English Shepherd as Poultry Guardian

[centrarchid]

Dogs where chasing after something in early morning hours as snow fell. We got about 4" of the stuff. The dogs acquired quite a stink that appears to be from some sort of vegetation they force themselves through. What was chased not an owl.

 

[aart]

The dogs acquired quite a stink that appears to be from some sort of vegetation they force themselves through.

Huh.
Bet you'll figure it out just what it is.

 

[centrarchid]

Pups still defining pecking order today during time out in woods and immediately after return to pen.

First Flo was into standing on Random's back at every opportunity. The Flo got into a major fight with Van (alpha-female) with Random piling on. Flo did very well until they rolled into creek where parents Honey and Ben came to see what was going on. At that point Van broke off although clearly not whipped. Random continued fight working on Flo who could not get out of the water. Flo gave up.

Second Fierce (only male pup) got into fight against Van where at first she had better of him and then Random piled on against Fierce. Fierce seemed to get really mad and doubled his efforts while otherwise ignoring Random. It took a couple minutes before Fierce began controlling fight and Random backed off. Fierce won.

Ranking as of today.
1) Fierce (male)
2) Van (alpha-female)
3) Random (female)
4-5) Flo / Spot (females)
6) Pup Pup (omega-female)

 

[centrarchid]

Found a way to have fun with my dogs. I played some youtube videos of Coyotes vs Dogs. My dogs went nuts and are outside right now checking for Coyotes.

Earlier in the day a Sharp-shinned Hawk came into barn area chasing English Sparrows. Adult chickens went nuts. Pups starting barking in time with chickens giving warning calls. That is a way to train pups about hawks!

 

[centrarchid]

Kids and I spending a lot more time in woods now that we have pups. Big reason for my wanting this piece of ground because it would have woods to play in. Unfortunately the streams are fishless.

Last night adult dogs spent majority of night fighting with coyotes over a dear carcass. Car carcass little more than bits of hide and some bones.

 

[aart]

Unfortunately the streams are fishless.

Streams too small?

 

[centrarchid]

Streams too small?

Ephemeral, neighbor has a lake down stream supporting a standard bass and bluegill population that blocks movement of ephemeral adapted fishes from coming up stream after droughts. Otherwise we would have orange-throat darters, creek chubs, and red bellied dace (of some sort).

 

[centrarchid]

Young dog that was to work along side one of my pups protecting several hundred meat birds was dispatched over weekend for killing. The dog was less than a year old with newborn stock.

 

[aart]

Young dog that was to work along side one of my pups protecting several hundred meat birds was dispatched over weekend for killing. The dog was less than a year old with newborn stock.

Yikes! Would like to hear more about that scenario.

 

[centrarchid]

Pup reared in isolation from stock. Pup released with stock without supervision. Release not purposeful as dog jumped a fence. In reality, close to what most often occurs with folks on this site. Expectation was LGD breeding precludes any killing of stock.

All I am able to do is describe approach I use and explain logic for it. Still, most people have a preconceived notion on how they can get a dog into working status, and for a variety of reasons that is the approach they choose without consideration of other options.

I am not keen on donating two dogs to a project that provides me no return, but they may be the reality. Raising dogs up to be of value is expensive by many measures.