Good small dogs for protecting flock

[OsceolaMomma]

Gracie may just be too dumb to be scared, but if you tell her I said that I will deny it!

“if you tell her I said that I will deny it!” <—-that’s funny right there!!

 

[shelbyw]

Labs are great family dogs for sure. They are originally hunting dogs though. But they can be trained to bee good with small animals to. However, cant say ive heard of them being animals protectors, though it is possible.

I have a lab right now that I do not trust around my chickens solely because she has tried to grab them and she tries to bust through their run even though she cannot thankfully. On the other hand, I have raised my Staffordshire bull terrier around chickens her whole life and she can be super protective against them and she even will warn my lab if she gets to close. It really depends on what the drive of the breed is and how old the dog is when you expose them to it.

 

[shelbyw]

Considering labs and lab mixes are some of the biggest chicken killers I've ever known growing up, I wouldn't trust a lab for this. They have too much ingrained instinct to grab birds with their mouths. Even if they don't grab the chickens in an attempt to kill them, they may hurt them badly just trying to carry them around and play with them. I would not choose any "mouthy" breed at all. No bird dogs - no labs, no pointers, no setters, etc...

I had a lab that grabbed my hand in an attempt to grab the chick and she grazed the tip of her beak. She is lab border collie mix. Now that everyone is outside in a enclosed area, she likes to terrorize them, but I do have a shock collar that I have to use on her so she can stop stressing them.

 

[Sylvester017]

Friends of ours adopted an Ovchartka guardian female rescue because they were looking for a very mellow breed around two children. It was love at first sight between the dog and the children. She found her home "flock." I dog-sat her a couple times while owners were on holiday and she bonded to me just as quickly. Being near a nature preserve the Ovchartka was a good size for warding off predators on the other side of the iron fencing -- lynx, bobcat, raccoon, possum, coyote, deer, bear, -- even a mountain lion was once known to have shown up. One day as I was in the middle of the backyard watering plants, the biggest male coyote I ever remember seeing was staring at me from the other side of the iron fence. In a quiet but instant flash the Ovchartka was standing between me and the coyote. She just stood guarding me and alertly stared down the coyote for several minutes until he decided to move on. She chose to stay with me and "guard" me rather than chasing or barking after the intruder. That seems to be an instinct with guardian breeds to stay with the flock/herd rather than leave it defenseless by running off after the predator. This Ovchartka was not professionally trained to behave as she did -- it was the instinct of her breed to protect the flock/herd/family -- or in my case with the coyote she guarded ME as I was her "flock" that day! My old herding breeds like Border Collie, Rotts, Olde Boston Bulldogge, would've all run up barking at the intruder to leave me behind -- but the Ovchartka guardian breed was the first time I had a dog stay with me rather than run off. She's a large dog and size matters when staring down opponents LOL!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Friends of ours adopted an Ovchartka guardian female rescue because they were looking for a very mellow breed around two children. It was love at first sight between the dog and the children. She found her home "flock." I dog-sat her a couple times while owners were on holiday and she bonded to me just as quickly. Being near a nature preserve the Ovchartka was a good size for warding off predators on the other side of the iron fencing -- lynx, bobcat, raccoon, possum, coyote, deer, bear, -- even a mountain lion was once known to have shown up. One day as I was in the middle of the backyard watering plants, the biggest male coyote I ever remember seeing was staring at me from the other side of the iron fence. In a quiet but instant flash the Ovchartka was standing between me and the coyote. She just stood guarding me and alertly stared down the coyote for several minutes until he decided to move on. She chose to stay with me and "guard" me rather than chasing or barking after the intruder. That seems to be an instinct with guardian breeds to stay with the flock/herd rather than leave it defenseless by running off after the predator. This Ovchartka was not professionally trained to behave as she did -- it was the instinct of her breed to protect the flock/herd/family -- or in my case with the coyote she guarded ME as I was her "flock" that day! My old herding breeds like Border Collie, Rotts, Olde Boston Bulldogge, would've all run up barking at the intruder to leave me behind -- but the Ovchartka guardian breed was the first time I had a dog stay with me rather than run off. She's a large dog and size matters when staring down opponents LOL!

Never heard of this breed. Can you post a pic?

 

[Ribh]

Looks a bit like a malmute, only a more squashed in face.
https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/caucasian-shepherd-dog/

 

[Sylvester017]

FLOCK/LIVESTOCK GUARDIAN BREED:
CAUCASIAN MOUNTAIN DOG OR RUSSIAN OVCHARKA OR RUSSIAN MOUNTAIN DOG OR CAUCASIAN SHEPHERD DOG OR RUSSIAN BEAR DOG -- IT HAS MANY NAMES, MANY DIFFERENT SPELLINGS OF "OVCHARTKA", AND MANY DIFFERENT COLORS AND DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF THE BREED:

Nothing boring about the looks of this breed -- comes in any solid color or color combination you can think of LOL! My friend's Ovcharka was fawn colored with a dark face/muzzle -- a very sweet mellow guardian breed that looked forward to meeting me again after seeing me only once before on a visit. She is the guardian dog that stood between me and the coyote to guard me alertly until the coyote decided to finally move on. Ovchartkas are very intimidating in size!

http://www.caucasianovcharkadogs.com/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_Shepherd_Dog
https://www.dogbreedinfo.com/caucasianowtcharka.htm
https://www.puppyfind.com/caucasian+ovcharka.php
https://www.russiandog.net/caucasian-shepherd-ovcharka-dog.html

 

[Cinderloowho]

Just wondering if there’s a smaller breed of dog that’s good for guarding chickens? I know corgis are good, but what else? I’m looking into buying a dog but also using it to guard the flock, especially since we want them to be free range in the day

I've had lots of different dogs and the one I'd pick would be a border collie or BC mix. They are herd dogs, so they may try to "herd" the chickens, but they're generally very gentle and VERY smart. A lot of small dogs have a stronger prey drive than their larger counterparts. I did have a dachshund that tried to mother a baby duck once though, and the 2 were very strongly bonded! I never had to worry, the dog followed me and the duck followed the dog and away we would go! Just my thoughts!

 

[KlinoClucks]

Corgis are excellent family pets, our family has owned them since my dad was little. They have a herding instinct for sure and often ran nipping at our heels when they were puppies. Our current corgi is very sweet around the chickens, but she doesn't guard them at all. She couldn't care less about what happened to them. We also had a Maremma for a short period of time and he did very well keeping cats foxes etc. away from his area, though he wasn't so good with the chickens since he was still a pup in training. They are very friendly towards their family and flock and will protect them quite well. They may be wary and bark at strangers but are generally not aggressive dogs.

 

[m1chelle1]

Unfortunately, there are conflicting camps, but a LGD CAN be a family dog and pet and mine are just that. As are those from the breeder I got them from. That’s an old misnomer and a myth that’s time has passed. Are there LGD’S that are totally guards with stock, yes, but a good LGD can be raised with family on small acreage and be just fine. I have two who are on one acre and spend evening sacked out in the living room with the family and small pets. No deterrent to their guarding ability when a predator wanders in. They can do it all!!

Oh, i actually do agree with you, 100, LOL! My lab mix acts as an excellent what i would call "Part time" LGD for multiple flocks of chickens over the years, as she is my pet. But i dont "really" consider her to be a...errr...legit? LGD solely because she isnt guarding my flock full time. Thats just me, i get that dog can def guard flocks part time and still be pets, i just personally dont really consider a pet to be a LGD, if that makes sense. I guess i have just more of a traditional viewpoint on it, for sure Like, i prob wouldnt be like "taking my LGD for a walkies to the park...haha" kind of strange IMHO But --