Working Farm Dogs

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There are probably nearly as many dog lovers on this site as chicken lovers! This thread is for the hardworking pooches, the classic farm/ranch dog with its own duties. What breed is your working dog? What are it's duties? Rounding up the poultry? Guarding them? Alerting to threats? Brag away! Pics would be lovely too.

 

[arabianequine]

Ok her job is too eat all the chicken/duck poop she can find and to chase the duck and 2 roosters that are loose.

My saint bernard Symphony is not a working dog really.....she protects us though. She is an inside dog. I have 4 weiner dogs too and when Symphony barks we know it very different sound and not very often so startling usually.

No other posters at the time I started to respond just got back to finishing my post.


There is a lot of pics on there....of her growing. She is 11 months now. 2nd and 3rd pic are the most recent.

The link would help huh..... http://s150.photobucket.com/albums/s85/ronnysplymouth/

 

[michickenwrangler]

Our dog is 3/4 lab, 1/4 husky and she hangs out with the chickens while they're free-ranging, clearing the yard of chicken poop and all-around guard/watchdog. She woke me up this morning, growling because one of the neighbor's cats wandered into the yard. When I let her out, she ran h-bent for leather after the cat, barking and snarling but stopped when she reached the trees that indicate the property line. She came back all excited and proud of herself. Blaze, the dog, also keeps general vermin down.

As you can see, she is very trustworthy with poultry ... too trustworthy. Dang turkeys.

 

[cat1994]

My Evie is a great farm dog! She has never harmed any of my animals and protects them all. She killes any vermin that comes to the house that is looking fot a chicken meal!!
She is a Rottweiler/Black and tan coonhound mix and I love her so much

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

My pack of pugs catch rats, tree coons an alarm at everything from a car in the driveway to an hen laying an egg.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

This is Dalton. He's an Australian Cattle Dog and just an all around farm dog. He's usually "protector" of the animals, but we've used him to herd goats, geese, and chickens before. He also enjoys going for rides in the car, especially to the feed store and Tractor Supply.

Watching over the horses

 

[TeamChaos]

Cute pups! Dalton's brown eyes are gorgeous!
I'm new to farming, so i probably don't have the most hard core of working dogs, but I can tell you that my day is a lot easier with their help. They'll always load up to help, regardless of the weather or day of the week, which is better than I can say for most help.

The top of the chain is Starla- she's 11 years old now but can still clear fences, sneak stealthily and run the show completely. She is, without a doubt, the smartest dog i've ever met. Her parents were working farm dogs in Oregon and she's taught ME about working together. She doesn't like face time with the chickens, but she checks their fences and watches over them from a vantage point when they free range. I can send her up to find the horse in the woods and she'll come back down with the horse in tow (smart horse too). When the neighbor cows cross the fence line, Starla usually finds them before the farmer knows they're missing.

Jack the dog is a three year old rescue dog- He's over a 100 pounds and has really shaped up to be a reliable helper. He's too scaredy to do the solo work that Starla will, but he makes a good side kick. He patrols the barn to make sure no one's getting cozy in there who shouldn't be there (His yowl when he actually finds something is hilarious, like he's yelling for me to come and deal with it) and he loves the chickens. The hens will follow him to the compost pile and he'll lay there while they dig, sometimes he digs too which makes for a wormfest for all! He's still scared of the horses and cows, but they do outweigh him by a few pounds.

We also just adopted a little 18 lbs border collie cross- she's still finding her place in the pack but so far she's proven to be a great mouse and mole killer! She'll go right under the coop and dig out the culprit, i admire that.

 

[SAM1646]

I have two Australian shepards. Great guard dogs and farm dogs. Just watch for strangers since they protect the children and the house to the enth degree. I love them just as much!!!

 

[PioneerPrincess]

Everyone's dogs are beautiful!

We have an Australian Shepherd named Max, who is great with chickens, cats, rabbits, and goats. He is very gentle with chicks and always keeps a sharp eye on them. He also helps us herd the chickens and goats into their pens. He is also very protective of his house and people.

SAM1646:

Your Aussie puppy looks almost exactly like our dog Max did when he was a puppy. We did a double take when we saw him!

Max guarding his chicks:

 

[SAM1646]

I'snt the Aussie Breed so additive