[prinellie]

I would like to get a dog to guard the chickens which are in a pasture with the 2 jersey cows but the cows, I don't think, will tolerate the dog.... is there any possible way to make this work?? Thanks...

 

[Maura]

Electric fencing. Our pasture had 3 and four strand electric wire, which kept in our sheep and donkeys. Chickens were not phased. Most dogs would not cross the wire (or the donkeys). Small dogs will jump between wires and are good at avoiding kicks. Portable electric netting offers a second barrier, essentially two fences. Even jumpers are reluctant to jump two fences. The portable electric (3’ tall) has holes large enough for a small chicken to get through, but the taller (4&#8217 poultry netting has smaller holes, which I think also serve to be visually confusing. Raccoons, fox, opossums, all kept out of our electric fenced area. I could even move el netting to our lawn and contain sheep and donkeys and keep dogs out.

 

[oldasrocks]

This one chase me around the house.

 

[oldasrocks]

This one guards the dinner plates

 

[SpringCrkFarmTN]

 

[SpringCrkFarmTN]

These are two of the four llamas we use as our sheep guardians. They do an amazing job for us!

 

[alidbond]

 

[topothemountain]

Our search for actual LGDs began after losing a piglet to a bear, poultry to coyotes and various winged predators, and... the final straw... one of my Arabian horses to a cougar. So I read and researched, when finally I did the most sensible thing and just looked around at all the other farms around us at what kind of guardians they had. Bar none, the most used LGDs around us are Great Pyrenees and I had liked what I read about them, so I found a farm that had both parents there, witnessed how they worked and picked up two female puppies (10 weeks old) from them. Later we added a male dog from another farm that helps protect our girls from "unwanted advances" by would-be suitors as well as backup for them.
Since adding them to the farm we've lost nothing... nothing.. period. Unless you count the guineas that packed up and left on their own.
We'd been told that you shouldn't interact with LGDs in order for them to bond with the animals and not just be pets. Well, I don't know about how others are, but ours bonded with the animals as well as us and guard us all. They are amazing animals and I can't say enough about our beloved Pyrenees. I'll never be without them on the farm again... even if I had no animals to protect, they are gorgeous dogs with wonderful personalities and I just adore them.

 

[Mike CHS]

I posted a picture of our Great Pyrenees quite awhile back but yesterday we brought home an Akbach puppy. We went to the Tennessee Katahdin fall meeting and sale but didn't find any sheep we wanted so the pup made the trip even more worthwhile.

His sire is almost 140 pounds and his dam is 110 pounds so he should be a big boy.

 

[greenTgoats]

Guard puppies

 

[50-45-1]

We have free range chickens, and as all chicken owners know, Everything eats chicken! Our Australian Shepherd named Momo has been the best guardian dog we have ever known. He has chased down all kinds of muraurding varmints and rescued so many of our chickens he is worth his weight in gold to us. He even ran barking below a red tailed hawk that had one of our banty hens in his tallons and we watched as the hawk dropped it. The hen survived. Mo is 13 now and still tries to do his work, but with physical ailments much slower so a couple years ago we purchesed a pup for him to train to take over the job.

 

[JohnP]

We got these a few months ago. Ad and person getting rid of them said both were full GP but obviously one's not. The Old English Sheep dog looking one was crammed in a cage so it was hard to tell what he was until we pushed him out into the back of the truck. He was smaller than the GP a few months ago but even then had bigger paws.

 

[50-45-1]

We got these a few months ago. Ad and person getting rid of them said both were full GP but obviously one's not. The Old English Sheep dog looking one was crammed in a cage so it was hard to tell what he was until we pushed him out into the back of the truck. He was smaller than the GP a few months ago but even then had bigger paws.
View attachment 73002

They still look like they could get the job done! Beautiful!
Mine are all mix breeds, none have one drop of guardian breed blood, and do an awesome job.
Our dog Momo had to be put to sleep last fall, but he trained 2 others.
5 yr old blue healer/border collie, MICK
2 year old australen shepherd/pit bull, ZIP
These boys learned by watching Mo at work and imitate him.
Also we have a 7 year old german shepherd/black lab, her favorite thing is chasing butterflies

 

[AB1]

I do love the Great Pyrenees! They are so regal looking. My next herd guard will be a GP, they are so cool.

We have one as well. Got him from a friend several months ago. He’s 3 and man what a dog. Really good for our farm. Although he’s a big big roamer.

 

[LT2108]

our 10 month old GD

 

[Irish Pixie]

She may weigh five lbs and wear a sweater, but she's a guard dog. She saved us from the UPS man the other day. He was kinda shady.

 

[Jonathan Thornton]

Great post!!!! Maximum of you put the details of your animal with pictures.

 

[Pyrpup2016]

There is a great group on Facebook - Farie kennel. She is a professional trainer, who specializes in LGDs. Read the files that she's posted on her site for very good training/mindset. She goes against a lot of the accepted training methods, but reminds us that we are the shepherd and need to have a close relationship with our dogs - no throwing them out with the stock with no guidance on what we expect from them. It's well worth exploring!!

 

[todd_xxxx]

 

[JRHill02]

We have Catahoula dogs in the woods. I've always had G.Sheps through my life but now this phase. I miss my G.Sheps but after 5 years, Catahoula dogs are a good choice for a forest dog with livestock. I won't go into all the reasons why except for this: I've never had a potato dog. Bubba, the big guy, robbed a potato from the pantry. He carries it all over the house. He doesn't chew it - he carries it carefully. Lord forbid his sisters get close. THIS IS HIS POTATO. This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.