Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian Dogs and Fencing for a new Homestead With Animals [🎥]
What is the Most Important Livestock to Protect On A Farm?
Chickens, sheep, rabbits, goats, etc. On a family farm where there are predators like coyotes and wild dogs and hawks and hogs... you have to find a way to protect them. And many experts say that the #1 rule of raising a livestock guardian dog (LGD), is to NOT socialize them with humans.
But what if you have a family? What if you have small children? What if the #1 "livestock" you want protected-- are your kiddos!
Can a LGD Do His Job Protecting Both Livestock & Children?
The No NOTHING Suburban Wannabe Homesteader
I have NO idea what I am talking about. I am merely trying to learn as much as possible before we make the gigantic leap from the safe, boring, and electronic life of suburbia hell and move onto our 7 acres.
I have never farmed. I have never fished. I do not have my CHL (working on that next month!). I have never lived in a remote area. I have never owned a dog.
Maybe this makes me less of a man. But when I am out on our property in central Texas, I feel naked. I feel exposed. I long for a companion by my side.
What I Want From A Livestock Guardian Dog
I want my cake and eat it to.
I want to have dogs that will not only protect our animals, but they will protect my children. I guess I want old yeller! haha. I want a dog or dogs to tell me what is on my property that I can't hear or smell.
...And I want them to alert me if my children are ever in trouble. AND YES! I also want them to keep all of the predators away.
Both four and two legged predators!
Your Thoughts?
Again, I am merely trying to gain as much information from YOU the real life homesteading community. Because I know nothing! We will have dogs the day we move onto our property and I am trying to learn as much as I can before then.
What is your experience with LGDs? Can they be socialized? Can they be around kids? Do you think they can protect both your children and your livestock?
If you enjoyed it, please UPVOTE, RESTEEM, & FOLLOW our adventure!
We have a dog named Rascal and he is a good-sized dog. He chases off coyotes and other predators amazingly well and he loves to cuddle and go for rides on the atv. I really think it depends on the personality of the dog. Rascal wasn't professionally trained. He just loves protecting us and so he chases off anything that threatens us. I don't know if this will help or not. We don't have chickens yet....but soon. So, we shall see how that goes. He does keep the coyotes and other predators away from our cattle so I feel once he is shown that the chickens need protection I think it will be good.
Good luck and I look forward to seeing how it turns out!
Sincerely-Oily
Ok this is great! Do you mind me asking what breed your dog is? Thanks a ton!!!!
He is part Husky, part Pit Bull. He has some Australian Shepherd in there too. He is just a sweetheart.
My buddy (new farmer) got a husky to protect his chickens. They have no more chickens
Oh no! 😓
Australian Shepherds are great, I would be wary of Husky and Pit Bull if you have children. Huskies also do not do well with cats as a breed. In Alaska, we have lots of Huskies the we run as sled dogs. They do not make good family pets, as they have been known to turn on children.
The biggest danger we have with both dogs is that they might lick you to death or snuggle you to death. I guess it's because they are not full breed but both are just sweeties.
And that is what most will find true. Just be careful and aware that some traits can be triggered without warning and can be dangerous. Huskies have been known to turn on children that they were raised with from birth, only to turn on them a few years latter. A few have died, and these were loving pets. Good to be aware.
Very true. We do keep a close eye on them...especially when the grandbaby is here.
I would love to have a Great Pyranese dog. In fact I think it would be the only dog I'd want on our homestead. They are great with kids and livestock and can be great defenders to predators and we have lots of predators that sniff around our sheep...especially at birthing time.
I think you're on the right track!
Holy HOMESTEAD COWS!!!!! Hahaha! @mericanhomestead commented on one of my posts!!! You're famous! Haha. Thanks a ton!
I completely agree. Hopefully I can talk my wife more into a GP. She is more esthetics focused...and says they just look like dirty polar bears! 😂😂😂😀
And in this transition of suburbia to the homestead, my wife is letting me change her entire world upside down. So she gets to choose our first dog. As long as it is good with kids, protects our family and home, and is fairly big! She loves mastiffs. But that is not going to happen. Too many health problems we've found out.
Thank you again for checking us out!!!!
When I was younger with children at home I bred Great Pyrenees. In addition to my breeders, we had three others that were workers on the ranch. They were excellent herd and guard dogs. Most of all they would protect my family well. I would have no other dog. They are easy on the budget food wise, and never had any medical problems. Like all large dogs you need to make sure the parents did not carry hip-dysisplaycia. They do require daily brushing and make the greatest service dogs.
LOL!
I need a few GPs. It is the gold standard and every farm I visit that has them eyes me wearily but they have not been aggressive and if the owner is around they usually ignore you or stop staring at you. From an outside opinion the good ones know who/what is a threat to their flock and I would be more worried about things that threaten your children. Also, they can't be spoiled but I can't imagine not having some human social interaction with your dog.
