Yes, It did wipe me out emotionally especially. We had never lost a single bird over the first 2-3 years, so when we suddenly started loosing them it was quite a shock! The raccoons unlatched 2 closed hutches and killed everything inside, as well as coming back for the Serama about a month later. We had every critter immaginable killing our chickens. If we locked them in at dusk, the predators would learn to show up 5 minutes before dusk. Some were taken in broad daylight but many were killed inside their fully enclosed chain like pens (weasels, minks and pine martins), it was devastating!
The Livestock guardian dogs have been bred for hundreds of years to do just that, protect something. They still like to get some positive attention or a treat, but they are truly happy as protectors and not house pets. Mine would be miserable in the house. Most do not do well with any sort on confinement and the breeds we have do bark a lot. They do not bark and nothing, they bark at the neighbors cat, a rat, noises in the barn that don't sound normal, or possibly something they know is off in the woods like a Cougar, Deer or Bear. The personality of one of our males is very similar to a wolf or a wolf hybrid. Someone told me that the maremma sheep dogs were crossed with wolves. These are very active dogs (especially at night) and if I tried to "hang out and play with mine" all we would be thinking was how could he get back to his flock and why was I wasting his time. At least that's what I figure he is thinking. Mine love people, but instead of their primary goal in life being pleasing their owner like my retriever cross, their primary goal is protecting their flock and keeping them safe. They would go nuts if I tried to bring one in the house! Even as pups we tried to keep them in the house for a few days to socialize them with us, but they hated it! These pups were also about 50 pounds at 10 weeks old.
We keep one with the goats, two with the chickens and one free- ranging. About 2 months ago one of my goats kidded and she was a first freshener and didn't know what to do. We weren't home and she decided to have these babies in the mud. One of our LGD's reached through the fence, got the baby goats out of the mud and cleaned them (as the mamma goat did not). My son found them about an hour later we guess all dry and doing well. This dog is the one that protects our chickens and was also raised with the goats, so she was protecting her flock, which to her, is anything that lives in those yards. Yes, they can bark a lot at night and sometimes they do wake us up. But if they are barking at least they are keeping those predators from killing my chickens (when they are able to). Before these dogs we had tried everything. Sitting outside all night with a gun, using several live traps, everything we could think of including locking every single chicken in at dusk and nothing worked well. So there you have it. Now that we have around 100 dairy goats it is even more important that we have this type of protection. One of my friends had 16 goats attacked by a neighbor dog, 8 lived, another friend had a cougar come right into her barn and kill a goat and the next night come back for dessert. She finally shot it and then was under investigation by the Dept. of fish and game (standard procedure I guess?) We have invested a lot of our time, money and hearts in these animals so we try to protect them in every way we know how, and I agree, these dogs are not for every one or every farm, but I don't think a Llama will protect my chickens, LOL!... though I might try one down the road with the goats as the neighbors don't care for the dog barking. Our "pet dog" which is a 4 pound Papillon, sleeps in the house of course and is treated like a pet.
Well, maybe if you put a couch outside...
