Guarding the Farm
Over the past few years, we have been gathering information about successful chicken production. I have seen SO many "what-ate-my-chicken" blog and Facebook posts. We want to try and be as proactive as possible about keeping predators away. Right now, we know our predators at our farm include a large pack of coyotes that live behind our house and hawks and owls. I am not as worried about the owls because we will be putting the chickens in at night and we plan to use hawk netting over the top of the run and paddocks to keep other flying predators away. We really need something to keep the coyotes away.
My friend, Dennis, had a livestock guardian dog. He said the dog was a great deterrent to predators. In fact, it was a full 2 years after his dog passed before the coyotes even attempted to come back on to his property. He also said that one day, he watched as his dog had a staring contest with a bald eagle. The eagle was eyeing up his chickens. Eventually, the eagle just flew away.
There are many different types of livestock guardian dogs. Most of them originate from Turkey where the dogs were used with a shepherd to guard sheep when they would graze in the mountains. The use of guardian dogs is a relatively new concept in the United States. A true guardian dog is fairly independent and remains with their charge at all times.
I knew we wanted a dog to help deter the coyotes. A couple of years ago, my brother's family sent me a book about different farm dogs (thanks Dale and Andrea).
My friend, Dennis, had a livestock guardian dog. He said the dog was a great deterrent to predators. In fact, it was a full 2 years after his dog passed before the coyotes even attempted to come back on to his property. He also said that one day, he watched as his dog had a staring contest with a bald eagle. The eagle was eyeing up his chickens. Eventually, the eagle just flew away.
There are many different types of livestock guardian dogs. Most of them originate from Turkey where the dogs were used with a shepherd to guard sheep when they would graze in the mountains. The use of guardian dogs is a relatively new concept in the United States. A true guardian dog is fairly independent and remains with their charge at all times.
I knew we wanted a dog to help deter the coyotes. A couple of years ago, my brother's family sent me a book about different farm dogs (thanks Dale and Andrea).
It explains the difference between using dogs for guarding, herding or general protection of the farm. Our chickens will not be free range. They will have access to pasture any time there is not snow on the ground but they will be safely behind electric fencing. We do not want our dog to be "in" with the chickens, just around the area so they could keep predators away from our farm.
A couple of years ago, I saw a vlog in which a farmer got a Great Pyrenees from a rescue. I really liked this idea. I immediately "liked" several livestock guardian rescue Facebook pages. I had narrowed down my preference for a dog to a Great Pyrenees or Akbash.
A couple of months ago, I filled out the paperwork to be considered for adoption of a dog. I explained that we wanted the dog to stay outside to help fend off coyotes. Our entire property had to be fenced. We had worked on that this past spring - check. The last thing to do was put a gate up. We got the gate put up (hence, our living in a gated community now). I was hoping to get the dogs in September and wanted to know if they had any dogs that had been around chickens. They sent us Cooper and Yeti's information. We were not expecting to get 2 dogs. We only have 4 acres so I didn't think we would need 2 dogs but these dogs had been raised together. They had been with their foster dad for the past 3 months in Montana. The story is the Yeti was abandoned by her shepherds (in Utah) when she was a pup and someone rescued her and put her with Cooper and they grew up together as pups. I have a feeling they were on some type of farm for the first 6 years. Then, the family moved and did not need the dogs so they were given to the Great Pyrenees Rescue, Montana. (GRPM)
Hi, I'm Cooper!
I've spent my whole life living on several acres with my buddy, Yeti. We are primarily outdoor pups that sleep in the garage at night. We'd love to find a similar scenario to go to! We don't have to stay together but we sure do get along well.
I'm 6 years old, neutered, and UTD on shots. I'm a friendly guy that does well around chickens, cats, and the majority of dogs. I've also lived around kiddos my whole life, too! My perfect home would have plenty of room for me outdoors, lots of snuggles/pets (I'm a pretty loving guy!), and a nice secure fence.
Meet Yeti!
Yeti is a spayed adult female dog (guesstimate is approx 6 or 7) who is looking for a relaxing home to grow old in! She's currently located in Helena, MT and GPRM will help with her transport to a forever home.
Yeti has lived happily with another male Pyr, watching chickens by day (and roaming her property), and sleeping indoors at night. She loves the outdoors and is friendly to anyone visiting her property. She loves affection and gives the Pyr paw!
This sweet girl would like a relaxing home to call her own (with or without chickens, livestock) and a cozy bed at night.
The GPRM really wanted to get the dogs placed right away so other dogs could be fostered. On August 4th, Cooper and Yeti were transported from Helena, MT by 3 different sets of volunteers to our home in Moscow, ID.
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| Volunteers that drove down from Coeur d'Alene with dogs. |
They both LOVE to be petted...
Yeti got out the first couple of days. She could go through where we closed the gate so we had to put some wire in the opening. Cooper didn't seem interested in leaving.
It got hot the first week that they got to the farm. Here is Cooper trying to keep cool. He also likes to hang out in the forsythia bush. I thought we might have to start another GoFundMe to help pay for the dog food but they actually don't eat as much as you might think. Because they lay around and watch things most of the time, they are really calm dogs and have a lower metabolism. Therefore, they don't eat any more than our black lab that we used to have as Mark's service dog. Don't think that you are going to play fetch with these guys...they are definitely not retrievers.
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| Cooper hanging out by bird bath (which they think is their water dish). |
Our neighbor was out of town when we got the dogs. We were able to introduce our dogs to their dog. Luckily, they are friendly with the neighbor dog and know he is their friend. This was a big concern for me. I was hoping that everyone would get along. Yeah!
It is great having dogs and not puppies. I just don't have the time to devote to training a pup. I had read that most guardian dogs do not really "guard" until they are about 2 years old. Having two dogs allows for one to rest while the other one is on patrol. When one passes, hopefully, we will be able to get a younger rescue and have the older dog train the new recruit.
I am also glad we were pushed to get the dogs early so we have time to spend with them and do some bonding before all the poultry come. It seems to be working out great!
~Denise