You can definitely socialize them and also have them around kids. You must love the dog and be the dog.
Haha, I like that. "You must love the dog and be the dog.
Good to know that I am not too far off base.
***I just don't understand why many experts say do not socialize LGDs.
We just lost our 3 new chicks when we moved them out to the hen house and something got in and ate them. Only one chicken left from last year as the predators around here got all the rest.
Now I am looking into getting some guinea fowl which I am reading are known for their ability to be some of the best "watch dogs" for alerting and sounding off when intruders, human or animals, come into their territory. They also eat ticks, and we have both had a lot of bites this year.
You could have a dog for a companion and the guinea fowl for guardians.
YES!!!! In fact check out this video where my family and I went to a raw dairy near us. The farm had guineas...oh my goodness they were LOUD!
I guess you couldn't do it with close neighbors. Maybe I will reconsider. We do have a lot of land but that is a lot of noise and I think they do like to be in pretty big flocks.
I appreciate you putting yourself out there and being honest with saying that you don't know all there is to know!
Some of use newbie homesteaders get looked over but I think that the learning process is sometimes more important than the end game.
I have looked into LGD but in my area its hard to find a livestock dog big enough to face the predators. And until we get further up on our feet we decided to not bring in another mouth to feed. I will continue to follow this post to see what everyone else has to say, I just wanted to thank you for being honest and open!
Well thank you. Honestly....honesty and transparency are all I have at the moment. Hopefully we will learn some stuff at some point... but for now... it is real life!!!! 😂😂
You guys will learn without even noticing! One day you will go to get a drink of water and it will all hit you, like WOW we made it! (:
This is so true.
YES! It's just day after day of hard work, then one day you peel your nose off the grindstone and see what you have done! It's truly amazing. Like full sized art.
One day you are pouring over books to do tomorrow's project well enough to get by. The next you are sharing your knowledge with a friend who is starting out. Then you think, "Wow, I know more about that than I realized."
That's right! Or you are in a sticky situation and you are alone. Then you realize that you are capable of more than you give yourself credit for!
I have a Great Pyranese/Anatolian Shepherd mix. He's still a puppy and oh so loveable! We will do our best to obedience train him, but he stays with the goats. I have a German Shepherd that is 3 yrs old. She runs free most of the time and is more of a family dog. I don't know the answer to your question, but it is all a trial and error, I guess, for us. The family the LGD came from used their dogs as pillows on the deck while doing school work, and they were good with the farm animals. Hope this helps.
Very much so! Ok...so follow up questions...
Ok @goatgarden...I gotta dig more into your Steemit. You and I are right there with a 51 reputation and you make GREAT comments!!!! Thank you! 😀👍🏻
I don't know if GP/Anatolian will become its own breed, but I see this mix a lot too. As far as the GSD, we love her to death. She is such a good dog with a sweet personality. She will bring you a stick or a ball (or even a rubber duck she liberated from the swimming pool toy stash). If you keep throwing it, she will keep bringing it back again and again. She lives to play fetch. She is so trainable, too. As long as you are persistent and consistent, she will obey. I've always had boxers in the past and will always have a special love for them, but a GSD, in my opinion, is a better fit for my needs. I need a dog that will "leave it" or "wait" when I tell it to. All dogs can have bad days, so my kids don't rough house or play tug of war. A wise friend and dog trainer once told me this and we don't give her a reason to snap at a kid or try to be the alpha. By the way, a shock collar with a remote that is used correctly is an invaluable tool. I use it as a reminder when she is out of reach but not to hurt her. I am by no means a dog trainer or expert, but hopefully this helps. I suggest looking into several breeds so you are more confident when you finally make a decision. I took a chance on our GSD when an elderly woman decided she couldn't take care of her because she jumped up and knocked her down. I fixed that problem in a few days and was blessed with a great dog.
This is great! Invaluable advise!!!! 😀👍🏻
You mentioned fencing in the title. Check out my post on electric net fencing if you aren't already familiar. https://steemit.com/homestead/@goatgarden/the-frugal-homesteader-pt-3-electric-net-fence
We have a newish puppy on our homestead. His name is Tygra, named after the tiger-man in Thundercats because of his brindle stripping. He's a mutt, which us why we wanted him. His dad is 50/50 pyranes/husky. His mom is 50/50 lab/pit. I used to be wary of pitbull myself because of how many attacks there have been reported, especially of children. I did research on that breed because a friend if mine has had one in his family since his childhood. They are an extremely safe breed if loved by their masters. They are extremely intelligent and loyal. What makes them such killers is that their masters taught them to be that way. It's sort of like the gun argument. Guns don't kill people, people kill people using the tool of a gun. Likewise, pitbulls are great LGD's if their owner uses them correctly. By "use" I mean love and care for.