Best Homestead Dog?

[terri46355]

What breed of dog do you think would be the best homestead dog that is loose all the time outdoors?

We have a Labrador Retriever who keeps the wild critters away and stays close to the yard. He barks when people drive up and doesn't bother cats, chickens, or other pets. We would like to get him a partner and were wondering if there might be another breed/mix that is good at this type of job.

[Otter]

A well trained one.
Of a breed you find physically attractive and compatible with your personality.

This will vary HUGELY from person to person. Some people like Labs. Some people think they are blockheaded fools
Some people like GSDs. Some people think they are whiny, needy and way too intense.
Some folks like Border Collies. Most folks compare them to OCD toddlers on speed.

And on, and on.
Every time one of these threads comes up, everyone jumps in with the breed or mix of their favorite dog ever. Think of YOUR favorite dog ever, the one you found the most trainable and easy to live with - and then look for another dog like that.

[sammyd]

As stated it really varies. Over the years I've had a wonderful German Shepherd, a Collie mix that was unbeatable, a Sheltie/Collie that did a good job. We currently have 2 Dachshunds that are fairly good watchdogs and will tear into any foreign critters that happen to wander into the area, but their area isn't as big as the Sheltie was taking care of, she wandered around the whole place, the Doxies are fairly lazy.

[MO_cows]

Otter nailed it.

[ronbre]

the best animal I ever had was part wolf..but they are hard to come by and illegal in some areas..they are very easy to train and extremely protective of their families..

[haypoint]

Most folks do not really need a livestock guard dog. Most folks don't have enough livestock to need a Border Collie.
Often one dog will stay in the yard and guard the homestead and two dogs will run off together.
Generally there isn't any great reason for a dog on a homestead, but it makes it a lot more fun.

[fantasymaker]

OTTER nailed it end of discussion......LOL Nope I think hes is right but I bet we can talk for months on the subject.
I once passed on the chance to own a well trained sheepdog.. a few months later I got in the sheep business.

I have often wondered how a well trained LGD might work out.
I any case Id rather have a mutt and spend a $1000 on having it trained than Have papers and a badly behaved dog.

[LisaInN.Idaho]

My Great Pyrenees has been a fantastic dog even after we stopped keeping sheep. He never need any training beyond basic obedience and he is a presence on the place that keeps people and predators away or at least on guard. And he is the sweetest and kindest dog I've ever had. Don't know what we'll do when he passes on.

But...we have no neighbors to be bothered by his occasional nighttime barking and roaming.

[meanwhile]

We have two Lab Chow mixes we got from the Dog Shelter place. They were babies when we got them. They are awesome! I think it might depend more on training and how they are raised as much as it would the breed. Even if someone gets a breed usually good at Guard dog or other duties, if the dog is not trained properly, it would not work out.

[whiterock]

One of my dad's hands had an English Shepherd once. That dog became obsessed with gaurding the tractor the hand spent most of his time on. Would stay in the field with it.

[Ravenlost]

Best dog in any situation is a mutt you've rescued from the shelter.

[haypoint]

Originally Posted by Ravenlost

Best dog in any situation is a mutt you've rescued from the shelter.

Thank you.
I've done some animal shelter work aand have seen some nice dogs euthinized. It is a crime, in my mind, to bypass a shelter and encourage a puppy mill by only looking at puppies. Puppy mills masquerade as Craigslst ads, Rescues and Fosters.

[unregistered168043]

I had an Australian cattle dog mix who was the best darn farm dog on the planet. I rescued him from the shelter at 10 weeks old. He was great because he was smart and eager to please. He wanted to know the rules, and then went out and enforced them on everything. He protected the chickens, hearded them away from the house ( where they weren't supposed to be ). Protected and guarded the homestead but was always pleasant to human company. He was always at my side and neighbors all knew us as an inseparable team.

Basically I could trust him to look after any animals that I told him too, he would never harm them. Was trainable for pretty much any job on the farm very quickly. Sadly, he was taken from me at only 6 years old. The only downside to having an above average dog is the pain of losing them.

[terri46355]

The very best dog I had was 1/2 Chesapeake 1/2 Lab mix. He was well behaved, smart, and loyal. His half-brother was 1/2 Chesapeake 1/2 Australian Shepherd. They took turns on the night shift and kept the coyotes at bay.

[arnie]

THEA BEST homesteders dog is without question is the Mt. Cur or Southern blackmoth cur . Being bred by small farmers and homesteders since thr origanal settlers in the US .to do thete job .untuched by the AKC ,show ,pet or puppy farm breeders they still have all the proper instinc and super intelgents .they are fearless and faithful .befor getting my first cur it was impossable to grow corn have chickens ,rabbits .with cyoutes bears cougars stray dogs .even honey bees calfs and pigs were at risk .on my backwokds farm .now my curs roam free on the farm no varmits are allowed I can wander freely about without fear of any bigfoot monster I have free range chickens sweet corn .and here's a biggie I don't worry about meter readers mushroom hunters visting children being bitten . Keep your wolves dobermans and bulldogs in the junkyards .border collies are for herding sheep ,lab and birddogs for bird hunters .leave the perinese out on the pasture with the goats .
Your all around multi pourps homestead dog to stay out on the farm not wander round the neabour hood robbing trashcans is a cur why even question . B when I read of people tryig to figger out how to break a moungrel of killing chickens of I'm selling eggs . No racoons in the garden or bears in the bees when trying to load a 500 pound sow my helper let his roap slip and as an angry biter came at me ginger and her son grabed her imeadeatly till I was up an told em I was ok priceless :-) :-). I'm getting off the soap box now

[BobbyB]

