Guard dogs? Watchdogs?

[vakiiki]

Hi there,

I have a unique situation and I need your collective wisdom to see if I can find the right breed of dog that can fit in our family. Our house backs onto a river, and I cannot fence it in (sides and front are fenced, but the back has to stay unfenced). Now, I was planning on free-range our future chickens, but I have read that they might just decide to run out of the property and drown themselves. So, I figured a fenced run for them will be fine. Also, in our area , there is a possibility of wolves, definitely hacks an eagles. So, given that it is about 1 1/2 acres and I am unable to fence the back, what breed of dog would you recommend? I saw that GPs tend to run away. I need a dog that I can train to stay in the property. I can have a watchdog too instead of a guard dog.

Thank you!!!

 

[EverV]

Here's a link that may help: https://www.forloveoflivestock.com/blog/livestock-guardian-dogs-and-roaming. Let us know what breed you decide on!

 

[vakiiki]

Here's a link that may help: https://www.forloveoflivestock.com/blog/livestock-guardian-dogs-and-roaming. Let us know what breed you decide on!

Awesome, thank you!

 

[centrarchid]

If you are looking at LGD's to guard a small flock of chickens on 1.5 acres with wolves, then foregoing dog and using electric fencing is likely smarter. A dog would be good for raptor issues, but dog will cost more to keep than the chickens. Look into electrified poultry netting. Some situations are not good for keeping chickens or dogs, and you may be in a situation where both are the case.

 

[Folly's place]

I agree that fencing the chickens will work better and be much less expensive!
Any dog you have will need to be fenced, and an Invisible Fence set up for one or two dogs is doable, but the whole dog project may take two years, at least to have it working. Maybe. Dogs large enough to impress a wolf pack will cost to buy, and their care and feeding, and that fencing, will not be cheap. Get them for you, not for the chickens!
If you have bears, only electric fencing will protect your coop and run anyway.
Mary

 

[Cattle dog Mom]

If you are looking at LGD's to guard a small flock of chickens on 1.5 acres with wolves, then foregoing dog and using electric fencing is likely smarter. A dog would be good for raptor issues, but dog will cost more to keep than the chickens. Look into electrified poultry netting. Some situations are not good for keeping chickens or dogs, and you may be in a situation where both are the case.

Agree. A dog would likely just end up being wolf bait itself!

 

[Cattle dog Mom]

I agree that fencing the chickens will work better and be much less expensive!
Any dog you have will need to be fenced, and an Invisible Fence set up for one or two dogs is doable, but the whole dog project may take two years, at least to have it working. Maybe. Dogs large enough to impress a wolf pack will cost to buy, and their care and feeding, and that fencing, will not be cheap. Get them for you, not for the chickens!
If you have bears, only electric fencing will protect your coop and run anyway.
Mary

And while an invisible fence MIGHT keep your dogs IN, it will NOT keep large predators OUT. (Which means they can still get to your dog!)

 

[Folly's place]

So true, but only some sort of fencing will keep the OP's dogs at home. Canine visitors of any sort will be deterred by electric fencing, and not much else.
In that environment, I'd have a Ft. Knox coop and run, and consider electric fencing too.
Here we don't have bears, wolves, or cougars, at least not yet, but our coop/ run combination is built with possible large dog attacks in mind, and it's pretty safe. We do free range, and have had losses doing it.
Mary

 

[vakiiki]

Thank you all for your replies. I may just keep a dog as a family dog rather than a guard dog then. Those were my original thoughts , but my hubby wanted a dog that stayed outside with the flock. I think given the circumstances, a guard dog may not work in our situation.