Livestock Guard Dogs -- UPDATE: puppy home! (pics)

[farmergal]

What a cutie! Your pup is absolutely adorable. You're right about how fast they grow, my Kea has gained a pound in a week, and just looking at her I can tell she's gotten longer and taller too!!

The picture of Keona and Riley together in the snow just makes my heart melt.

What gorgeous dogs you have.

Do you have a strategy for how to introduce the pup to the chickens? I'm wondering what the best way is... She's walked with me through the chicken yard a few times so far, but as she gets bigger (and friskier) I think I'm going to have to be more careful.

Congrats on your adorable puppy! Hooray for herding dogs.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Border Collies and Aussies want to "chase" when they are younger so do the Great Pyrenees. It's just puppy behavior, and if your lucky your pup won't.

What I have done is just always take them with you to feed and water. Never let them play with the chickens, no rough house at all. This way they know from the start that the chickens are not toys or other dogs to play with. I've given all of my dogs a good swift smack on the nose and a big "NO" if they get too rowdy. As long as your consistant they will get the gyst of things. Don't hit them too hard... just enough to let them know your not playing with them. I'm sure there is other ways but too me it's not worth it. If they chase the chickens one time and get the taste of feathers and blood your going to have a huge problem. So I stick to the sift smack as it works good, once they get older a good "NO" works just fine and they know.

Teach your dog to heel as this is important as when your handling the chickens or rounding them up to go to another paddock of grass or even locking them up for the night seems to trigger their instincs. I raise a lot of broilers and the border collie "oreo" I had previously would want to help me gather the chickes to process. His nose would be on every chicken as I would pick them up. As long as you teach them to listen to you, they will do fine.

The best advice I can give you is to be stern, and your new puppy spend as much time with the chickens as possible. This daily routine will become the "highlight" of the dogs day and he will thank you greatly!

Thanks so much on the coments on the photos. Winter is a lot of fun here as the snow makes it interesting on the farm. The dogs love to play in it.

 

[babalubird]

I think anyone taking on a prey animal to protect the prey should at least educate themselves as much as possible to hopefully avoid future problems. If nothing else, you owe it to your dog and to your chickens in order to get them off to the best possible start.

Anyone considering a dog for livestock guardians, especially something as vulnerable as chickens, should read this book or at least one like it:

"Livestock Protection Dogs: Selection, Care, and Training" (Paperback)
by Orysia Dawydiak (Author), David E. Sims (Author)

Here's a link for its purchase from Amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/Livestock-Pro...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236100981&sr=8-1

Connie

 

[IceCat]

Quote:
This was too funny to pass up ... your personality reports matches all of the research I have done online re LGDs... they do not do well with violent training methods, are very independent and will make decisions based upon their own judgment ... what they were breed for.

What I have read that people who have flocks of sheep in Austrailia, Europe, etc., will put the puppy with the lambs and they bond from early on. The owners of those who have dogs firstly to protect the hers do not have much human interaction as they want them to protect the flock, not the humans ... they train them very well from young, but in order to catch and control them, not to bond with them.

We cannot have a dog that large, and ALL of the true protectors of livestock are large to take on wolves, bears, mountain lions and the like.

If anyone knows of a smaller breed that will drive off a coyote (the most prevelant in our area along with one mountain lion) ... please let me know. We had a Sheltie once that was identical to a Doberman, very loyal and loving, but extremely protective. Not sure how a Sheltie would do with chickens tho. .... anyone ?

What I read is that it is imperative to put the puppy with whatever you want them to guard .... I have YET to find an article where any breed of dog is superior to chickens rather than stock, as most of the breeds from hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years ago, breed them to protect sheep, cattle, goats, and pigs .... Anyone have any advice on that ?

I, many years ago, used to train dogs for Shutzhund, mostly Dobes and a few other breeds thrown in. But that is entirely different than protecting "prey" with breeds that have high prey drive. Surprisingly enough they loved all of my cats and wouldn't harm them... one time a new Dobe got after one of my cats, I disciplined him and that was the end of it.

