LGD: seeking advice from experienced owners

[NotabitaiI]

That’s great they’ll take him back!! I do find it slightly concerning though that he didn’t bark at you. He should be more leery of strangers I would think. But he is still a puppy so that might explain it.

Mine don't bark at people if I'm with the people. If someone walks up all alone they might. In general they are only aggressive towards sketchy people and strange animals.

 

[WingItRanch]

Yup, they'll size you up and be like "nah my dude" when you're calling them
Independent dogs may never have a bulletproof recall, they were bred to think on their own. He sounds typical for an LGD puppy, a little too playful but not in a problematic way, he might benefit from tethering for a while if you put him in with chickens, mine all had a bit of a problem being playful until they had been tethered for a minute and learned to be calm with the animals, but if he's chill with goats and that's his only job then I wouldn't bother.

Haha yes I did do research on this class of dog and knew they're very independent. My last dog was a velcro dog and had incredible recall. This should be interesting!

 

[Squawkers]

Mine don't bark at people if I'm with the people. If someone walks up all alone they might. In general they are only aggressive towards sketchy people and strange animals.

Oh that makes sense! And now that I think of it, the last LGDs I was around didn’t bark at us when the owner was with them.

 

[NotabitaiI]

Haha yes I did do research on this class of dog and knew they're very independent. My last dog was a velcro dog and had incredible recall. This should be interesting!

My Aussie is like a shadow and he's always had perfect recall. With the LGDs it's 50/50 at best.

 

[WingItRanch]

My Aussie is like a shadow and he's always has perfect recall. With the LGDs it's 50/50 at best.

Honestly, I respect the independence. That's what I want, right? I want a dog protecting the goats that will think for himself. The owner was very apologetic and kept saying "he's never done this!" And I do believe her. I think the collar freaked him out and the fact that he was getting so much attention made it worse. He just knew something was up.

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

I wouldn't be too concerned about him not barking at you, my pyr didn't start consistently barking at things till about a year. Definitely need to work on the collar/leash training. He sounds like a kinda immature 11 months but I'm sure he'll grow up, male dogs mature a but slower. He seems great though, congrats

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

My pyrs recall is definitely 50/50, and she's a pet dog and has been worked with since I got her on it(she's 2½ now, I got her at 9 weeks) getting a really good recall on a pyr or any lgd is a pretty huge ask, so I wouldn't stress too much on that

 

[WingItRanch]

We got Beau today!! He was absolutely terrified of the car but once we got him out and into the goat enclosure, he was so sweet and happy. Absolutely no issues. It helps that the goats had a LGD at their last place. Daisy liked him instantly.

Maggie was a little scared and somehow managed to jump into the old chicken nest boxes that I've been meaning to pry off the shelf (they're nailed down). She was fine after about 5 minutes and actually started following him around. I'm going to keep them on supervised visits only at first just in case but honestly, it went so smoothly that I felt bad separating them.

Weirdest chicken I've ever seen..

Here's Beau! He had the zoomies at first but then relaxed with a bone. He seems super laid back!

 

[NotabitaiI]

We got Beau today!! He was absolutely terrified of the car but once we got him out and into the goat enclosure, he was so sweet and happy. Absolutely no issues. It helps that the goats had a LGD at their last place. Daisy liked him instantly.

Maggie was a little scared and somehow managed to jump into the old chicken nest boxes that I've been meaning to pry off the shelf (they're nailed down). She was fine after about 5 minutes and actually started following him around. I'm going to keep them on supervised visits only at first just in case but honestly, it went so smoothly that I felt bad separating them.

Weirdest chicken I've ever seen..
View attachment 4261235

Here's Beau! He had the zoomies at first but then relaxed with a bone. He seems super laid back!
View attachment 4261236

Glad it went well! I'm sure he'll mellow out and feel right at home with them in no time. They're gonna love him, goats eventually want to be besties with the big floofy barking goat and their babies will have a good uncle to use as a launch pad for air kicks.

 

[WingItRanch]

Glad it went well! I'm sure he'll mellow out and feel right at home with them in no time. They're gonna love him, goats eventually want to be besties with the big floofy barking goat and their babies will have a good uncle to use as a launch pad for air kicks.

Thanks! I am so relieved! It's also a big load off because I've been transporting the goats into another building at night and back out to the pen early morning before work. Now they'll have a huge enclosure with comfy digs to live permanently (until kids arrive).