WHY A WORKING DOG FOR THE PROTECTION OF MY LIVESTOCK?

Well, that’s a question every rancher and farmer ask, besides what are they? LGD (Livestock Guardian Dog) are INSTINCTUAL dogs that originated from the sheep herds in New Zealand. The most common is a Great Pyrenees. But Akbash and Anatolian Shepherd are also becoming more common as the wolves make their way South. A wild wolf will easily kill a GP but have a run for it’s money with the Akbash or the Anatolian Shepherd that are both known to be more aggressive. I personally own both a GP and an Akbash. 

To train one: buy from WORKING stock. And I don’t mean some mom and pop running a 5 chicken farm. No! Go to a working goat or cow dairy of over a 100 goats (to give you an idea) that has more than one dog running around. They need to have at least 5 adult dogs and the owners of the dairy need to be proficient in their lifestyle. THOSE are the dogs to get and even pay a little more for. If the parent of the puppy is “aggressive” and not people friendly….PERFECT. Just so the pup is able to be handled by you. Just lay eyes on the parent for health/genes not because you want to snuggle and make friends. 

Remember, these are WORKING dogs. That means they are NOT domesticated pets. Never free feed. And keep your affection to a limited 1-2 mins of the day during feeding times. Don’t over feed! An overfed dog SLEEPS and won’t feel like going on patrol. Think of this working dog like a warrior. They must be in conditioned health to always ward off the evil that is lurking in the shadows to kill your livestock. People want to make them pets, then guess what, the dog hangs with you and your family and not the livestock. This then is a human failure. The next worst mistake is the human then getting a 2nd dog to “be the working dog” and forgetting that dogs learn from each other…so guess where the 2nd dog ends up? Hanging with the first one—WITH YOU. Meanwhile, a hawk is taking out your chickens…..

It is best to buy or adopt an older trained dog that can then train a younger one. I cycle the young one through then so it is then the older one and then teaching the younger. Food: each dog eats about 4-5 cups a day of good grain free kibble I get from the Co-op. The older dog will show the young one the ropes, but the fun part is the young one is expected to take day shift here while the old one sleeps. They then both are working patrol all night. YOU MUST HAVE HOTWIRE TO KEEP YOUR DOG IN if you do not have goat wire around your property!!! The dogs WILL wander off to the neighbors, gather up their stock and “guard” them too! Some have been known to wander into traffic and get killed—that’s an expensive bill you will have to pay! Hotwire is cheaper. For shelter, they sleep where the livestock sleep. Another tool you will need if you have only a single dog and not an older to teach the younger situation is a Yard Trainer. This is a dumbed down e-collar and much less expensive. Expect to pay about $140 for a good one. I recommend a Petsafe Rechargeable Yard Trainer. Here is the link on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Yard-Remote-Trainer-PDT00-12470/dp/B004488VQ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440721048&sr=8-1&keywords=yard+trainer+for+dogs&pebp=1440721053766&perid=11WRMTDCD3CZ95XAGBK0

On Arrival Home with New Puppy: awwww! “So cute” is death trap to a pet —step #1 and not working dog!!! Straight out to the barn. The pup should be allowed to see the herd and smell them, but not be with them till about 3-4 mo old. Finish all required puppy shots and get some weight on that pup to withstand the head butting the goats are going to do. The pup can do supervised visits with your presence to the herd. Chew bones and toys are good practice for the dog to learn to use its own stuff to tear up and not yours. Make sure the pup’s area is free of chemicals, loose ropes, or anything it can get it’s head stuck in. Expect the pup to cry the first few nights away from its pack. That is normal (same as your goat and calf did when it left it’s herd. You didn’t bring that inside into your bed did ya? Neither should the pup. Leave a working dog in the barn.) Let the pup get used to the smell of the herd from a distance. Dog’s don’t see their world thru their eyes, but rather through their NOSE. All the new smells need to become familiar. Another thing, make sure the space you have the pup in is one that the dog can always go to if you need to put it somewhere (like when you need to cull your herd and don’t want the dog to watch and be stressed out from the goat yelling). You will be glad in the future that you listened to that advice!

At the 3-4 mo mark, start letting the pup run with the herd. Here is where I am going to restate the need for HOTWIRE. You MUST teach the dog where its boundary lines are! They are bad to wander!!! The dog will want to play with the goats and the chickens and whatever other livestock you have. Correct it! A yell “HEY!” might be enough but 99% of the time it is not. I like to use the yard trainer for this. Set it on the lowest setting and work up. You want a change in the dogs behavior but not a yelling dog in pain. Even a startle reaction is to much. You want just enough of a zap the dog STOPS the undesired behavior. I like to use the chime first for 3 secs then zap. Chime-zap, fast as my thumb can change the position. Usually after a couple zaps, I don’t have to even use it any more. The chime is enough to stop the unwanted behavior. DO NOT LEAVE THE DOG WITH YOUR HERD UNATTENDED UNTIL 6 MO OF AGE! To make a proper correction, wait till the EXACT moment the dog puts it’s paw, mouth or body on the livestock, and CHIME-ZAP! The dog should instantly stop. If it does not, turn up the dial. You want the dog to THINK the bird or goat is zapping him. If you are to late or to early in this timing you will confuse the animal. 

For bird training. Use the same correction described in the previous paragraph. But I also recommend you get a mean bird that will stand up to the dog. When my chickens have been to nice, the dog wants to play with them, hurts them, or kills them. This then becomes an unwanted habit and leads to a bird killer. This is the #1 reason an LGD is rehomed. If you get a bird that will stand up to the dog and teach it bird boundaries and even combine it with the training collar, I have had a 100% success rate in bird training LGDs this way.

Remember: it takes 2 weeks to soft wire the brain and 6 weeks to hard wire it. Most owners want to quit after day 3. You wanted to save money and “train your own dog” right? Then get out there and train the dog! Guard your stock with the best working dog you have ever had or pay a professional.

--BOOTS N LACE