Irish Wolfhound as livestock guardian?

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Quote:
There are also those who confuse a dogs normal territorial instincts with Livestock guarding behavior.

Most any yard dog will chase predators away.
Most any car can drive 1/4 mile

The first doesn't make it an LGD, and the second doesn't make it a "dragster"

I cant quite tell if you are agreeing with my post or disagreeing with me but for what its worth I agree that they arent the same thing However i will maintain that some individual dogs can guard stock with the correct insticts to do so

Just as I have seen some non protection breeds of dog be quite capable of defending their owner

If i need an LGD that is what i would get but that is me personally it just makes more sense to me
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[CoopCrazy]

In my experience they are too pre3y driven to be gaurdians.. I have had multiple friends that had to rehome theirs as if any animal got into their run they would attack ... They are stunning creatures though....

 

[gritsar]

And sometimes you adopt the most amazing dog from a shelter and you luck out big time

That's how I got Charlie. She, her sister and their mom (a full IW) were seized from an abusive owner.

 

[pardygwyn]

The Coppingers, who were responsible for a lot of the initial popularity of LGDs in the US, were of the opinion that any dog raised with stock would make a good guardian dog. This was based off of research in several different countries with several different types of dogs. Their books are fairly well-known, but I'll cite Dogs as a starting point for reading up on the subject.

Whether or not *this particular dog* can be trusted with poultry or not depends on whether or not his owners can get him to stop chasing them. If you can, great! If not, you may as well look into other options and save yourself the heartache. It is true that the breed was selected heavily in the beginning for prey drive, but with the current pet/show market, it's a bit unrealistic to expect hunting dog breeds to always be hunting dogs without recent actual hunting dogs in their pedigrees. Depending on bloodline, they could have been selected for anything from gentledog-about-town to some branch of service work. Base your opinions off of the dog, not the breed.