Should I get a livestock guardian dog?

[dianneS]

I agree vicki with the socialization, I wouldn't want a dog that I would have to completely ignore.

The dog I met last night was not totally ignored, he had kids that played with him and gave him attention and he did not seem at all aggressive toward me because I was accompanied by his owner. He returned to his herd for a while and then ran back to us for a little more attention, then back to his herd again.

The pups were very social too. Now this breeder did tell me that her dogs are so attached to their goats that she can't take them to the vet. She has to have a farm call for the dogs.

 

[Goldlaced_Girl]

yes yes yes get a chicken dog!! My gorgeous girl is the best chicken dog ever, just a few days ago saved us from 2 hawk attacks

 

[dianneS]

Goldlaced girl, what breed of dog do you have? How old is she?

 

[rainplace]

I'm watching this thread with interest. I'm surprised there hasn't been more people responding.

 

[Grillo]

Just my two cents from my own experience as I'm currently raising a pyr to become a chicken dog. I have a 9 month old pyr and I have been getting her "socialized" with chickens since I got her at 3 months old. It is quite interesting to see those LGD traits show through. She has almost no prey drive and has never shown any agression towards my chickens. But I have yet to leave her completely unattended with the chickens because as most pups do, she loves to play and she will try to play with the chickens like they were her littermates. She tries to nip at their legs and lies on the ground trying to invite 2 month old chicks to play with her. This I think is the biggest problem on an LGD that has correct working temperament. And I believe this is where most people fail, because they leave their pups in with the chickens full time or unattended, and ALL pups will try to play and because they are huge, small, frail chickens WILL get squashed or suffocated by the rough puppy play. It is not prey drive, anger or that she's a chicken killer, she's a pup that wants to play. I take her with me off leash everytime I feed and tend to the chickens and just correct her when she tries to play with the chicks. I do let her get in the middle of all chickens when they crowd at feed time. I let her smell the chickens and lie down among them which she seems to love and enjoy the company of the chickens, but I don't let her play with them. Chickens adults, stags and pullets will step all over her and she seems to like it. I will just keep this up until she matures and she hopefully stops the puppy play with them and takes it upon herself to watch over them. One more thing, I always have to shush her off the chicken coop because when I get out of the coop she won't follow me, she stays with the chickens. She seems to rather be with them than me, which is just fine with me because my ultimate goal is for her to stay with them full time. I probably still have over a year to go before she becomes trustworthy. I think if I had goats, or nothing but adult chickens for that matter, she'd be working full time already, but young fowl are very delicate and can be easily killed and things could go awry from there.

 

[Bizzybirdy]

I would not get another dog at all, am sorry I purchased this one...a Great Pyrenees. I got her as an 8 week old puppy, trained her for months not to chase my cats, geese, chickens, ducks, etc. Seemed like she caught on and then she killed one of my white hens...but didn't eat it so I thought there was hope.

Wacked her with the dead chicken and tied it around her neck for 2 days until it reeked. She seemed to not even want to look at the chickens after that. Months of more training, lots of praise. This afternoon she killed one of my young roos and was EATING him! Now she took off and is hiding, which is probably a good thing as I am really angry. She has to go. I love my chickens and will not have another one killed by my own stupid dog.

In retrospect...I have owned several different breeds and mixed breeds of dogs and ALL of them killed my chickens and/or guineas. Got this one because my parents had a wonderful GP that never killed one of my mom's banties, so I thought...would be nice not to have to sit outside with my 20g. waiting for predators. Ha! My own dog is the predator now.

Chickens and dogs do not mix except for the exceptional few. You can read all the posts here every day about people's dogs killing their owner's chickens. Makes me ill now that my dog puts me in this category.

It won't happen again here though.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

I got my LGD GP at six weeks of age, and for the past two months she has been living 24/7 with my ducks. Her parents were successful working LGD's on a goat and chicken farm. This little girl now weighs 34 pounds at fourteen weeks. Due to her not having a mentor, I spend several hours each day watching for and correcting any inapproprate behavior, such as playng with eggs.

 

[dianneS]

Grillo, just wondering what you do with the dog when you are not able to supervise??

I wouldn't be able to trust a young pup to even be with my goats 24/7 right now. I have some very tiny baby goats that I just couldn't trust a dog with.

If I knew what to do with the dog until he could be trusted, I'd feel better about this decision.

The pups I am considering have been living with goats full time since they were born. They are with full-sized Boar goats, not tiny pygymys though. The chickens they are with just roam in and out of the goat pen and are not confinded with the dog constantly, that would be the same situation here at my place.

If I could contain the dog when I'm not able to watch, but he'd still be able to bond with the goats and even the chickens, I would probably give it a shot, but the breeder is insisting that I just bring him home and throw him in the pasture and let him do his job. I just can't do that and I don't think that its wise.

 

[vicki2x2]

For birds, I think a trained dog would be best, definitely not a pup, unless it is supervised by an older dog who will discipline it. The breeder we got our dog from will finish a dog for you, if you are willing to wait for it on whatever livestock you want and she will guarantee it safe. It might be worth the wait and the expense and truthfully, she is pretty reasonable.

 

[dianneS]

Okay, I talked to a member of the Karakachan dog association today. She is a breeder and the breeder of the Daddy to these pups that I'm considering.

She answered a lot of my questions. Apparently Karakachan's have their own set of rules for handling and training them. The rules that apply to GP's and Anatolian's and other breeds of LGD's don't apply to these dogs. Some, but not all.

She said that she is confident that these pups are on the job now and are really on the right track. I just can't socialize him too much. I don't have to leave him unsupervised with my goats and I can keep him in his own pen near the goats until I can trust him. That is a relief.

I think I might give one of these pups a try! I'll post pics after he arrives!