Farm dogs keep deer out of Veggie Garden??

[kimmom]

Hi!
We are going to be putting in about an acre of veggie garden for this spring. We were planning on doing a deer fence but I heard from a friend that outside farm dogs will keep deer away. This would be great!! Anyone have any experience or advice on it? It would save us huge $$! We are thinking of fencing a dog run for him in the area near the chicken coop, goats and cow and veggie garden. Then he can watch the whole area. He is a border collie pup, will be a year in May. Do others have dogs that keep deer out?

[Hedgehog Mtn]

My German Shepard is outside full time. I also have a second Shepard/lab mix that is sometimes outside but tied.

We have chickens which the dog chases but does not hurt (more of a game for him) piglets, sheep, goats (minis whose kids weigh about 2 lbs at birth) cows/calves, corn, gardens etc.

We have NO animals that come closer than hearing distance....for example I can hear coyotes but never have them close enough to see, I see moose and deer (and sometimes bear) tracks but only spot them when out in the woods, never on the property. We used to have raccoons into the corn along with a rare bear but not one since he moved outside.

I feel 100% confident that it is because of the dog(s) because up until he moved outside 2 years ago I had animal loses, deer tracks in the garden etc. He chases anything that comes too close to the house. FWIW he was an indoor/outdoor dog for years and chose to move outside because he didn't like leaving the animals and has no official guard dog training.

[kimmom]

Thats great! I am wondering if we fence our dog in if it won't work as well. Since he is a puppy he will take off in not fenced in. He has a girlfriend on the next farm over, a border collie female puppy! We may build a fence between the two properties that they could share and play. But then again that may take away from him focusing on the animal guarding. He will be an outside farm dog, he is happy outside an we live in a mild climate! I would like to have him not in a fenced in area but I think he would run off right away. I should do some reading on guard dog "training"

[Hedgehog Mtn]

In my experience having them contained really does make a difference. We've had dogs here for 10 years either loose when we were outside with them or tied when we are not....if they are loose together they run off :-(
I've seen fox within 5 feet of the dog when he was tied. The animals KNOW exactly how close they can come before the dogs can reach them.


It wasn't until 1 was loose all the time that things changed.

We are very lucky that we live 2 miles from anything and the loose dog doesn't run when alone so it has worked but tying them or containing them doesn't have the same result around here

[Farmer'sWife]

It's kind of one of those wait and see how it goes deals. My parents had a dog for years that did a great job of keeping critters away. They now have a new dog of the same breed that could care less if a deer or rabbit walked right past him (my dad has a vineyard that he tries to keep the deer out of).

[AliciaP8]

Our dogs are out all day and keep animals out of the garden. No one seems to be able to keep the dogs out of the garden though! One loves to pull and eat carrots and the other prefers lettuce and tomatoes.

[wombatclay]

Just an extra aside... we live very rurally and many farms have loose dogs. Ours was a "free range" pup as well. However, the laws for this country actually require all dogs to be restricted to their property even though no one had ever heard of this being enforced... well, animal control came through a few days ago and ticketed everyone. So do check the laws.

We saw less wild life close to the house when our dog was free range... and I know it was him because we kept him leashed/close to the house during hunting season and the animals always came in closer during those weeks.

[Chicky2]

Originally Posted by kimmom

Thats great! I am wondering if we fence our dog in if it won't work as well. Since he is a puppy he will take off in not fenced in. He has a girlfriend on the next farm over, a border collie female puppy! We may build a fence between the two properties that they could share and play. But then again that may take away from him focusing on the animal guarding. He will be an outside farm dog, he is happy outside an we live in a mild climate! I would like to have him not in a fenced in area but I think he would run off right away. I should do some reading on guard dog "training"

Radio fencing. We have it on almost 5 acres and the dogs can run free w/out getting off the property. Much cheaper than physical fencing. Works extremely well for our 2 Labs. You MUST take the time to properly train the dogs. It took me 2 wks, 15 min. a day w/each dog 3x daily. We LOVE it!!! It was under $400 for us to get all set up, btw.

Ooh, and it's on sale!!!! This is the best brand, w/the thickest wire, that we've found. We've used it for almost 6 years now, w/no problems. Do buy the lighting protection module thingy, though!!!

http://www.radiofence.com/dog-fences...dog-fences.htm

[lakeruby]

The farm I work at has a dog that sleeps outside (loose) and they have no deer problems in the several acres that they farm near the house. They have had deer eat from the rows that are back in the woods (greens and other crops that can handle lower light, especially here in FL in the summer), where the dog doesn't go as much. I would say that your dog would need to be loose in order to keep the deer away. I don't have any experience with any type of invisible fence...just loyal (or lazy) dogs that like to stay close to the house!