English Shepherd as Poultry Guardian

[scottcaddy]

Will only one more dog be enough for Sheep/goat herd?
What breed will you go with this time?
Scott

 

[centrarchid]

Same breed. A third dog will have more repelling power by presence alone. The dogs need to be able to rest. Coyotes are only part of problem as other issues require so dogs cannot simply sleep all day to recover from a busy night. Also I suspect neutered female (Lucy) does not have an effective scent mark. The Coyotes likely read the mark to infer more than simply a dog is present. Other indicators might make dog scent more repelling.

 

[centrarchid]

Lucy, the now four year old German Pointer, has finally trained me to come outside when wants me to. She recruited me out to see neighbor that is not allowed on our property.

 

[scottcaddy]

Old dogs and new tricks?

Scoob used to do that a fair bit of the time, was she slow to seek out your help or didn't know how to get you outside?
Thanks for your time.
Scott

 

[centrarchid]

Ben needs to learn same. All he has to do for Lucy is bark a special way but I can not read his barks as well, especially when he is a long way off.

 

[centrarchid]

A big change and not by all measures good. Ben has pretty much lost all interest in harassing chickens. He is finally growing up which is good. Bad part is the American Dominiques cocks he de-tailed more than once a couple months ago are now coming up into yard, as in the mowed part my wife claims, and they are doing "stuff". Ben was running them back to cockyard previously. The American Dominiques are nicknamed the "Nimrods". Kids keep pointing out to me the roosters are coming into yard and wife not happy.

 

[centrarchid]

At about 20 months Ben appears to have settled into his job so we are back at to full strength based on two dogs. With the exception of raptors, incursions by predators have stopped even during warmups following cold snaps.

Ben may may also scored a girlfriend in the form of a part LGD owned by neighbor. She has pups but I do not think he had opportunity to have a role in that as she appeared to be absent during the interval I think she was in heat. Regardless, both Ben and Lucy may be provisioning her with food. I knew something was up when Ben would bolt down food then try to go towards her home where he regurgitated near where I keep my bee stuff. Bella (the girlfriend) would either be there waiting or come by shortly to eat it. This morning Lucy brought a cull chicken carcass used to bait trap at barn and put it down where Bella came and collected it to run back to her house.

The reality is I have three dogs protecting flock at least when it comes to Coyotes as all three dogs respond to those when they howl. Ben is 72 lbs and Bella is about 85 lbs plus the princess of sneak of attach at 55 lbs is bigger than even the male Coyotes.

 

[fisherlady]

It is interesting how your Ben has matured at the 20 month mark or so....I found my male ES (Dillon) really settled around the same age and although he still loves to play when opportunity presents he is very serious about any self appointed jobs and dedicated to protecting anyone or anything he considers part of 'his' property.

I am not surprised to hear he has appointed himself as a provider for his girlfriend, it seems that when dogs are allowed to behave naturally in a less restricted environment the pack mentality of protection, cooperation and pup rearing becomes more evident. The male of many specie are often not given the credit they deserve for their level of participation in rearing of the young.

 

[centrarchid]

I think his switch tripped about 2 months ago but I needed to see sustained behavior before making call. He is also incredibly easy to manage with leash and when we go off property. At home he exercises considerable freedom of movement but when we get away from home like when I go to farm at work it acts like an extension of my mind responding to every thing I say.

 

[scottcaddy]

This is indeed good news from my viewpoint, has the DW agreed.
Scott