# Wanting to get an LGD for my goat and chicken farm



## That Goat Girl (7 mo ago)

I live on an acre of land on the river in Arizona. I’ve been raising goats for a month now and I’ve had a mountain lion, couple coyotes, skunks, stray/neighbor‘s dog wandering around, and my Australian Shepherd and my pitbull mix (my chicken guardians) are apparently goat murderers. My property is electric fenced off 100ft before the river, my worry is that predators will get in somehow because the electric fence isn’t always turned on. I would let my Australian Shepherd with them if I could trust her. But she never wants to be in one place and she also has a terribly high prey drive and has killed every squirrel, skunk, and raccoon to wander into our property. To put me to ease I would love something to be there with them 24/7 to protect them and something large and strong enough to prevent a mountain lion and scare other predators off. I’d also like something fairly quiet, friendly, gets along with other dogs/cats, and protects poultry. But the most important thing is that it protects goats and poultry and gets along with children. My question is if I get a LGD will they accept new breeds of goats, new goats, new sheep, and new cats or another LGD?


Information:

-I do have young and older children 3-13
-I have 2 dogs and 3 cats
-it does get to 115 Fahrenheit here down to 20 Fahrenheit
-I have Nigerian Dwarf Goats
-My property is electric fenced except for the river area


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## FizzyGoats (Apr 14, 2021)

That Goat Girl said:


> I live on an acre of land on the river in Arizona. I’ve been raising goats for a month now and I’ve had a mountain lion, couple coyotes, skunks, stray/neighbor‘s dog wandering around, and my Australian Shepherd and my pitbull mix (my chicken guardians) are apparently goat murderers. My property is electric fenced off 100ft before the river, my worry is that predators will get in somehow because the electric fence isn’t always turned on. I would let my Australian Shepherd with them if I could trust her. But she never wants to be in one place and she also has a terribly high prey drive and has killed every squirrel, skunk, and raccoon to wander into our property. To put me to ease I would love something to be there with them 24/7 to protect them and something large and strong enough to prevent a mountain lion and scare other predators off. I’d also like something fairly quiet, friendly, gets along with other dogs/cats, and protects poultry. But the most important thing is that it protects goats and poultry and gets along with children. My question is if I get a LGD will they accept new breeds of goats, new goats, new sheep, and new cats or another LGD?
> 
> 
> Information:
> ...


You’ll definitely want to stick to a LGD breed for the job. They’ve been bred for hundreds of years for a specific purpose. There are many breeds and even a mix is ok as long as the mix is only of LGD breeds. With mountain lions to contend with, you may need a pair of them. There are some short haired breeds, Anatolian, Akbash (come in long and short hair variety) and Kangal come to mind. Though the double coated dogs also seem to do fine in the heat because it acts as an insulator. 

Most LGDs will accept anything they believe belongs, so it’s all about proper introductions and training. Most are great with children. If you start with a dog that is not a puppy and is ready to get right to work, you’ll need one who is used to goats, poultry, people, and pets. And you’ll want to do a slow and controlled introduction to the other dogs. And if your other dogs do go after the goats, all bets are off because it’s their job to protect them, even from other dogs at the farm. Also, they’ll need some fence at the river as well because a river won’t stop most LGDs unless it’s massive and strong. They usually like water. And the fence would have to always be on and be hot unless you get lucky and have a dog that doesn’t leave the stocks side to go patrol for threats. And there’s almost no fence that will keep a mountain lion out if it wants in. However, they don’t like to mess with big dogs unless they’re truly desperate. 

When you say your dogs are apparently goat murderers, does that mean they’ve gone after and harmed goats before? If so, you’ll want to keep the goats completely separate from your other dogs, which will mean the LGD will be separate too, and only let them have interactions when you bring the LGD to your dogs. Don’t bring your dogs to the goat pen. It might be best to start with an experienced working adult LGD because a puppy can’t protect against much yet and could learn bad habits from the farm dogs. I’m sure it has to be difficult to keep everything separated on an acre. Hopefully you’re able to get it all worked out and keep everyone safe and happy.


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

I can't add a thing ^^^ perfect advice.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

☝ 😉


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## That Goat Girl (7 mo ago)

FizzyGoats said:


