What is your experience or opinion on the best breed for a livestock guardian dog?

[chickengarden]

I am just beginning to research this and would love advice and your personal experience on the best breed for guarding poultry. Also tips and good ways to start out would be appreciated.

 

[CAjerseychick]

That is a big question, and of course depends on your specific situation-- most of the true LGD's are nocturnal barkers (and sound carries miles) which poses a problem depending on the vicinity of your neighbors and whether you like to sleep at night...Also they wander. So you need to have good fencing in place.
Rescue is a good place to start (they often have young dogs, and are good sources of info as well)...
Also I see from your photos that you have children, do you want a farm/ family dog as well or a true flock protector, many of which are very reserved around people....
I have loved dogs for many years before coming down with the chicken bug....
And have a great guard dog (Giant schnaunzer) which unfortuantly has waaaay too high of prey drive to ever be safe with the chickens (so far no predator losses, but she has gotten 4 of our birds over the last 6 months...-- we made mistakes in fencing, child left door to run open etc.... so not really her fault.. she is doing what she was bred to do...).... so she guards but is not a good match for chickens.
Far better is our Bernese Mt dog-- he makes a good show of barking when he senses intrusion, but is soo gentle with the birds and kids, and does not wander! My husband likes to leave our gates open when the Schnauzer is out of town, and would never walk off our property and kept to the boundaries even before we had finished our fencing... Just a great all around dog.... a gentle willing breed, does not need you to be as Dominant as the schnauzer, etc....The Bernese were bred to be family farm dogs, and am really liking this breed-- and he also loves cold weather/ snow ( I see you are in Washington state)....Also they are not a busy breed like the Border collies, Aussies, he does not need you to keep him busy, he is content to nap much of the day... But up in a flash if he senses something...
But depending on your specific situation (do you have space? the Berners do like a little space) and size of dog you are looking for....I am sure several types of dog might work for you...

 

[centrarchid]

Need to know following:

Acreage

Number of fowl

Breed / species of Fowl

Age of folw to be guarded

How fowl and dog(s) to be confined or not

Types of threats (predator species)

 

[chickengarden]

That is a big question, and of course depends on your specific situation-- most of the true LGD's are nocturnal barkers (and sound carries miles) which poses a problem depending on the vicinity of your neighbors and whether you like to sleep at night...Also they wander. So you need to have good fencing in place.
Rescue is a good place to start (they often have young dogs, and are good sources of info as well)...
Also I see from your photos that you have children, do you want a farm/ family dog as well or a true flock protector, many of which are very reserved around people....
I have loved dogs for many years before coming down with the chicken bug....
And have a great guard dog (Giant schnaunzer) which unfortuantly has waaaay too high of prey drive to ever be safe with the chickens (so far no predator losses, but she has gotten 4 of our birds over the last 6 months...-- we made mistakes in fencing, child left door to run open etc.... so not really her fault.. she is doing what she was bred to do...).... so she guards but is not a good match for chickens.
Far better is our Bernese Mt dog-- he makes a good show of barking when he senses intrusion, but is soo gentle with the birds and kids, and does not wander! My husband likes to leave our gates open when the Schnauzer is out of town, and would never walk off our property and kept to the boundaries even before we had finished our fencing... Just a great all around dog.... a gentle willing breed, does not need you to be as Dominant as the schnauzer, etc....The Bernese were bred to be family farm dogs, and am really liking this breed-- and he also loves cold weather/ snow ( I see you are in Washington state)....Also they are not a busy breed like the Border collies, Aussies, he does not need you to keep him busy, he is content to nap much of the day... But up in a flash if he senses something...
But depending on your specific situation (do you have space? the Berners do like a little space) and size of dog you are looking for....I am sure several types of dog might work for you...

Thank you so much for giving me such a personal reply. I am looking at moving to a small acreage. It would be 10 or less acres and we are currently looking at a property that is 2.4 acres. I don't want a lot of fences and we currently have a Great Dane who is quite good staying on our property. I was hoping his habits would help train a puppy.
Thanks for the personal info on the Bernese. They sound great. I like that they wouldn't need to be busy and are good with kids and chickens.

 

[chickengarden]

Need to know following:

Acreage

Number of fowl

Breed / species of Fowl

Age of folw to be guarded

How fowl and dog(s) to be confined or not

Types of threats (predator species)

Under 10 acres (probably 2.4)
Currently 13 adult large breed chickens (Prod. Red, BO, BA, BR, EE and Wyandotte). But would like to get more. Dog would need to be safe around chicks, too.
I want my chickens to be able to free range and that's why I want a LGD. I would only lock them up at night. Fencing one side of the property would definitely be a possibility. The other side is bordered by a small river and I don't want to fully fence that off.
Predators would be mostly raccoons, coyotes, and birds of prey, (and other dogs) but possibly as large as cougar and bear.