Dog to protect your flock?

[CountryRealtor]

Do any of you use a dog to protect your flock? I am thinking about getting another dog to train to protect the chickens and ducks overnight or while I am away. Do you think they will keep raccoons away? Interested in any ideas you all have!

 

[Camellia]

I have 3 dogs, 2 Louisiana Catahoula Leopard dogs, and a Keish hound. They're great at protecting the flock, they chased away multiple foxes and raccoons. If you train your dogs well, they will surely keep the predators at bay.

 

[danceswithronin]

I have three watch dogs (golden retriever, Jack Russell mix, and Yorkshire terrier) who guard well against raccoons, possums, skunks, etc... but on the other hand, they are not trustworthy with the chickens themselves, and I can't let the chickens roam loose around them. They mauled my rooster last year when he flew over the run fence and when one of my silkie hens got out last month, they killed her. So I'm not depending on the dogs to protect them, I'm building an eight foot-tall enclosed aviary with lumber and hardware cloth. That will protect against coons and dogs alike.

 

[centrarchid]

I use a combination of English Shepherds and a German Pointer. First two most vigilant, but third is the main killer. I would avoid most larger LGD's if you have neighbors close as the larger dogs are much louder.

 

[50-45-1]

So, a racoon is a night time maurader.
The best protection for your birds at night is a secure coop with no holes or gaps. think fort knox!
A good, well trained dog can help out during the day, mine certainly do. But it has to be the right dog with the right temperment and training.
Are you going to have this dog outside to do chicken duty 24 hours a day because your coop is not safe?
Here my dogs are outside when the chickens are free ranging but are also family pets and in the house at night.
Packs of coyotes have been known to bait a dog out and ambush and kill it, thus my dogs are safe in the house at night.
Chickens are safe locked in a tight coop that even a mouse can not get into.
No holes, no gaps, hardware cloth dug around parimiter of building a foot and out a foot, like L.
With out the secure coop, i dont think a dog will solve your problem with racoons.

 

[centrarchid]

So, a racoon is a night time maurader.
The best protection for your birds at night is a secure coop with no holes or gaps. think fort knox!
A good, well trained dog can help out during the day, mine certainly do. But it has to be the right dog with the right temperment and training.
Are you going to have this dog outside to do chicken duty 24 hours a day because your coop is not safe?
Here my dogs are outside when the chickens are free ranging but are also family pets and in the house at night.
Packs of coyotes have been known to bait a dog out and ambush and kill it, thus my dogs are safe in the house at night.
Chickens are safe locked in a tight coop that even a mouse can not get into.
No holes, no gaps, hardware cloth dug around parimiter of building a foot and out a foot, like L.
With out the secure coop, i dont think a dog will solve your problem with racoons.

Even commercial poultry producers can not keep mice totally out, they manage them to keep damages caused down to acceptable levels.

A pack of dogs will bait coyotes or other dogs as well, mine certainly employ the strategy. Most kills my dogs make protecting chickens are at night. Our recommendations need to be in line with what OP will be doing, not us that may be set in out ways.

 

[50-45-1]

Well, the poultry producers did not have my Husband build there chicken house.
The only time a mouse can get in my coop is during the day when the small chicken door is open. Once inside there is no place for them to hide. And the chickens take care of the mouse.
My point is, if your coop is structuraly sound and tight, there is no night time losses to racoons, weasels, oposums, mink, owl or any other preditor.
If you have openings the size of a football that a racoon can fit thru, good luck to you and your chickens!

 

[Mimi13]

I have two 24/7 outside dogs; a Catahoula and a German Shepherd/Great Pyrenees mix. As I have said in previous posts, I certainly “lucked” out in the chicken-friendly dog department.

We have had our Catahoula now for almost 12 years. He is getting old, but he’s still a steadfast guardian of our home and anything attached to it. When he and his old partner, Stryker, were in their prime, they would take turns patrolling the premises...day and night. Tuff now sleeps mostly during the night. And if he could, he would sleep in the coop with the chickens.

Two years ago, a few months after we lost our other old Catahoula, a scrawny pup with jaunty ears showed up wandering outside our farm fencing.

Who knew this dog, that I didn’t want (we already had 6), would be a godsend. We took her in without knowing what an asset she would be.

It turns out Sadie is a mix of German Shepherd and Great Pyrenees. This dog has had absolutely no formal training. What she does for us, our home and our animals/livestock has had to come from her inherited nature/instinct. She sleeps mostly during the day and is up ALL night patrolling the place. When she is awake during different times of the day, she wonderfully interacts with my chickens, young and old. Funny note, Sadie will lay in the yard and crack hickory nuts and the hens will gather around her waiting on those nuts to fall from her mouth. Does anyone know how hard a hickory nut is? I can’t crack it with a hammer. Here is a picture of Sadie and a few of her girls.

Now we live way out in the boonies and our few neighbors are not close at all; however, I am sure her incessant barking is heard throughout the night. Me? Nope, I do not hear her, thanks to my noise machine that also drowns out my DH’s snoring.

I can only hope your experience with a dog is as wonderful as mine has been with Sadie.

A picture of Sadie when the 4 hens were turned out with her. She was 8 months old.

And a picture of Tuff and Sadie with the OG hens. (Original Gansta Hens)

 

[Kyanite]

I have a Great Pyrenees. I bought her from working lines and she's guarding all my livestock. She bonded with my goats quickly, but poultry aren't like other animals. Livestock Guardian Dogs have to be taught to respect poultry. We started this process as soon as we bought our pup home. She did chores with us on a leash and was rewarded for proper behavior around the birds. She's just over a year old now and is reliable with poultry. She doesn't try to chase or play with them.

The racoons that were hanging around haven't been seen in quite some time, and the coyotes are keeping their distance. Bonus is that our dog also doesn't like flying things, so she's kept hawks away as well. We used to get visits from roaming dogs weekly or more often, and that has come to a halt too. We couldn't he happier!

 

[cmom]

So, a racoon is a night time maurader.
The best protection for your birds at night is a secure coop with no holes or gaps. think fort knox!
A good, well trained dog can help out during the day, mine certainly do. But it has to be the right dog with the right temperment and training.
Are you going to have this dog outside to do chicken duty 24 hours a day because your coop is not safe?
Here my dogs are outside when the chickens are free ranging but are also family pets and in the house at night.
Packs of coyotes have been known to bait a dog out and ambush and kill it, thus my dogs are safe in the house at night.
Chickens are safe locked in a tight coop that even a mouse can not get into.
No holes, no gaps, hardware cloth dug around parimiter of building a foot and out a foot, like L.
With out the secure coop, i dont think a dog will solve your problem with racoons.

I agree. The op is looking for a nighttime protector. My advice is to have the coop secure and put the birds in at night so they will be safe and not a temptation for a coon. I have my birds shut in at night, all 200, and so far no losses except once several years ago when an owl got into the open coops. The coops still have an open side on them but I have since put a tarp over the openings and electric wire around the coops and pens, heavy duty netting covering all of the pens and concrete under the gates, and hardware cloth around the bottoms of all of the coops. We have a lot of predators that roam around here especially at night. I see them most every night on one of my game cameras. I don't know who these dogs belong to. I have asked some of my neighbors and they have seen them around too but they don't know who owns them either. I see them quite often on my game cameras. I thought I'd share a few pictures.


These are my coops.