# first loss to predator!!! :o(



## rgbdab (Nov 26, 2007)

I have been here for 3+ years with no problems and then last Friday night, something (probably coyote) dug under the fence in my "boy" pen and killed the 6 month old paint billy. Worse than that, I left Saturday morning before light due to a family member in the hospital and didn't find him until I returned that evening. The other boys were in there with his dead body all day!
I walked the fence line and found the place it had dug under. I have soft, sandy soil and although I placed several large rocks at that place, I am sure it/they will come back and just dig a hole somewhere else.
So I have been researching and reading info on guard animals and am going to pick up 2 female 5 month old half GP and half Anatolian dogs today. I am getting 2 because I always have my herd in 2 groups, so I plan to put 1 in with grp A and the othr with grp B. I have no experience with LGD and my only knowledge comes from what I've read. If any of y'all have tips to get things started right with theses 2 dogs please let me know. 
My plan is to put them straight in with the herds and supervise behavior. These will not be pets, I already have 4 big, spoiled useless dogs at my house so I hope I won't be tempted to give in to the cute factor of the new pups. 
thanks! Denise


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

have the dogs ever been in with goats before? That is always the first question on my mind.


----------



## rgbdab (Nov 26, 2007)

yes Stacy, they are with goats - but the reason they are available is that they have killed the current owners chickens. She has 80 chickens and they are her main focus, so the dogs have to go.

I don't have any chickens.


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

I just wanted to make sure, as some are sold as guard animals and they have no clue how to guard.


----------



## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

:hug: So sorry for your loss. Sounds like a good choice. What kind of dogs do you have as pets? I'm guessing you keep them in the house at night? We just keep our dogs outside at night. Cause we've got a doberman, lab, jack russel, and a blue heeler that keep the coyotes out like no other. They're out patrolling almost all night. Dogs are awesome at guarding so you should have any problems now. Good luck and hope you don't have anymore attacks!


----------



## rgbdab (Nov 26, 2007)

*Re: first loss to predator!!! ( **update***

Well I picked them up and when we got home I let them out of the kennel and put one in pasture b and the other in pasture c because I have herds in both pastures and pasture c is where the kill occured.
That didn't work too well because Dakota kept climbling and jumping over the gate to get back with her sister. So I decided to put them together for a week or so to get comfortable with the new surroundings before I try to seperate them again.
Once I put them together they started walking the pasture fence and smelling everything. They haven't bothered the goats at all and the goats seem to sense they aren't going to bother them because they are very relaxed. So I will spend the next week moving them around to the various pastures to check out their territory and meet all the goats but keep them together. I'll have them stay in pasture C every night. Hopefully as the become more comfortable and confident here, they won't mind be separated so much. All in all things are going great with them, right now one is laying by the water trough and the other is about 50 feet away laying in some shade. All the goats are laying down chewing their cud. Very peaceful scene, for now.


----------



## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

So sorry for your loss :hug: ....I hope that whatever it was doesn't come back and that your new LGD's do their job, as it sounds ,they are content where they are.


----------

