Livestock guardian dogs

[Bear Foot Farm]

Are they raised for meat or wool ? they sure are cute, do they smell like goats? i never had sheep but have had goat off and on when i need some clearing done, i don't much care for the billy's smell when it is breeding season, kinda lingers with ya

They are "hair sheep", raised strictly for the meat.
They don't smell as bad as male goats, but Rams CAN be dangerous

Mine was about 250 lbs of bad attitude

Sam the Ram:

He liked showing that 4 X 4 who was the BOSS

Quote: I can't argue with that
These are about a week old:

 

[SunnySkies]

Fox passed by this morning as I was out looking after the critters. Aneto spotted it out behind our back field. He raced out, growling this eerie sound, to the middle of the pasture to a slight rise in the ground, where he sat and watched a bit. Then he barked, and Larunne shot like a bullet out to where he was sitting. I followed to see what they were staring at out there. They both were growling. The fox saw me and left. They got lots of praise and pets for that.

It wasn't heading our way, as it was traveling parallel to our fence looking pretty intent on its journey, but they didn't know that. Good doggies!

The photo of Sam the Ram makes me laugh!

 

[centrarchid]

Try to be out at same time over next few days. You will likely notice fox will go same route at about the same time. Mine I can almost set watch by. When it comes to the fence as a barrier, at farm where I have ponds there are several paddocks that bump up against where pond perimeter fence is located. In the high weeds within ten feet of fence with sheep / goats and LGD behind it, you actually on occasion jump a coyote out from sleeping. Coyotes are there for the abundant rodents an may even work same paddock that livestock are in while hunting rodents. To my knowledge no sheep or goats have been lost to those coyotes in last 10 years and we have a couple hundred head at least on that farm so your bad guys are not always causing damage.

 

[No Kidding]

LOL
Now you want to play word games, while at the same time ignoring the fact that the words "Livestock Guardian Dogs" have a SPECIFIC meaning in terms of the breeds.

One more time, CALLING your GSP a "LGD" doesn't mean its so.
Unless they are born with the INSTINCTS, it's not the same, and they don't get the title

You are such a riot, Mr. Bear Foot. And you call yourself a farm when in reality all you have with your tiny flock of sheep is a petting zoo.

 

[SunnySkies]

The pickings are likely better several places down. Someone a mile down the road has chickens, and the farmer between us has sheep. Neither has LGDs. Why risk life and limb when one could simply go a little further and perhaps catch a bigger dinner with less trouble?

And yes, sometimes they are just going from place to place.

I am noticing that the dogs' sleeping habits are changing. One is awake or just dozing while the other is asleep. If the alert one barks, the sleeping one is ready to roll, although if I am outside, they seem to think, and justifiably so, that I am in charge of predator control, lol.

 

[4brnvldrs4life]

I use them.

 

[rainbowhatchery]

Feel free to contact me my email is [email protected] and I can give you my number if you would like to chat on the phone. We own a chicken hatchery in Northern MI right next to the Manistee National Forest and predators are widely abundant up here of all kinds from bears coyotes to racoons, possums and of course stray dogs an anywhere has that. We breed Anatolian Pyrenees which are considered by many to be the best LGD dog on the planet. They are a cross of about 80% Anatolian Shepherd and 20% Great Pyrneese so Im extremely familiar with both breeds. We run 2 pairs of dogs at our hatchery. They are UNMATCHED when it comes to predator problems with livestock however they are not a breed for everyone so before you get one you should make sure and do your research and know what your getting yourself into with them. I did not read through all the posts I just saw your question so hopefully you got some good information but if you still have questions feel free to email me. You have to be very careful with poultry because what works good for sheep and goats is not always the case for birds.

 

[zazouse]

I also have Anatolian/Pyrenees crosses they are great but i would not want to be a stranger that walked up on my male, is is one scare dog and huge but he works great for us here.

 

[rainbowhatchery]

Your very VERY right about the stranger thing. By breed they are generally leery of strangers and we do not socialize our dogs with strangers at all to amplify that by choice. I have been in law enforcement for 15 years is a small community so Im overly zealous when it comes to home protection and my dogs double as livestock as well as home protectors. Our property is very securely fenced in and we have had one person trespass and try to get onto our back porch about 5 years ago and our oldest male who is 8 now got them so bad they had to be taken to the ER and had nerve damage in their butt cheek he bit them so hard when they tried to run away after they saw him. Obviously if you socialize they are not all like that but since you mentioned strangers I figured i would bring it up. I have worked with alot of protection breeds in my field and just had to put down our german shepherd this year due to medical issues that was trained in protection, tracking and narcotics and I think I would rather face 2 of the modern protection breeds over 1 LGD dog anyday and they are much more trustworthy around your kids yet still ferociously protective.

 

[SunnySkies]

Mine love love love people, but I still wouldn't want to come upon and take them unaware...I went out at 4am the other morning when it started raining hard to cover the horses' round bale. The dogs didn't hear me leave the house, but they heard me walking in the driveway and charged full tilt, ready to take on the "danger." Scared even me -- and I'm a veterinarian who faces fairly aggressive dogs every day I work. They realized who I was, but I wouldn't put it past them to not back down if it was a stranger or someone they perceived as being a problem.

I chose to socialize mine more, after having had several very, very, very bad experiences with LGDs and farm dogs in the course of my work, ones that ended up just being traumatic for everyone involved, and I didn't want that to be my dogs. Hasn't been a problem as far as their ability to defend against predators.