We have a boerboel (south African version of a mastiff) that behaves a lot like you describe here. The breed is not touted as a livestock guardian breed, but rather as the "most protective, non aggressive" guardian of the homestead breed. We live terribly far out in the country and needed a homestead protector, which is why we chose this breed. During his first year and a half of life, he caused the unfortunate demise of several chickens and ducks. But we finally figured out the trick to using him, which is just as you describe. We pen him up in our shop during the day (while our trusty old boxer stays outside to guard the place and the animals), and let him out at night. When he's out during the day, he will chase chickens until my throat hurts from yelling at him. (He also chases the goats since he has a weird "crush" on our mama goat - though that is a subject for another day...) But at night, he will sleep literally surrounded by the chickens, geese, and goats. He won't bother them then. And even though he harasses the snot out of them during the day (if we're home), the other animals just seem to know that he will protect them at night. The only predator losses I've ever had with my birds have been on random nights that we didn't put him outside. At 2.5 yrs old he weighs abt 180lbs. But he's not really a roamer (though he will follow us all over if we let him) and he doesn't have all the long hair of the other LGD breeds (bonus!)... He is a hard-headed, slobbery thing, but we love him.
I gave recipes for the cookbook a few years back, but they didn't give credit because I didn't use my full name.
