Horse vs. Dog in predator prevention

[buck-wild-chick]

just a warning,

make sure you get a lgd, that is pre trained.. normally not a puppy.. but from someone that has them already around chickens and stuff... a puppy takse months of training before he/she can even be left alone with the chickens.

 

[deb1]

Quote:
Here is a good site about Great Pyr. My hubby and I want to purchase some land and we are considering getting this breed.

Here is a site that I am reading that has a lot of information on it.

http://www.sonic.net/~cdlcruz/GPCC/library.htm

This site says not to make the Great Pyr just a working dog but to socialize it with humans also.

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
Great P's are awesome with all livestock. We have people down from us that have three in with their sheep, another man has 2 with his ducks and chickens and there is one with a herd of 8 llama.

Around here we have had two horses killed by mountain lions...not the first sheep, chickens or llama. That says tons for them in them my opinion.

 

[DoDa]

Update:
We took our horse to my friend's a while back. I was biting my nails over the whole thing but my friend keeps her horses on the same property with another guy who has all these large work horses, mostly male. My 20 year old horse who looked blase all summer, bored with us and our pasture, suddenly perked up and started POSING for the "gentlemen". Her eyes got a light in them and she all but forgot about my husband and I! Needless to say, we were relieved she seemed happy with her new digs. She also got to meet back up with an old pal of hers, so she was just fine with the move. Plus, my friend got her 10 year old daughter on her within a few days and said my mare behaved perfectly. My friend has 3 horses, 1 pony, and had no horse her daughter could safely ride, so she was thrilled. I miss the old girl but it seems she's showing the next generation a wonderful ride.

Next, I searched for the right dog. We determined that an English Shepherd was the right dog for us... a little harder to find than your average dog but well worth it. We got a little puppy. He's not big enough to fight off raccoon yet but he's got a ferocious growl and bark already! We're reading all we can to avoid "messing him up" and introducing him to the chickens every day. For some reason he's pretty good with the hens but he still rushes the pens with the adolescents. It'll take some time. I'll post a picture when I can figure out how to make the size smaller.

 

[k9trainer]

You know, I think the one things that everyone is missing is LGD will protect livestock, chickens are not livestock. You will more times than not find a dog that will eventually kill some chickens. My family has ran GP for years with their sheep and they have often drifted over into the neighbors chickens. So I wouldn't expect them to protect your chickens "naturally", you will have to work with them daily.

 

[Their Other Mother]

Quote:
How do you perimeter train a dog? We really need to do this with our Great Danes. It seems like they are always home sleeping on either the front or back porch but our neighbor came over early the other morning and said the dog catcher was looking for the big black dane. We have fenced in two stalls in the mare motel to keep them when we are gone but they must have learned to jump over the 5 foot top rail because they are always out when we get home.

 

[Beekissed]

I would say electricity is the only way to really be sure of your perimeters!

 

[DoDa]

My husband and I are taking our puppy for walks only on our property and limiting his off-leash time to areas that are FAR away from others' property and well within our own, for starters. If he leaves the property, it's in a vehicle, not walking out on the road on foot. I'm hoping that gets us off to a good start for establishing what is and is not his "turf".

My family had dogs, starting with puppies, all the time I was growing up on the farm... but this puppy thing is very challenging. We've made some mistakes but I think we're back on track with "Nothing In Life Is Free". If anyone has any great websites for puppy training/advice, I'd appreciate it. I've found a few and the breeder we got the pup from gave us some very useful information. Chickens are a challenge... I read because the chickens "make funny noises, move strangely and run" among other things, they are so appealing to dogs. Our pup does seem to understand the cattle better off the get go. His one off the leash interaction with one of the free range hens that we didn't control was amusing - according to my husband the pup perfectly mirrored the hens back and forth darting like a true herding dog. I think there's hope! Oh yes, and to relate to another thread, I'm having a heck of a time keeping him from eating "chicken snacks". Yuck.

 

[Their Other Mother]

We are still struggling with the roaming dane. fortunatly we live in a rural area and folks understand he is young. It is the newbies that worry me. We are looking into the buried wire with the shock collar. However, after reading this topic we put the goats on the east side of our chicken pen/stall, an old mare on the west and the dogs on the north. Knock on wood, no predators have bothered the hens. Soo... dogs, horses and goats work great here!

 

[Zookeeper9000]

DoDa I would say to go to the library and get a book by Ceasar Millan (dog whisper guy) he has great advice on learning to be your pack leader. Also he has a show on National GO channel. In fact I would recommend that to everyone with or without a dog.

Raised Great Danes for years, now I socialize Chihuahua puppies for a breeder. Miss my danes but not the poop pick up duty LOL.