What kind of guard dog for minis???

[Adela]

We are looking at moving to 16 acres on the outskirts of town, but I am concerned about mountain lions and coyotes. What kind of livestock guard dog do I need to get?

Thanks!!

 

[Miniv]

You should do a Google for both Anatolian Shepherds or Great Pyreneas (sp) or combination of both. There's also the Achbash breed.

There are people on LB that have each of them. Hopefully they post.......There's also some that breed them!

MA

 

[Jitterbug]

We have Great Pyrenees and after 4 yours of them protecting our livestock (including the minis) I would not even consider another breed. The only draw back to this breed for me is their coat does shed - alot more than an Anatolian. Our fence is 5ft. tall 2"X4" non climb wire so the dogs have plenty of time to get to the fence before a predator could try to dig under or possibly go over ( I've been told mountain lions can clear a 7 ft. fence). Coyotes are a big problem where we live - before we purchased the Pyrs farms all around us were having HERDS of goats and new born calves being killed. Now the coyotes don't come near our farm and our neighbors within a mile of us have had no more problems.

Justine

 

[Adela]

Thanks so much for the info MA and Justine! You gals are great :aktion033:

 

[Flyin G Farm]

We also have a Pyr...he's WONDERFUL!!! He's awesome around all of our minis...let's the foals pull on his hair and tug on his ears...and he even can be found sleeping with my cat! :bgrin I really can't say enough good things about him. We have a lot of coyotes around as well. The one thing I will say is they like to wander...we have 3 rail wood fence with horse fence around the perimeter of our property. He doesn't try to dig out or anything...but prior to us putting up the horse fence he would wander if given the opportunity.

Tracy

 

[MInx]

Great Pry..my daughter raises Baby Doll sheep and they are small sheep and quite vuneralble. The pups are raised with the sheep. These dogs are good with family, and kids but good gardians.

They just had a litter but are sold. They sell before they are even born, that's how popular they are for that purpose.I know Anatolins are great too and I've heard crossing the two makes almost perfect cross.

Maxine

 

[littlearab]

We have an Anatolian Shepherd. Spike is very good with the minis, sheep ,baby calves and even the rabbits. He is very gentle with any baby, I just love the way he looks at the new foals, you can almost see him going "AHH ISN'T IT CUTE". If you do a search on them you'll be surprised at how nice they are.

Oh and as a kids dog he can't be beat. My granddauthers can ride him, hug him up and pull his tail,ears anything and he just smiles!! He loves people to no end! He wants to sit in your lap, way too big but he does not know that. A true gentle gaint!

We use to have coyotes just troting in the yard in daylight! Eating the dog food ect. Made me wonder what happened at night. But 6 years ago we got Spike and have not seen one with in a mile of our place. And we are in the boondocks.You can hear them every night not far off, but he watchs the place and a mile or so around. No more unwanted animals around. Not even stray cats in the winter. And we milk cows, use to have our cat population triple every winter. Now it just our cats. Less cat food healther cats.

: if we get a new one we just show them to Spike and they become one of his charges, his baby. And yes he loves the cats. Spike loves everyone who belongs.

:

No long hair and he will not come in the house, he loves his job, does it well.

But an Anatolian will bark all night, Spike does a low back when all is well. But if anything comes near out place the bark changes and you know he did his job.

You get use to the backing, kinda like trafic nosie.LOL

 

[qtrmoonfarm]

We raise Anatolians crossed on Maremma, Ahkbash and Pyrs..love the crosses..the best of the LGD instincts as well as family friendly, since we have lots of kids groups and elderly groups come to visit, as well as our grandkids that love to play with the dogs. And too, we can catch and doctor any dogs if needed.

We have 7 adult dogs and a 6 mo old puppy working at this time. Some of the breeds prefer animals over people and need a larger area to guard, others, if kept busy within your perimeter, won't feel the need to expand their territory..make sure your neighbors don't mind being protected too if your fences aren't solid mesh of some sort.

Our Bruno, a Anat x Pyr cross has never missed a birth in 6 years..of any critter..he personally inspects and approves each baby and stays mainly with the young stock. We are surrounded by hundreds of acres of open prairie with our nearest neighbor about a mile away. Coyotes, fox, feral dogs, stray cats, deer and antelope roam freely but don't come close to our fenceline..neither does the UPS or FedEX guys

a small price to pay for peace of mind and no losses to predators..the delivery people honk at the gates lol Ours don't bark at night except on patrol..a bark every few minutes ..maybe every 15mins or so..to warn anything away ......but when they GO OFF you can bet somethings going on!

Part of our property runs along a busy dirt roa, d which in the spring, the foals run next to..looky loos stop to take pictures, but the two dogs are right in the middle of them keeping anybody from jumping the fences to "play" with the foals..I pity the fool that tried to take one :bgrin

Not every LGD makes a good guardian...some are more suited to being pets..others are easily ruined for guardian work by being treated like a family pet..it's a fine line to train one to be both or to be a good guardian dog and once in a blue moon you get one like Bruno who LIVES for his critters, can tell you which mare will foal next, because thats the one whose stall he crawls into, and who can train the young pups as well.

