farm animal guardians

[godusjourney]

What did you choose and why? Are there any other options that you know of besides llamas and dogs (that are safe around small children)? If you chose a dog, which breed and why? What predator animals live in your area and did that influence your guardian choice? If you decided against a guardian, what were your reasons? Is there anything important to know about guardian animals?

TIA!!!

[Oriole]

This is hypothetical question, in my case, since we are not on a farm. But my personal choice would have been either Akbash, or Australian Shepherd.

Akbash is known to be extremely gentle with the young (animal and human alike).

Both a large breeds, capable of protecting from large predators.

Both have short hair coats, which I prefer to long hair coats.

Both are known to have powerful herding instincts.

I like the look.

Those are my choices.

[bigislandmama]

We currently have 2 farm guardian dogs. The male is a Great Pyrenees and the female is 3/4 Great Pyrenees and 1/4 Australian Shepherd. They are both really great with our children and are wonderful at protecting our farm animals.
We live in an area with a lot of coyotes and hawks and since having the dogs we have not lost a goat or chicken. Even our neighbors behind us have thanked us for having them because they have not lost a calf in two years because of our dogs.
We picked the Pyrenees breed because we knew that they would be great protectors and good with children. They are very stubborn dogs though. The female is a little bit easier when it comes to trying to get them to listen. For example if they are on the porch when I am trying to bring groceries in I can tell the girl to get off the porch and she will listen the first time. The boy though it takes a few times and maybe a little nudge.

[hildare]

..we have some worthless dogs but i'm thinking about getting some guinea fowl to protect us from ticks and to scream at strangers.. does that count?

i do hear that geese are pretty hard core for protecting themselves, don't know about other animals..

but seriously, a relative breeds the great pyranees, and they are everything people say. plus they look like sweet huge polar bears with black noses.

we have a border collie who has FAILED to keep rabbits from eating garden lettuce.

we have as predators: neighboring dogs that people aren't responsible enough to fence, black buzzards (the horror) and birds of prey (which i don't really count as bad) snakes to threaten our rabbits, (ditto), our own dogs to threaten the rabbits, hopefully nothing to bother the cows, working on getting chickens...
we haven't really gotten a guardian animal yet. if one of the dogs in an aged state leaves this world, i'm going to lobby for a pyranees or a german shepherd.. i had a shepherd when i was a kid and they are wonderful.

[godusjourney]

Originally Posted by bigislandmama

We currently have 2 farm guardian dogs. The male is a Great Pyrenees and the female is 3/4 Great Pyrenees and 1/4 Australian Shepherd. They are both really great with our children and are wonderful at protecting our farm animals.
We live in an area with a lot of coyotes and hawks and since having the dogs we have not lost a goat or chicken. Even our neighbors behind us have thanked us for having them because they have not lost a calf in two years because of our dogs.
We picked the Pyrenees breed because we knew that they would be great protectors and good with children. They are very stubborn dogs though. The female is a little bit easier when it comes to trying to get them to listen. For example if they are on the porch when I am trying to bring groceries in I can tell the girl to get off the porch and she will listen the first time. The boy though it takes a few times and maybe a little nudge.

I've been considering them lately. We live in an area with a ton of coyotes and hawks as well. Were they hard to train? Do you ever have issues with them wandering off?

[bigislandmama]

Originally Posted by godusjourney

I've been considering them lately. We live in an area with a ton of coyotes and hawks as well. Were they hard to train? Do you ever have issues with them wandering off?

I would highly recommend that if you get a Pyrenees that you get it when it is a pup. Training is a lot easier if you are able to get one when it is young. When we got our dogs they were around 10 weeks and we made sure that we took them 2 times a day on walks around our property (we have 26 acres). We did this for about 2 months. It shows them and gets them familiar with the area you want them to be able to protect and sets a boundary for them.

I also recommend getting them from someone with a farm that has animals that the pups have grown up around. It makes it easier to get them familiar with the animals and you also will know that the parents are working dogs.

Another reason that I think it is important to get them as pups is because if they are older and have not been on a farm they will tend to wander more or go looking for their owner. And if it is a dog that has been cooped up in a house it just does not know what to do with itself and all the space.

They are wandering dogs, but I have heard that if they are "fixed" that helps a little. Both of ours are not. We have had two litters of puppies so far and it has been a great experience for my dc and we knew that we wanted to be able to sell pups.

I hope I was able to answer your questions. If you have more please just let me know.

