Free trip causes extinction

[mountaintopchicken]

Quote:
I don't want to derail the thread, but could you tell me what article that was in? I was talking to some other dog people and we were discussing how many dogs it took to protect sheep in different situations, so I'm interested....

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
Fair question. This is one article that discussed the mortality rate of the LGDs. I've been trying to find the article that talked about the predators overwhelming the dogs, but haven't had much luck yet.

From http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/companimals/guarddogs/guarddogs.htm


Dog Safety
Although a guarding dog may provide up to 10 years of productive service, there is a reasonable chance the dog will die prematurely. During a 5-year period of study at the USSES, 32 percent of the working guard dogs died before reaching adulthood. The major causes of death were as follows: hit by vehicle, 23 percent; maliciously shot, 23 percent; health problems, 18 percent; accident in field, 9 percent; untrustworthy (destroyed), 4 percent; and unknown, 23 percent. The mortality rate from birth to 4 years of age was 41 percent. In a study from NEFC, 50 percent of livestock guarding dogs used on ranches were dead by 18 months of age, while 50 percent of dogs used on farms and farm/ranches were dead by 38 months of age (mortality rates included dogs removed due to culling).

These statistics show that livestock guarding dogs are susceptible to numerous hazards, some of which are within control of the owner. A little forethought and some preparation can help to avoid the accidental and untimely death of a dog. To this end, th e owner should: (1) alert neighbors that the dog may wander onto their property and enlist their aid in preventing roaming, (2) post their property as to the presence of a dog, (3) keep the dog off roads, (4) be alert to the presence of poison baits, rode nticides, traps, and snares, and take appropriate precautions (see section on “Integrated Livestock and Predator Management”), (5) not chain the dog next to a fence orother obstruction where it can get entangled and die of strangulation, and (6) use safe chaining practices whenhauling a dog in the open bed of a pickup truck.

Premature death of a good guarding dog can be a significant loss to the livestock producer who relies heavily upon it. In addition to losing a primary source of protection, the producer must expend money and time to acquire, raise, and train a new dog. Some producers who depend on dogs for predation control should consider keeping a second dog as a backup in the event one dog dies. This option should be examined from both a practical and economic standpoint for each situation.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Ahhhh.... here we go.

From http://www.lgd.org/usdafacts.html

Guarding dogs can also be helpful in range sheep operations However, many factors influence dog effectiveness. A Wyoming sheep rancher noted a significant reduction in coyote predation in his range flocks for the first 3 years he used guarding dogs. During that time, the coyote population continued to increase. In the fourth year, the producer began to see a decrease in his dogs effectiveness. Coyotes had become so numerous they were simply overwhelming the dogs. By the fifth year, his predation losses had returned to previous levels.

 

[mountaintopchicken]

Thank you!

One of the issues we were talking about was someone who was being criticized for keeping too many dogs in proportion to the number of goats she was trying to protect from feral dogs (her LGD were being considered a nuisance). It seemed reasonable to me to have a high ratio of LGDs to livestock if the predator pressure was really high. That info was really interesting.

 

[daleeper]

Quote:
Sorry, I guess it was my fault, as I thought it was interesting that the animals on Bossroo's farm were meeting there maker prior to a vacation, and was concerned as to whether the dog and cat were meeting the same fate. (Really wondered if the person that was feeding the dogs and cats refused to feed the chickens as my cousin does.) Now we know there were no dogs and cats to feed, but the thread lives on.

In fact I wanted to ask about the kids, but refrained from doing so. Now where would that have taken this thread?

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
Fair question. This is one article that discussed the mortality rate of the LGDs. I've been trying to find the article that talked about the predators overwhelming the dogs, but haven't had much luck yet.

From http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/companimals/guarddogs/guarddogs.htm


Dog Safety
Although a guarding dog may provide up to 10 years of productive service, there is a reasonable chance the dog will die prematurely. During a 5-year period of study at the USSES, 32 percent of the working guard dogs died before reaching adulthood. The major causes of death were as follows: hit by vehicle, 23 percent; maliciously shot, 23 percent; health problems, 18 percent; accident in field, 9 percent; untrustworthy (destroyed), 4 percent; and unknown, 23 percent. The mortality rate from birth to 4 years of age was 41 percent. In a study from NEFC, 50 percent of livestock guarding dogs used on ranches were dead by 18 months of age, while 50 percent of dogs used on farms and farm/ranches were dead by 38 months of age (mortality rates included dogs removed due to culling).

These statistics show that livestock guarding dogs are susceptible to numerous hazards, some of which are within control of the owner. A little forethought and some preparation can help to avoid the accidental and untimely death of a dog. To this end, th e owner should: (1) alert neighbors that the dog may wander onto their property and enlist their aid in preventing roaming, (2) post their property as to the presence of a dog, (3) keep the dog off roads, (4) be alert to the presence of poison baits, rode nticides, traps, and snares, and take appropriate precautions (see section on “Integrated Livestock and Predator Management”), (5) not chain the dog next to a fence orother obstruction where it can get entangled and die of strangulation, and (6) use safe chaining practices whenhauling a dog in the open bed of a pickup truck.

Premature death of a good guarding dog can be a significant loss to the livestock producer who relies heavily upon it. In addition to losing a primary source of protection, the producer must expend money and time to acquire, raise, and train a new dog. Some producers who depend on dogs for predation control should consider keeping a second dog as a backup in the event one dog dies. This option should be examined from both a practical and economic standpoint for each situation.

All this and add the fact that most large dog breeds are genetically susseptible to hip displasia, stomach distorsion, heart problems, eye problems , short lifespans, etc. which renders them nearly useless or very limited as guard dogs

 

[Bossroo]

When one starts a thread, it takes up a life of it's own... Lakeland , Florida (AP) " A 74 year old who was " fileted" by racoons when she tried to shoo them away from her central Florida home was hospitalized for more than two days , authorities said Monday."... " received dozens of staples and sutures and was treated for rabies, thaugh officials doubt the animals were infected." If 5 racoons can do this amount of dammage, just think what dammage a pack of larger predators can do.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
I found this story about working LGDs to be interesting.

http://www.great-pyrenees-club-of-southern-ontario.com/livestock-guardian-dogs.html

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
The lady I got my two newest dogs from said she used to lose lots of goats, all the time. Since she got her Great Pyrs and Anatolian Shepherds, she hasn't lost a single goat.

Not one.

Sounds pretty effective to me.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
From this USDA study done in 1986 most ranchers who used dogs would agree with you. Still, by 2004 only about 10% of the sheep ranches were using LGDs as per this USDA report.

Here in the Michigan Upper Peninsula there is a 600 head sheep farm a couple miles away from me in Traunik. They employ at least two Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs to stay with the sheep 24/7 as they go from pasture to pasture.