> You’ll definitely want to stick to a LGD breed for the job. They’ve been bred for hundreds of years for a specific purpose. There are many breeds and even a mix is ok as long as the mix is only of LGD breeds. With mountain lions to contend with, you may need a pair of them. There are some short haired breeds, Anatolian, Akbash (come in long and short hair variety) and Kangal come to mind. Though the double coated dogs also seem to do fine in the heat because it acts as an insulator.
> 
> Most LGDs will accept anything they believe belongs, so it’s all about proper introductions and training. Most are great with children. If you start with a dog that is not a puppy and is ready to get right to work, you’ll need one who is used to goats, poultry, people, and pets. And you’ll want to do a slow and controlled introduction to the other dogs. And if your other dogs do go after the goats, all bets are off because it’s their job to protect them, even from other dogs at the farm. Also, they’ll need some fence at the river as well because a river won’t stop most LGDs unless it’s massive and strong. They usually like water. And the fence would have to always be on and be hot unless you get lucky and have a dog that doesn’t leave the stocks side to go patrol for threats. And there’s almost no fence that will keep a mountain lion out if it wants in. However, they don’t like to mess with big dogs unless they’re truly desperate.
> 
> When you say your dogs are apparently goat murderers, does that mean they’ve gone after and harmed goats before? If so, you’ll want to keep the goats completely separate from your other dogs, which will mean the LGD will be separate too, and only let them have interactions when you bring the LGD to your dogs. Don’t bring your dogs to the goat pen. It might be best to start with an experienced working adult LGD because a puppy can’t protect against much yet and could learn bad habits from the farm dogs. I’m sure it has to be difficult to keep everything separated on an acre. Hopefully you’re able to get it all worked out and keep everyone safe and happy.


Thank you very much. My goat pen is pretty large and I don’t mind making a doghouse for the dog/s inside. My entire property is electric fenced off with 25,000 volts. The Goat pen is 7-10 ft high depending on the area and has electric fencing. Yes, my dogs have killed a goat that escaped after we have been introducing them for a week. I found some Turkish Boz/Kengal/Anatolian Shepherd puppies online and they’re 12 weeks and have already been professional trained with goats, sheep, poultry, horses, and other dogs, ect. They do get pretty large as well. I do have worries though; The goat pen is next to the river and across the river are usually airbnb people hanging out or swimming in the river. No matter how many warnings and trespassing signs we’ve put up some people still go on our side of the property and people are visible from the goat pen whether it’s our side, the river, or the other side. I don’t want the dog to attack the people (because sometimes they are neighbors allowed to be there) I just want them to scare them away. But we do have signs up saying “No Trespassing, No Soliciting, Dog on premises, enter at own risk dog may bite, private property: violators will be prosecuted” and we do have a small ditch up near our house it can swim in that the other dogs love. If my dogs try to attack the livestock it’s their fault, my Australian shep is pretty vicious and would fight but eventually give up to a big dog and the other one would run away.


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## Boer Mama (10 mo ago)

Hopefully the LGD would prefer the ditch to cool off in when it’s hot rather than the river.
I just wanted to add that my LGD is familiar with all the dogs and everyone around here. But she will still put one down for a reminder… the other day when we were done riding, I left one of my dads cow dogs off the chain so he could get more exercise (he’s a good old boy and doesn’t bother chickens/cats/goats). While I’ve never used him to herd the goats and bring them in for me, I have used him to help find little lost babies during first couple weeks after kidding and new mamas forgetting where they left them. Anyway, I went outside and I think he thought we might go for a walk and find stuff as he started trotting ahead of me. My LGD put him down and stood over him sternly, letting him know to stay away from her goats w/o hurting him. He’s maybe 55-60lbs and she’s 120lbs. Lol
But I do agree, a younger pup may just want to join in and play along with the other dogs and learn bad habits. I’d try to get one that’s been around sheep or goats and watched their parents work for first 5-6 months of their lives. 
good luck! 🍀


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## FizzyGoats (Apr 14, 2021)

That’s a tough one with people in the river. I’d put a few strands of hot wire a bit inland from the river and put a lot of signs, along with all your private property and no trespassing signs, that there’s an electric fence. Some people, unfortunately, are more likely to respect that than the no trespassing signs. I’d also put a warning that a working guardian dog is on duty Also, you can work on conditioning the dog to alert only if people get out of the river on your side. It’ll just take spending serious time with the dog out there, correcting it when it shouldn’t bark and is barking anyway and praising it when it barks at the right time. It is actually fairly easy with most LGDs to have them accept someone you say is ok. If they bark and you go and see the person and talk to them in a friendly manor and are welcoming, that’s usually all the cue they need that the person isn’t a threat. So I’m sure you could make it so the neighbors and friends can still enjoy it but trespassers will be annoyed away by a barking dog. LGDs are more protective than aggressive, so I don’t think you have to worry about it attacking someone in the river if it’s taught people can be there and that’s no concern to you and your farm. Even if they come on the bank and shouldn’t, the dog will likely charge and bark and make a big fuss before ever engaging physically. And most people are going to run right back in the water at that point. I know I would. Lol. LGDs have great threat assessment and aren’t looking for a fight. They just want to guard and they’ll fight if the situation demands it, but rarely go looking for one. It’ll just take a lot of time to initially to help the dog understand what, who, and where is ok and when all that is not ok.


Edited add: That’s a good point [mention]Boer Mama [/mention] LGDs often correct without hurting. It may sound and look bad, but in the end you see it was a simple attitude adjustment. Lol. 

And for your particular situation, I’d hope for a dog that’s older than 12 weeks and is ready to work and won’t put up with nonsense from the others. Not saying you can’t make it work. It will just be more work for you.


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