- Thread starter
- #101
Feathers of Eden
Songster
I am not sure what category of dog is better for you you could go two ways:What is the purpose of you choosing a dog? Mostly guarding the place. Have lost several chickens and 2 turkeys.
Small homestead, not quite 5 acres. Not fenced. Does have a fenced backyard.
Mostly outside dog.
Any livestock? Ducks and chickens. Plan to possibly add pigs, turkeys, or goats, or sheep. Have an indoor cat but that might change when she is spayed in September.
Your experience with dogs in general: Lived with dogs all my life. Black Labs, Golden Retrievers. Our current dog is a Beagle, very sweet but afraid of his own shaddow.
Your pet peeves. No jumping on people, no licking.
The home,land,exercise and attention you are happy to give your dog? Medium sized house on less than 5 acres. Medium attention.
Your family size and structure? Two adults on each side of 60, 7 yo grandson lives with us.
Do you want to walk your dog in public places like parks off leash? Nope, but want a dog who listens.
Livestock Guardian Dog category:
They prefer to stay with their flock and animals 24/7 and they are not indoor dogs per se. To them it does not make sense to leave their animals alone and stay with you inside. If you plan to have some more animals down the road then LGD is better for you.
Farm dog Category:
These breeds will guard your property during the day and stay with you inside during the nights or severe weathers. Reality is that almost 90 percent of the animal attacks happens in nights when your dog would not be there to fend your property.
It does not mean they are not effective but they have limited time to protect the property.
What is your predator load and what animal you are protecting against is another issue.
LGDs are mostly independent and they come mostly preprogrammed if you buy your puppy from active farms. Little training is about socializing them than anything else.
If you want no casualty for your birds LGD is your better choice.
Farm dogs are not quite preprogrammed as LGDs and your training makes all the difference. Just like a computer that needs Windows (operating system)to work they need you to program them accordingly.
Since you have a beagle inside then maybe LGD is better for you.
Which category do you think fits you better ? let me know.