The more I am thinking about it, the less I think that getting a rooster for guard is a good idea with neighbors only a couple of acres away.... we are on a very high slope of a hill and there is only a few scrub trees to break the sound, even if we keep them in a sound-proof coop at night, when we are gone during the day, they will probably make a racquet with a rooster ....

so my next thought was to get a medium sized dog ... my hubby is not keen on the idea because he is afraid the dog will bark all day long while we are gone, ... of course the idea being we leave the dog outside to protect the free-range chickens.

I can't seem to find a way out of this maze of questions re getting chickens. Open to suggestions?

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

anatolians are abit smaller any dog thats gonnagaurd your stock is bound to bark a bit
Quote:
This was too funny to pass up ... your personality reports matches all of the research I have done online re LGDs... they do not do well with violent training methods, are very independent and will make decisions based upon their own judgment ... what they were breed for.

What I have read that people who have flocks of sheep in Austrailia, Europe, etc., will put the puppy with the lambs and they bond from early on. The owners of those who have dogs firstly to protect the hers do not have much human interaction as they want them to protect the flock, not the humans ... they train them very well from young, but in order to catch and control them, not to bond with them.

We cannot have a dog that large, and ALL of the true protectors of livestock are large to take on wolves, bears, mountain lions and the like.

If anyone knows of a smaller breed that will drive off a coyote (the most prevelant in our area along with one mountain lion) ... please let me know. We had a Sheltie once that was identical to a Doberman, very loyal and loving, but extremely protective. Not sure how a Sheltie would do with chickens tho. .... anyone ?

What I read is that it is imperative to put the puppy with whatever you want them to guard .... I have YET to find an article where any breed of dog is superior to chickens rather than stock, as most of the breeds from hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years ago, breed them to protect sheep, cattle, goats, and pigs .... Anyone have any advice on that ?

I, many years ago, used to train dogs for Shutzhund, mostly Dobes and a few other breeds thrown in. But that is entirely different than protecting "prey" with breeds that have high prey drive. Surprisingly enough they loved all of my cats and wouldn't harm them... one time a new Dobe got after one of my cats, I disciplined him and that was the end of it.

The more I am thinking about it, the less I think that getting a rooster for guard is a good idea with neighbors only a couple of acres away.... we are on a very high slope of a hill and there is only a few scrub trees to break the sound, even if we keep them in a sound-proof coop at night, when we are gone during the day, they will probably make a racquet with a rooster ....

so my next thought was to get a medium sized dog ... my hubby is not keen on the idea because he is afraid the dog will bark all day long while we are gone, ... of course the idea being we leave the dog outside to protect the free-range chickens.

I can't seem to find a way out of this maze of questions re getting chickens. Open to suggestions?

 

[IceCat]

Quote:

thank you ~

 

[vettechmomof2]

Anatolians are not meant to be smaller the Great Pyrs at all. They are the same sized or even larger, really depends on the breeding.
Anatolians should range ins size from 95 lbs- 150 lbs.
LGD's first means of defense is normally barking and some do it very,very well!
Most LGD's also need a secure fence to keep them in because what they see is what they own wether we agree with that or not

What about a German Shep. or something along those lines for you? If you are looking for a LGD then I would find one who is already trained with the specific traits that you are looking for. Limited barking, good with poultry, etc.

 

[vettechmomof2]

Quote:
Def. recommend this book!

 

[vettechmomof2]

I am sorry, I did not realize this was such an old posting when I replied

 

[IceCat]

Quote:
Ya know, that reminds me we had 3 geese when I was a kid with the chickens, etc., and the geese were very agressive ... that is an idea I had not thought of ... not barking and won't eat the chickens ...
any suggestions for breed of geese ... do they need company like get 2 ?

I had a Sheltie for years and next to the Dobes he was definitely one of my favorite breed (staying with small and medium now, have not owned a large dog) ... very loyal and protective ... loved my cats too.

thanks