LGD for small acres?

[tifflunn]

I know we have discussed LGD ( Livestock Guardian Dog)

for large acres- so can we discuss the sucess or failures for these guys on smaller acreage- or what dogs have been and are sucessful for the smaller acreage? Please include what you feel might be contributing to there sucesses or failures.

Your imput is appreciated!

Tiffany :bgrin

Edited to fix Gurad- to guardian- I must have dozed- sorry :bgrin

And livestock- there is just no excuse today

 

[lyn_j]

[SIZE=14pt]Our LGD (Livestock Guardian Dog) was a great pyr, Heidi. We are on 5 acres long and narrow. She insisted on also guarding two neighbors who had her arrested twice.... after bailing her out the second time we let some friends of ours take her who have 20 acres and neighbors that are dog friendly. She would go over or dig under all of our fencing. I loved her, she grew up with the horses since 8 weeks old.... but because I loved her I let her go rather than keep her in the pen. I would love to figure out what would work for us.... some of my lots are in the woods behind my house and occassionall we have dog packs run thru there. I do think that my corgis living out in the barn and run barking does ward them off to some extent. Jake barks ferociously when the neighbors dog invades his space. Sounds lots bigger and meaner than his 20 pounds! He doesnt live out with the horses tho.[/SIZE]

Lyn

 

[horsegal5]

We live on a little over 5 acres, and I have an australian shepherd who keeps everything away. I can leave him out at night and he stays in the yard and surrounding wooded area, we do have neighbors and as long as they don't make of him, he pretty much stays away from them. I am a little upset about not seeing any deer since I got him, but if keeps the other critters away, I guess thats ok.


The only time any of the chickens go missing is when I don't leave him out. He is not a barker either, he only barks when there is something there. We have had aussies for 5 years now, and they are great dogs.

 

[mininik]

A friend of mine has had great success with her intact male Australian Shepherd. Dogs of this breed do tend to be "one person" and sometimes "one family" dogs, very smart, sometimes silly as well as very devoted to protecting their pack and territory. The particular dog I'm thinking of is also NOT a barker... unless he needs to be.

:

 

[Dontworrybeappy]

When we first got our white Anatolian Akin (12+ years ago) we were renting 1.25 acres - 80' wide and LONG. He never has challenged fences.

We bought this place in 1999 - 2.3 acres. We fenced off the house and driveway from the horse/sheep areas, but the rest has fences of varying quality and construction. We have other dogs that have left the property, but Akin hasn't had much use for that sort of activity, thank goodness!

One of the reasons we decided to adopt Stuart (3 yr old light fawn Pinto Anatolian) was that he had lived in a tiny house with a tiny yard and didn't challenge the fences, not even the baby gate between one room and another! We hope that Stuart will take over for Akin who is getting rather old for a large breed dog.

I do so love the Anatolians - they have such a cool "energy" and personality!

edited to add - one of my favorite things that Akin does is that he respects the fenceline SO much that if a neighbor's horse hangs their head over the top of the fence into our yard, Akin will bark at it until it puts it's head back into it's own "space". Of course, the horses learn right away that he's all noise and won't hurt them, so they tease him! Head over the fence, head back... head over the fence... head back.....

:

 

[tifflunn]

Great info - Please keep them coming :bgrin We are thinking about 5 acres not completely fenced and pretty sure our English Mastiff will not be a guardian(maybe the water trough but that is it)- So we are just trying to get an idea of what direction to consider- or not consider :bgrin

 

[Lauralee]

I think that if the property is well fenced your LGD will do fine.

We have 10 acres and our Anatolian does not have the urge to wander. He enjoys living within his boundaries.

He is 170 pounds and very athletic....and could jump the fence if he wanted to spend that energy...but chooses to stay.

He also doesn't dig, or bark senselessly during the night. He is an extremely intelligent dog whose only vice is that he does like to sneak into the barn and take a souvenir shoe or halter (or harness!) for chewing and holding.

He is neutered, always has been, and I think that makes a big difference on the roaming problems.

 

[Narrow Way Farm]

We have 2 acres here and about 1 1/2 of it is fenced in and our great pyr stays just fine, in fact when you take her out of the fenced area where the animals are she cries and paces to get back into "her" area.. This is daisy our 1 yr old great pyr

 

[tifflunn]

We have 2 acres here and about 1 1/2 of it is fenced in and our great pyr stays just fine, in fact when you take her out of the fenced area where the animals are she cries and paces to get back into "her" area.. This is daisy our 1 yr old great pyr

Is daisy spayed? And at what age did you get her?- Thank You

 

[runamuk]

We have 10 acres and are in kinda the same boat............most pyr's will wander if they can in my experience.......I have 5 strand high tensile new zealand fencing on my property. All 5 of my current dogs respect the boundry. My very old borzoi (russian wolfhound) has been our guardian but she is getting too old to be out in inclement weather........my newest dog is an australian shepherd and he HATES the "bad dog's" when they howl out back and will run the fenceline barking at them, however he is my sheep dog and is never left outside overnight or for extended periods without me.

My hot fence has worked well as coyote deterrent and dog deterrent until recently......we had a couple dogs get in and luckily hubby was home to make them move it along.....I need a guardian that will quite specifically alert to air attacks we have alot of large prey birds that can easily pack off newly born lambs so our search has that requirement as well.