other for at least a minute, then the dog suddenly tensed every muscle he had and looked like he was about to pounce ... the hen ran off flapping back to her run, and the dog just stood there chuckling with a grin on his face, never having moved an inch ... yes, they do "grin" ... He generally considers chickens beneath his dignity, though he'd never let anything near them.

 

[cmjust0]

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Amen.. Ours is actually a purebred white GSD, so who knows what lines she came out of. Bred for looks, obviously...not great for a worker.

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That's totally different from our LGD. He doesn't guard anything specifically...if it's in his barnyard and he's used to it or it poses him no threat, it gets guarded like everything else. Effectively, he guards the tools in the barn just as ferociously as he guards the goats simply because he's not going to let a threat remain in his area for long -- no matter what it's there after. Whether it's a thief after tools or a coyote after goats, it makes no difference to Ivan.

Get a load of this...

My wife called the other day and said Ivan had something cornered by the barn.. She said he was barking toward the ground and my first thought was...injured fox? injured coyote? groundhog? injured raccoon? So, off she goes with the .22 to check it out.

Calls me back laughing her hiney off..

Box turtle.

A frickin box turtle.

He'd never seen one before and -- of course -- it refused to leave. He's not used to things 'standing up to him' like that, so he just stood there and barked and growled incessantly. She had to physically remove it before he calmed down.

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In Border Collies and other herding breeds, they call that 'the eye'. Border Collies with good 'eye' don't have to nip or grip to move stock...they just look at them and convey the message "If you don't move soon, I'LL EAT YOU!"

Sounds like your GSD has one heck of an eye...

 

[Boondachs]

Wow this thread has gotten WAY out of controll..... but thats typical of alot of dog people.
This thread really needs to be locked and I'm surprised it hasent already.
Well as far as me trying to be a nice guy and answer someones post, I'm done, you all can play dog gods from here out.

 

[Trenary Duck Farm]

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Do you think it should be locked because the people who actually own livestock guardian dogs don't necessarily agree with you?

 

[cmjust0]

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Since you're calling for the thread to be closed instead of answering my question as to whether or not you owned herding dogs, I'm assuming you don't own herding dogs..

Making a suggestion that someone get a herding dog when you don't actually own herding dogs is irresponsible, and telling someone straight-up to "back off" when their experience disagrees with your suggestion -- and then attacking their character by sarcastically calling them a "dog god" -- is hardly the hallmark of a "nice guy."

It's regrettable that you took my comments so personally. I wasn't trying to disparage you...I was just trying to save someone a lot of heartache and maybe keep yet another herding breed dog out of the rescue or kill shelter.

That's all.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

I, for one, hope this thread doesn't get closed - I've gotten QUITE an education from it! Finally answered my question as to why I saw so much mention of Great Pyrenees on this site, learned that there is such a thing as a LGD and have never before heard of such a thing as a Sarplaninac - what a beautiful dog!