Originally Posted by arnie

THEA BEST homesteders dog is without question is the Mt. Cur or Southern blackmoth cur . Being bred by small farmers and homesteders since thr origanal settlers in the US .to do thete job .untuched by the AKC ,show ,pet or puppy farm breeders they still have all the proper instinc and super intelgents .they are fearless and faithful .befor getting my first cur it was impossable to grow corn have chickens ,rabbits .with cyoutes bears cougars stray dogs .even honey bees calfs and pigs were at risk .on my backwokds farm .now my curs roam free on the farm no varmits are allowed I can wander freely about without fear of any bigfoot monster I have free range chickens sweet corn .and here's a biggie I don't worry about meter readers mushroom hunters visting children being bitten . Keep your wolves dobermans and bulldogs in the junkyards .border collies are for herding sheep ,lab and birddogs for bird hunters .leave the perinese out on the pasture with the goats .
Your all around multi pourps homestead dog to stay out on the farm not wander round the neabour hood robbing trashcans is a cur why even question . B when I read of people tryig to figger out how to break a moungrel of killing chickens of I'm selling eggs . No racoons in the garden or bears in the bees when trying to load a 500 pound sow my helper let his roap slip and as an angry biter came at me ginger and her son grabed her imeadeatly till I was up an told em I was ok priceless :-) :-). I'm getting off the soap box now

I agree. I had a good one that was killed by killer bees, but now I have a grandson of his now that is 5 months old.

The old dog used to patrol the place about very hour all night long. I hope this one does the same.

[Conhntr]

What are the differences beetween mountain and blackmouth? Seeing as how they are hound related do they tend to wander? I prefer a dog that is trainable on bundries and wont try to wander. My golden is always sitting on the porch when i get home, and the two before him where the same way. There is no fence keeping in just a good trainable breed. Ive been looking for a more hardy breed. The problem with the goldens is they just dont do well left alone while im at work long hours and prefer to lounge around than keeping an eye on things!

[Pops2]

Originally Posted by Ravenlost

Best dog in any situation is a mutt you've rescued from the shelter.

BS, the best dog for any situation is the dog best suited to the given situation. Some situations are so generic that any dog can handle them and some are so specific that only a dog bred for it will be effective. The whole reason we have different types of dogs in the first place is because not every dog can do every job.
For example any dog is suitable for laying next to you while watch the latest horror movie on Netflix. OTH if I need to run down and kill coyotes on my section without crossing onto the neighboring properties, well I have as good a chance of doing that myself as the average labX from the pound. Nope, for that job I need a specific TYPE of dog designed to do the job. One with long well muscled legs, a deep chest that houses big lungs & a slightly oversized heart, a wedge shaped head with long killing jaws and a highly flexible spine that permits a double suspension gallop at speeds in excess of 40 MPH. In short, I need a sight hound and no generic mutt can fill that role. Even most lurchers will fail. Only a pure long dog will be able to do the job consistently.
The same is true of a lot of jobs. For example if you need a dog that can go down a hole and kill a chicken stealing fox, only a terrier can do that job. A 30# schnoodle can't even fit in the hole. Or rounding up 600 head on 10,000 acres of sagebrush, since the dog will be out of sight and control of the cowboy quite often it requires an instinctive ability no amount training can replace. Or running down a stock killing mt lion in an AZ June. Or picking up over 100 ducks or geese in sub freezing temps.
Trying to get any generic mutt to do any of those jobs is like trying to use pliers to turn a bolt, you might get some work done but the end result is usually a mess.

[BobbyB]

Originally Posted by Conhntr

What are the differences beetween mountain and blackmouth? Seeing as how they are hound related do they tend to wander? I prefer a dog that is trainable on bundries and wont try to wander. My golden is always sitting on the porch when i get home, and the two before him where the same way. There is no fence keeping in just a good trainable breed. Ive been looking for a more hardy breed. The problem with the goldens is they just dont do well left alone while im at work long hours and prefer to lounge around than keeping an eye on things!

My experience with Mt curs and BMCs has been more along hunting scenarios. Mt Curs tend to mouth more on trail. The ones I had had a bitmore ear. But it could have been the lines I had.

My old BMC, Blade, stayed home. The gate was always open unless we were gone over night. His grandson, Edge is outside loose right now. He doesnt bother the goats, chickens, cats or anything else, but I had him out around all that when he was a little puppy. And as yet, I havent seen him near the road.

[Pops2]

Originally Posted by Conhntr

What are the differences beetween mountain and blackmouth? Seeing as how they are hound related do they tend to wander? I prefer a dog that is trainable on bundries and wont try to wander. My golden is always sitting on the porch when i get home, and the two before him where the same way. There is no fence keeping in just a good trainable breed. Ive been looking for a more hardy breed. The problem with the goldens is they just dont do well left alone while im at work long hours and prefer to lounge around than keeping an eye on things!

They aren't hounds, they're curs. Although less true of mt curs now a days, they should be able to both hunt and work livestock as well as anything else they are physically capable of that you want them to do. Curs need a job, without one they can become a problem. They are highly trainable with a strong drive to please you. However because they are such one man/family dogs by nature, it can take months to years for one gotten as an adult to settle in and give you 100%. They also tend to be a little rough and so are generally used on rough stock like cattle, hogs and horses. You usually have to gentle them to use on sheep or other soft stock.
Best chance of good all arounders is with black mouth curs, lacy curs or catahoula curs. After that you might get a dual purpose dog from leopard curs and mt curs (including all the derivatives like kemmer, Stephens, Tennessee brindle and Canadian). Your least likely candidates will be plotts and treeing curs because they have so much hound in them.