Should I get a dog?

[sunflowerparrot]

Here is the situation: I live in South-Central Kansas on 27 acres in the country. I have some chicks that aren't range free yet, but will be in a few more weeks (waiting to finish chick coop). I also have 3 kittens.. planning on getting some rabbits, ducks and maybe a goat next year. We have bobcat, coyote and other types of predators.

Would a dog be a big help to keeping coyotes and predators away from the other animals? If so, what is the best breed, or mix, to get? Thanks.

 

[animallover505]

get a shelter dog!

 

[hokankai]

If the area fenced in? If it isn't, forget about the dog. Most livestock guarding breeds are notorious roamers and need to have a set boundary to keep them in.

If your property IS fenced in, go for it! Be warned that you will need to get an adult dog who is already trained, or be prepared to raise a pup for 1 or 2 years with extensive socialization and training before you'll have yourself a livestock guardian. Do a search for "livestock guardian dogs" and you'll find the top breeds used. If you decide to get just a regular ol' farm dog you're taking the risk of getting a dog who a. loves to chase/kill/etc chickens and livestock or b. one that doesn't care about livestock and therefore won't do the job. Your best bet is to get an adult LGD who has already been trained and raised with livestock.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

The problem with getting a shelter dog is they cost $120 here! I can get a dog on craigslist as a puppy and pay maybe $20 bucks or so. I wish the shelter would lower their costs - maybe they'd not have so many dogs ready to kill because nobody is adopting them.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

The property is not fenced.. I thought if I got a little 6-week old pup and took the time to train him, that he'd stay home and protect everything/everyone.. I keep going back and forth on this dog thing.

 

[HEChicken]

Hi Sunflowerparrot, wow, what a question! Over on the Consolidated Kansas thread, we have had a lot of discussion in the past couple of weeks about Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGD). There are multiple breeds of them (Great Pyrenees, Anatolian, Akabash and many others) that are bred to guard livestock. They do it instinctively, just as Retrievers retrieve and collies herd.

I was visited by a fox on the 4th, who decimated my flock and as a result I have just added an LGD. She is still settling in with us as she's only been with us a few days but so far, so good. Several others on that thread have had LGD's for varying amounts of time and have given me GREAT advice in what to look for, and how to expect her to behave as she does her "job" protecting my coop.

I would suggest you come on over and join us there and ask your questions because they will likely be more than happy to help you out too.

 

[HEChicken]

The problem with getting a shelter dog is they cost $120 here! I can get a dog on craigslist as a puppy and pay maybe $20 bucks or so. I wish the shelter would lower their costs - maybe they'd not have so many dogs ready to kill because nobody is adopting them.

Keep in mind that the shelter dogs come spayed/neutered, heartworm tested negative, on heartworm meds, and vaccinated. If you get a $20 puppy, you are going to spend more than $120 doing all that. I've adopted a couple of shelter dogs and another advantage for me was that they let me take the dog home on a trial visit, to be sure it would work out. I didn't want to adopt a dog that was going to kill my chickens. If I took a dog from Craigslist, it was a risk because if it did go after the chickens, there wasn't the same option to return it.

 

[hokankai]

If $120 is a lot for you to spend on a dog...I wouldn't get one. Dogs are a financial investment and will cost you WAY more than $120 just starting up if you do it the right way.

Have you looked into other methods of predator proofing such as a large predator proof run, chicken tractors and so forth? The fact of the matter is that if you free range your birds, you ARE going to lose one every once in awhile even with a dog. Keep them locked up safe at night in a predator proof coop and run and that will eliminate the majority of your loses right there.

 

[Nicole01]

The problem with getting a shelter dog is they cost $120 here! I can get a dog on craigslist as a puppy and pay maybe $20 bucks or so. I wish the shelter would lower their costs - maybe they'd not have so many dogs ready to kill because nobody is adopting them.

$120 is a very good price! We bought a golden retriever puppy from a backyard breeder for $300. It costs us over $1000 just the first year in shots and spay. The following year she had a yeast ear infection and later a bladder infection. Both visits were around $400 at the cheapest vet. We have two big dogs that need shots yearly. Worth every penny!

 

[dragonlair]

Most breeds of dogs will chase birds. I have 2 Great Pyrenees who guard the goats and chickens (by the way, you need at least 2 goats, goats do not do well alone and some will pine away from loneliness) but I still had to teach them that the birds are to be protected, just like the goats. My yard is fenced, but I have to run a hot wire along the top and bottom to keep them from climbing or digging out and enlarging their territory. These dogs were bred to guard over hundreds, sometimes thousands of acres! Mine would be perfectly happy to guard the entire neighborhood and then some.

Free or 20.00 puppies will more than likely not be good guardian dogs. LGD are specialized dogs who have been bred for centuries to guard livestock. Some people can successfully have other breeds live with livestock, but it is hit or miss and can involve a lot of intensive training. Most of them need to be born and raised with the herd/flock to bond with them.

I have 10 dogs, and only 3 will not harm my chickens, 4 who will not harm my goats. The majority of dogs will wander too.

Have you ever owned a dog? Any experience with training or handlings dogs? If not, i would advise you to get some experience with a mentor or something before you got any dog, but especially a LGD.

BTW...a decent LGD can cost you several hundred dollars as an untrained pup. A trained LGD can be up in the thousands. You can find them cheaper but sometimes you get what you pay for. Plus you have spay or neuter costs, vaccines, wormers and all. Intact dogs will want to roam looking for a mate or can attract stray dogs. That can get very expensive.