Livestock Guardian Dogs?

[sillysally]

We live in northwest Indiana and will likely stay in that area. We have fairly hot, humid summers and typically our winters get pretty cold (not this winter though so far). The predators I would have to be worrying about for goats would be coyotes and stray dogs and raccoons, etc, for poultry. Also, if the horses were dog friendly do LGDs do well with horses? The cattle info is good to know too...

[Fran101]

There is a website with articles and such right here: http://www.lgd.org/library.htm

They are very interesting! I am especially curious on how they are raised

Here is a great one on puppy socializing: http://www.lgd.org/library/socializepups.htm

[AdrianneIsabel]

This gal is a friend of mine, you can tell her Adrianne sent you, and if you're interested in Anatolians she's a great source. She's had them for quite some time, she even bought them goats. lol I know they do very well in warm *and* cold climates.

http://www.mysticasds.com/

[*blackrose]

Originally Posted by sillysally

We live in northwest Indiana and will likely stay in that area. We have fairly hot, humid summers and typically our winters get pretty cold (not this winter though so far). The predators I would have to be worrying about for goats would be coyotes and stray dogs and raccoons, etc, for poultry. Also, if the horses were dog friendly do LGDs do well with horses? The cattle info is good to know too...

From my understanding, LGDs are great with family animals - dogs, cats, horses, pigs, goats, chickens, rabbits, kids, you name it. If they are raised with it and they know it is "theirs", then they will accept it as such and keep it safe, which is one of the reasons I'm drawn to them, I think, as I grew up with dogs that kept our property free of "intruders", but were great with our animals and humans. And when I was looking at various types of guardian type dogs (just my personal preference in attitude), they were the group that would consistently be okay with family pets/not have prey aggression towards family animals.

[Barb04]

I think Anatolian Shepherd would be what you're looking for. Here's a link to the ASDCA: http://www.asdca.org/

[CharlieDog]

I wanted to third Anatolian. All of the ones I've met have been very aloof dogs, but very stable. Not very biddable though.

[Dekka]

Around here we seem to have loads of people using Maremmas as LGB. They are used to protect sheep mostly.

Good friends of our spent a lot of time with their dog and he is very social and friendly. Most of the farmers don't though. Their dogs you can't really get near, they kind of corner them for the occasional rabies shot sort of thing. Angus, my friend's maremma is from one of the farms where they don't handle them and he is delightful.

Yes they are all raised out with the live stock.

Angus is fine with strange dogs (he has great respect for JRTs lol) and they are all fine with horses etc. They do quite well with our winters and tolerate our summers well.

They are also not at all human aggressive. Even the unhanded ones just want to avoid you and are shy. They do a great job with the coyotes though.

[SpicyBulldog]

Originally Posted by Kat09Tails

The maremmas I've been around weren't exactly biddable and they were certainly predator aggressive - but not dog aggressive. Their particular strategy was more of a body block and threat.

Keep in mind that LSG dogs are designed to work independently of humans to face predators on large tracts of property. Each LSG breed from my understanding is designed towards a certain level of independence and to deal with predators and stock thieves with variable points of aggression. So if you're considering one for a pet please be very aware of what you're buying into along with the unique traits of each of the LSG breeds- a couple walks a day and a small backyard isn't going to cut it with some of these dogs. Poor Sasha (maremma) looked like a caged lion in a 1 acre fenced area, she didn't really mellow out until she got her 20 acre lot to roam.

http://www.denstarfarm.us/Denstar%20...Selection.html

This guy has some pretty fun reading about living with LSG dogs.

I agree. Great fun.

Out of the COs Ive met Zakat is one of my favs. Atia is my COs daughter (she bred before I got her).

[sillysally]

Originally Posted by Dekka

Around here we seem to have loads of people using Maremmas as LGB. They are used to protect sheep mostly.

Good friends of our spent a lot of time with their dog and he is very social and friendly. Most of the farmers don't though. Their dogs you can't really get near, they kind of corner them for the occasional rabies shot sort of thing. Angus, my friend's maremma is from one of the farms where they don't handle them and he is delightful.

Yes they are all raised out with the live stock.

Angus is fine with strange dogs (he has great respect for JRTs lol) and they are all fine with horses etc. They do quite well with our winters and tolerate our summers well.

They are also not at all human aggressive. Even the unhanded ones just want to avoid you and are shy. They do a great job with the coyotes though.

Yeah, I really don't want a dog that we cannot get near. Does socialization negatively effect their guarding abilities?

[Dekka]

Not that I have seen. I wondered how well Angus was going to do guarding the sheep after watching him try to roll over and be lower than a JRT lol. He is SOOO meek with other dogs.

My doubts were groundless. He was fantastic and guarding the sheep. The was is due to the fact that after they got him a few years later they got out of sheep. They still have him he guards the chickens etc.