Choosing a Livestock Guardian Dog

Reader Contribution by Jan Dohner
Published on September 16, 2013
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The choice to use a livestock guardian to protect your stock should be made seriously and with some forethought and planning. Using a living animal to guard your stock is not only a responsibility but also it requires you to gain some knowledge. It will ultimately require your commitment to an animal’s care, your regular attention, and perhaps some careful training. Acquiring this knowledge and doing some prior preparation before your guardian arrives will make the use of a livestock guardian more successful, as well. If you are not sure which livestock guardian would make the best fit for you and your situation, here is a truly honest look at the pros and cons of each potential guardian – dogs, donkeys, and llamas. This first post will look at livestock guard dogs (LGDs)

The pros:

• LGDs can guard a wide variety of animals including poultry, sheep, goats, cattle, llamas, alpacas, miniature horses and other equines. Guarding poultry presents a difference set of challenges than other stock, but it can be done successfully with attention to some training and the choice of a dog. Equines can likewise be problematical since the horse or donkey can have a natural flight or fight response to canines; but again, it has been done successfully. LGDs can also provide protection outside and around buildings or enclosures that house other animals, such as poultry or rabbits.

• LGDs actually bond to their stock and will exhibit nurturing behaviors, especially to young animals.

• LGDs protect stock against a wide variety of predators, both large and small, including the most dangerous such as feral hogs, wolves, bears, bobcats, and mountain lions. LGDs can work in groups together. Owners who face serious threats by large predators often employ two or more LGDs together in a field. In some truly serious situations, owners have used as many as four or five LGDs together. Most

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