With the amount of acreage you are moving to, I'd recommend at least 2 preferably 3..they can't be in all places at once and that would stress just one ....good luck, let us know what you get!

 

[Mona]

We have a Great Pyrenees. He is WONDERFUL with the animals, however, he does bark alot all night long. We have 40 acres, and that's still not enough for him, and has recently decided to wander off to the neighbors up the road. They are NOT impressed with him being there and barking all night long, so sadly now we have to keep him tied up all night long from the time it begins to get dark out.(That is when he leaves) until the next morning. Sort of defeats the purpose of having him here.

They really do need to have a way to keep them confined. I thought that by having him neutered when he was just 5 months old, it would help keep him here, but it is in their breeding to roam as big a perimeter as they can. So now he is looking for a new home that can keep him securely fenced in somehow.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

The Pyrs seem to be very good, but also very laid back- you also absolutely HAVE to make sure you get one bred to do the job- all the Pyrs I know are useless great, food eating slobs- NO WAY would they guard anything, so make sure you get a dog (any breed not just Pyrs) from working stock.

Anatolians and Ahkbash do seem to be a little more "pro-active"!!

The Anatolians are being used in South Africa to keep Cheetahs off the goats (and thus save the Cheetahs) and they free roam- no fences at all. They also have, as has been said, less coat- a good strong dense coat but not as heavy as a Pyr- without clipping a Pyr would not manage too well in very hot weather.

Pyrs do roam, too, even the show/pet ones.

 

[Dontworrybeappy]

We have had Akin ("ah-keen") for almost 14 years - and just adopted our 2nd Anatolian, Stuart. We have sheep and chickens and, although there was supposedly a lot of coyote activity on our property before we bought the place, we haven't had one loss from predators in 7 years! Not only that, but we've had no skunks here, either! (Akin hates skunks!)

Here I am with both of them - a few days after Stuart's arrival!

Akin on left, Stuart on right (me in the middle!)

:

 

[Dona]

We have a Great Pyrenees. He is WONDERFUL with the animals, however, he does bark alot all night long. We have 40 acres, and that's still not enough for him, and has recently decided to wander off to the neighbors up the road. They are NOT impressed with him being there and barking all night long, so sadly now we have to keep him tied up all night long from the time it begins to get dark out.(That is when he leaves) until the next morning. Sort of defeats the purpose of having him here.

They really do need to have a way to keep them confined. I thought that by having him neutered when he was just 5 months old, it would help keep him here, but it is in their breeding to roam as big a perimeter as they can. So now he is looking for a new home that can keep him securely fenced in somehow.

Just wondering Mona......if your Pyr is in with the horses, how does he get out of the fences?

Our Pyr, Panda, lives in the fenced pasture with the horses so he can protect them. And even tho there ARE a couple of low areas under the fence around the waterway where he could get thru if he wanted....he seems to be content staying in HIS pasture guarding the horses.

:

 

[Mona]

Just wondering Mona......if your Pyr is in with the horses, how does he get out of the fences?

Our Pyr, Panda, lives in the fenced pasture with the horses so he can protect them. And even tho there ARE a couple of low areas under the fence around the waterway where he could get thru if he wanted....he seems to be content staying in HIS pasture guarding the horses.

:

Quite easily...he crawls under the gates. We cannot have gates anywhere near the ground, as with all the snow we get throughout winter, we need good clearance heights. He crawls right under. I do not have all my horses in one pasture either...there are several smaller pastures and pens, and he protects the house also. He makes his rounds at night, and makes them bigger and bigger, and is now wandering off to the neighbours. They have to be a good 1/2 mile or more up the road!

 

[Miniv]

We have had Akin ("ah-keen") for almost 14 years - and just adopted our 2nd Anatolian, Stuart. We have sheep and chickens and, although there was supposedly a lot of coyote activity on our property before we bought the place, we haven't had one loss from predators in 7 years! Not only that, but we've had no skunks here, either! (Akin hates skunks!)

Here I am with both of them - a few days after Stuart's arrival!

Akin on left, Stuart on right (me in the middle!)

:

What kind of dog is Akin? I am guessing that Stuart is Anatolian?

Editted -- Just saw that Stuart is Anatolian....duh me!

MA

 

[Michael]

we too, use a Great Pyrenees for our guard dog. works well for us after we adapted to lots of barking and a free-willed dog who thinks her "yard" goes to the county line.

 

[Dontworrybeappy]

We have had Akin ("ah-keen") for almost 14 years - and just adopted our 2nd Anatolian, Stuart. We have sheep and chickens and, although there was supposedly a lot of coyote activity on our property before we bought the place, we haven't had one loss from predators in 7 years! Not only that, but we've had no skunks here, either! (Akin hates skunks!)

Here I am with both of them - a few days after Stuart's arrival!

Akin on left, Stuart on right (me in the middle!)

:

What kind of dog is Akin? I am guessing that Stuart is Anatolian?

Editted -- Just saw that Stuart is Anatolian....duh me!

MA

They are both purebred Anatolians