[godusjourney]

Originally Posted by bigislandmama

I would highly recommend that if you get a Pyrenees that you get it when it is a pup. Training is a lot easier if you are able to get one when it is young. When we got our dogs they were around 10 weeks and we made sure that we took them 2 times a day on walks around our property (we have 26 acres). We did this for about 2 months. It shows them and gets them familiar with the area you want them to be able to protect and sets a boundary for them.

I also recommend getting them from someone with a farm that has animals that the pups have grown up around. It makes it easier to get them familiar with the animals and you also will know that the parents are working dogs.

Another reason that I think it is important to get them as pups is because if they are older and have not been on a farm they will tend to wander more or go looking for their owner. And if it is a dog that has been cooped up in a house it just does not know what to do with itself and all the space.

They are wandering dogs, but I have heard that if they are "fixed" that helps a little. Both of ours are not. We have had two litters of puppies so far and it has been a great experience for my dc and we knew that we wanted to be able to sell pups.

I hope I was able to answer your questions. If you have more please just let me know.

Cool - thanks!! So, do you think AKC dogs are important? I know to get them from a farm, from parents who are work dogs, but do they need to be registered to be a good quality dog do you think? Also, I realize they are puppies and puppies can be a pain, but is the guardian training of puppies super difficult? Are there any guides out there I should read?

Thanks so, so much!!

[mamadelbosque]

We have a maremma sheep dog to protect our goats. We got him as a puppy in december of 08 about a month or two after getting our goats (we raise 100% kikos). We have lots of coyotes around, and he seems to do his job great... Hes been a wonderful dog and while he mostly lives in with the goats, we do take him out and let him run around and play with our other "farm" dog, and take him on walks and such. It helps him to leave the goats around, tbh as he has LOTS of energy (as do all young dogs!).

We picked maremma's cause' both the farms our goats came from had them, and they were just such good looking, nice, friendly dogs that my dad fell in love with them... so I found a breeder down in W. Virginia and dad drove 8 odd hours to buy him...

[hildare]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

We have a maremma sheep dog to protect our goats. We got him as a puppy in december of 08 about a month or two after getting our goats (we raise 100% kikos). We have lots of coyotes around, and he seems to do his job great... Hes been a wonderful dog and while he mostly lives in with the goats, we do take him out and let him run around and play with our other "farm" dog, and take him on walks and such. It helps him to leave the goats around, tbh as he has LOTS of energy (as do all young dogs!).

We picked maremma's cause' both the farms our goats came from had them, and they were just such good looking, nice, friendly dogs that my dad fell in love with them... so I found a breeder down in W. Virginia and dad drove 8 odd hours to buy him...

I think i just fell in love with them too. Thanks for spreading info on that breed <3

[mamadelbosque]

NP, I was thinking I had some recent pics of him up but all I have are a couple old pictures of him as a puppy... I'll try to get some new pics of him & the goats He's such a great dog!!

[bigislandmama]

Originally Posted by godusjourney

Cool - thanks!! So, do you think AKC dogs are important? I know to get them from a farm, from parents who are work dogs, but do they need to be registered to be a good quality dog do you think? Also, I realize they are puppies and puppies can be a pain, but is the guardian training of puppies super difficult? Are there any guides out there I should read?

Thanks so, so much!!

In my opinion it is not important to get an AKC dog. Just make sure that you are getting a dog from working parents and that they grew up around other animals. Training a puppy that has grown up that way should not be hard. It is in their genetics to be working/guardian animals.

We have never had to do anything special with ours when it comes to introducing goats or chickens to them. They just know that it's their job to protect them.

Great Pyrenees: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual is a short and easy read. And you can find all kinds of info on the internet.

[Oubliette8]

Originally Posted by Oriole

This is hypothetical question, in my case, since we are not on a farm. But my personal choice would have been either Akbash, or Australian Shepherd.

Do you mean Anatolian Shepherd? Australian Shepherds are not known as livestock guardians, they are high energy, medium coated, medium sized and were originally bred for cattle herding, but are know quite popular for dog sports.

Anatolians are a livestock guardian breed, they are short coated and live with the stock. In some parts of Africa they are supplied to farmers to ward off big cats, to reduce big cat deaths due to farmers. They are fairly popular in the US as well, and Anatolian crosses are seen not infrequently.


One option that noone has mentioned yet is Donkeys.

AKC registration is not important, what is important is making sure that the parents were working and that they've been raised with livestock.