Let me start this by saying, I have electric fencing as a deterrent with my horses to keep off my fencing, but never put a lot of faith in it to keep predators out. Here are a few reasons why and one happened yesterday. Four months ago, my neighbors goats were attacked by two dogs that had run away from another neighbors home. They were missing for two weeks. When they found their way back to familiar territory, they attacked the goats, both behind serious electric fencing. One of the goats had to be put down. The victims owners showed compassion for the dogs since they were skin & bones and tick infested when they returned. No doubt starving. The fence was reinforced with from five to six strands of hot wire and an even more powerful unit to charge the fencing. This fence has gotten me on two occasions. Once from touching and once from being four inches from it and it arched. Both times, it took me to my knees. This fencing is no joke. A miniature pony, about 300 lbs. was brought home to keep the remaining goat company. Yesterday, the neighbor came home to find his own three large dogs had dug out from under their fencing and attacking the mini. The goat was ramming the dogs trying to help her pasture mate. It was clearly evident to the owner that the fence had gotten the dogs because they were afraid to go back through it when he charged them with a tree limb to get them off of her. They wanted out, but didnt want to get near the wire. To make a long and grueling story short, the damage was so severe to her hind end, a wound the size of a basketball where theyd actually gotten to her intestines, that she had to be put to sleep. The only fencing Ive ever seen that keeps wandering dogs or coyotes out of a pasture is the 4x2 welded wire with a charged line at the top. Im not saying a fox cant jump it, Ive seen that. However, if the dog wants in, hes going to have to spend some serious time digging, which most passing through will not do. The dogs in question above, had nothing but time to dig out of their own pen. Whats disturbing is that they are well fed, sweet dogs. I know you cant bred the true predator out of them, but this was clearing just a joy attack for them. Needless to say, they will not be around much longer since theyve gotten a taste of blood. My friends dont want any other animals deaths on their hands due to their own dogs.
That's a pretty gruesome tale. I am sorry for your neighbors' losses. I have electric fencing and have had a serious decrease in problem animals, but as you said it is not a guarantee of safety.
How awful. I highly recommend LGDs for those who keep livestock! My newf is not a typical LGD breed but she does a good job, our next dog will for sure be an LGD. I just wouldn't feel comfortable otherwise!
Our big dog is definitely not your typical LGD breed - she's a boxer mix. The other half is either some sort of hound (she bugles) or maybe a pit bull since she's such a massive chunk of muscle (80 pounds). Definitely none of the stereotypical pit bull temperment, though. She's terrified of the chickens, and best buds with the horses and goats. She's too much of a coward to be much good in the way of defense, but she will certainly let you know if there is something out there to be concerned about. She stays in the house most of the time. If we let her out, it's into our fenced back yard (yeah, we live way out in the country, but our back yard is fenced). She does go on walks with my husband off leash, but he keeps an eye on her. If she ever causes a problem, it will be the last time she was allowed to walk off leash. My little dog is/was a very good watch dog. He's a Lhasa mix. He's very old and his hearing is failing a bit. He's too small to be a threat to anything but maybe the smaller chickens. However, he has learned the hard way that they are not easy targets for an elderly dog that is the same size as a good sized chicken, and he pretty much just barks at them. The chickens either totally ignore him or chase him off. He's never managed to draw blood from them, but they have bloodied him on more than one occasion when he got too close...or let his guard down. My daughter's two dogs are kept chained up. Even so, they have managed to kill several of her outside/barn cats. I have no doubt that they would kill anything else they could get their hands on. Some of that stems from being chained up all the time - they can't get enough safe exercise to burn off their excess energy, so it comes out as aggression. She and her husband have a newfie/chow mix and a husky/malamute mix. They are both very people friendly dogs - but anything else is fair game as far as they are concerned. With all the dogs around, we have no issues with predators killing chickens...yet. We did have something spook the chickens once - but all of the dogs raised such a ruckus when the chickens started hollering that whatever was out there was gone by the time we got there.
This has been bugging me for the longest time, but I just didn't want to ask. Since I can't figure it out, I HAVE to ask .... What's an LGD?
Electric fencing as a stand alone, in other words, single strands of conductor wire strung at intervals above the ground is not a very good way to keep anything in or out. Electric fence should always be used with other fencing, like net wire of some sort. If I am to understand the OP's situation the goats and mini horse were confined with a few electric conductor wires only? That may keep the goat and horse in but it for dang sure won't keep a dog out.
