Guard Dog

[nzpouter]

We have 3 bullterriers running with our chickens and ducks, you have to train your poultry to get use to the dogs being around as a running flapping bird will trigger the dog's chase instinct.

 

[babalubird]

It depends on how much acreage you have and if you have a big predator problem like coyotes.

Dogs allowed to bond more with their people and who learn to hang around the house or their people aren't going to be able to watch free-range poultry over several acres.

If any of the above apply, you really need two dogs anyway. I would have been the one to tell you also to cancel the Shephard order and go with a dog that has been bred for centuries soley for the purpose of guarding livestock.

A good lg dog is taught from the beginning to stay with the livestock, not around the house, and to bond more with his livestock than his people. And you need to get a book on training livestock dogs or have lengthy conversations with farmers who have.

But since you have already made the plunge on a shephard, if you do have big predator problems, you might consider a real livestock dog like an Anatolian, Ackbash, pyranese, as your second dog--many other lg breeds available as well.

If you have a coyote problem, one dog alone is no match for them, including a German Shephard. He will wind up dead or badly injured.

 

[babalubird]

Have to add, the "chase instinct" is another reason why the breeds bred SOLEY for livestock guardian dogs are a better choice. These dogs have been bred to have a low "chase instinct." They also have intelligence for making decisions for their flock on their own.

Shepharding dogs, such as border collies, German Shephards, are used for "shepharding" or driving livestock because it is a way for the owner to capitalize on the "chase" instinct and use it to his advantage.

But for a flock of chickens or a herd of goats or sheep to be relaxed and just forage in the pasture, you want a laid-back dog satisfied to sleep away his days in the midst of his beloved, adopted "pack" and only burst to life when there is danger such as a predator. That is what the livestock guardian dogs have been bred to do and bred to do this for centuries. It gives you a tremendous advantage in achieving the results you want.


Connie

 

[sandypaws]

you got the wrong dog....
yes they CAN BE TRAINED.. but there NATURAL instincts are to HERD and/or drive flocks... NOT protect them...
lots of training.. never let him ONCE chase those chickens...
for the next 2 years you should always BE THERE when he is around the chickens so you can curb the drive instinct BEFORE it happens..
good luck

 

[ruth]

Congratulations on Boss. As I posted earlier, they are great dogs and were bred to be working dogs and to "herd" but it takes work on your part. Scarlett is now 10 months old and has finally learned to leave the ducks and peacocks alone and is now able to be left outside alone with them. Take Boss outside everytime you go out, to walk amongst the chickens - while you feed them and care for them. Hold them and let him sniff them while you pet it so he knows it's part of the family. As was just posted, a LGD must stay with his flock - Rex now stays outside at all times. Yesterday a stray lab wandered into front yard and Rex, who will greet an ax murderer with a ball in his mouth, had the lab down and pinned to the ground with his mouth around his throat. We were able to run the dog off. Had Rex not been outside, the lab could have gotten into the yard where all the chickens and peacocks run loose. He also chases every hawk he sees, barking and jumping and carrying on. Of course it's a big place to guard so that's why we got Scarlett. We also have another dog, a former stray, Lucy who stays outside unless it's really cold, and she too will chase off any predator whose scent she picks up. Even the former stray, Min Pin, Prissy takes off into the woods barking at things she smells/hears. She too has learned to sit/lay/walk amongst the flock without bothering them.

So, all that said, you can work with just about any kind of dog and teach it that the farm and all of it's animals are part of the family. We have 4 dogs and 2 cats, and they live happily and peacefully amongst a bunch of free roaming goats, peacocks, ducks, and chickens. I even have a "kitchen chicken" that is crippled and is just sitting in a spot on my kitchen floor and none of the dogs or cats bother it at all.

I think the ones that have the problem, and I know it's applied to me before, are the ones that try and keep the dogs tied up or separated and then when they get loose, they aren't familiar with chickens/ducks and either try to kill them or play with them. When we first got ducks, and kept them in separate pen, Lucy killed six in a minute flat without making a sound when she first got access to them - we fussed at her and introduced them to her and she hasn't bothered them since, not even the babies. Scarlett too killed four ducks when they flew out of their pen. Same thing - caught her in the act, fussed at her, introduced them to her and took her amongst them and she hasn't bothered them since. She was also catching and mauling my peacocks but after getting caught and being allowed to be amongst them all day, she ignores them too. In both dogs' cases, trying to keep the flock and the dogs separate resulted in dissaster but allowing them to all hang out together has been great.

BUT....it's my GSD, Rex who truly guards everything and when he lays down in guard position next to something, even I can't move him. He will actually growl at me to let me know he is guarding and will not be moved. He really loves a bin of baby chicks or ducks and will lay down to guard and nothing better come close to his babies. We have new baby goats that had to be brought into the house for the first few nights and Rex had to come into house and "guard" them and there was nothing I could do about it - he takes it that seriously.

Work with your GSD and you'll have a dog that meets the best of both worlds.

 

[bigredfeather]

You guys are taking away my "new puppy feeling." lol I guess I didn't say this, but a big reason we got a shepherp was to be a guard dog for my family. I was just hoping he would be able to watch over my flock as a side job. They are not always free ranging. I let them out when I feel it is okay. Only time will tell if he can handle a second job. I can definetly see the logic in what you have said concerning "prey instinct".

 

[ruth]

Quote:
I'm afraid that's not quite right - yes, they will herd a flock but their full name is Shepherd. Just like the human Shepherds who guard and herd their flock. A German Shepherd is a shepherd and a GSD that has a job like being a shepherd is the best of all - it is doing what it's instincts tell it to do.

By the way, this is real country country here and everyone has free roaming chickens along with odd/assorted free roaming dogs of all breeds, mostly mutts. No one around here has a problem with their own dogs bothering their chickens. One lady has her dog, a mutt, trained to round them up and herd them home to the coop every evening. Rex wouldn't know how to herd them if I begged. It's just not a part of the job he was ever taught to do.

 

[bigredfeather]

Thank you Ruth. I have my new puppy feeling back now. You must have been typing at the same time I was.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Your welcome. As you can see in both pics, Rex isn't "herding" anything - just laying down and sleeping watch over his little flock of first chicks or laying down and gently licking/bathing his baby goats. He is a wonderful shepherd to us all.

 

[sandypaws]

ruth.. well good for you.. i am glad where you live it is like that...

but for the rest of us.. roaming dog means DEAD birds and stock.. just read the many, many other threads on the subject..

also when the shepard breed was developed the SHEPARD HUMAN was with the flock.. with the dogs.. ALL DAY LONG... and usually selpt with the flocks too...
i stand by what i said before.. for the next 2 years you need to BE THERE WITH the flocks.. with the dog..