Stray Dog is a LGD

[Ivywoods]

Chris- I would stay with what you have got. MOST coyotes will not take on a large dog. Small dogs, however, are like "bait" to a coyote. Our dogs do not weigh much more than yours. Buddy, our male, should weigh a lot more than he does, but as I mentioned, he was a rescue and was never fed when he was young, so he is not as large as he would otherwise be. Yours look like they have quite a bit of shepherd in them, and frankly I've never heard of a coyote around here taking on a shepherd.

Some of the coyote hunters around here use dogs to chase coyotes (not what I consider the best way to hunt them, but that's a whole 'nuther story.)

Some of the dogs they use to chase the coyotes are not much more than 35-45 lbs. The coyotes always run.

It would be very difficult to restrain a LGD to 6 acres. I suppose it could be done, but if you have neighbors who have already shot at your dogs, I would definitely not get one.

My sister had a great pyrneese for a LGD. She loved that dog, and he did his job well. Her husband died of cancer, and after a while she remarried and moved to a new area. Her dog was shot by one of her new neighbors when it went onto his land. It was after coyotes, and I don't know the guy's rationale for shooting him, but as you can imagine my sister was heartbroken.

My sister subsequently replaced her dog with two more GP's. These two tend to stay in the pasture with her goats and chickens. I've seen them clear the fence in a heartbeat when they go after something, though. One day she had two stray rotties get into the pasture with her goats. They were going to have a goat killing fiasco. Her two great pyrenees killed those two big rotweilers.

I don't think I would worry too much about the abilities of your dogs to get the job done.

Best wishes.

 

[Leah and peeps]

What cuties! Great story!

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Just found this thread. What a heartwarming story. I love happy endings. That puppy definitely has German Shepherd in her and from what you just posted, will be the best LIVESTOCK GUARD DOG you've ever owned. Yes, I've seen dogs do this....my GSD Scarlett does it every day. All of our hundreds of birds free range all day and return to coops at night. She is with them all day. If she hears a hen squawking she runs to it. If there's a bunch of roosters jumping her, she will gently pull them off and if necessary, she will pick up the hen and take her to the coop or sit with her between her legs. She follows chicks all around. If she hears roosters fighting, she will break them up. At night she returns to the coop with them and makes sure there's not fighting and everyone gets on their roosts. I did not teach her this - she just instinctivly knows what to do.

My older GSD, Rex is also a great LGD - here he is minutes after I brought home my first baby chicks (ever):

And a few minutes after that:

Weeks later, he's still by their side night and day:

And four years later - he's still on duty - though now we have hundreds of birds including chickens, ducks, geese, guinea and peafowl and no one stays in cages. I never trained him in any of this. He's a great sky watcher - always looking for hawks and runs and barks at them:

I'd say these dogs are Livestock Guard Dogs not because of their breed but because that's what they do every day and every night - they guard livestock - which also includes our free roaming goats.

A German Shepherd was not just bred to herd - it was bred to "Shepherd". The puppy you have that shows the instincts it's already showing will be a great LGD. I truly believe God repays those who care for his creatures. Most of our cats and dogs are strays that others have abandoned. All six of our dogs and three cats interact with one another and all the livestock without incident.

I guess I should say 7 dogs because someone dumped a little dog last week and I'm having to work with him to introduce him to all the animals. Based on my past experience, he'll catch on despite the fact that the first thing he did was to catch and nearly kill our porch chicken Buffy. Luckily she survived, we caught him, and he's on his way to learning NOT to fool with the chickens.

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Another wonderful, makes-me-smile story! Can't beat a GSD!

 

[Ivywoods]

Great Pictures!

 

[cgmccary]

There's some people that live about quarter of mile in the woods and they have two Pit Bulls. They were loose Saturday and had crossed the woods. We heard a big dog
fight. I went out to see Maggie and Sue fighting one of the Pit Bulls at the front of our property just where the dog had crossed the "invisible fence." The other one was across the road outside my invisible fence. Maggie & Sue had the best of the Pit Bull (had him down), and he ran off back in the woods.

Maggie had a cut on her back which she wouldn't let me attend to and she had blood on her coat, her legs from the Pit Bull. No telling what those would have done if I did not have Maggie & Sue.

 

[sourland]

Well done!

 

[babalubird]

Wow! What wonderful stories! So glad all of you lucked out on good chicken dogs. Amazing. Connie

 

[chkn]

You are so blessed!!!

 

[drdoolittle]

Your dogs (Maggie and Sue) are so awesome! My GSD and boxer are great when it comes to keeping raccoons and oppossum away from my pen, but if they got in the pen with my birds, I don't think there would be any birds left! I would love to have a dog that I could trust to actually go in the pen with the birds.