Farm Dogs

[Beekissed]

The unsung hero of every farm and homestead, the multipurpose, courageous and loyal farm dog! Whether they be LGDs or just family dogs that work for a living, they spend each day keeping the land safe from intruders and predators, while also providing good and sweet companionship.

I couldn't keep chickens where I live without them, be they free ranged or not, due to the thousands of acres of woodland surrounding our land. Those woods have the usual suspects in abundance, ranging from coon, fox, coyote and bobcat clear on up to black bear. Then there is the stray dog, a recurring problem out here in the country, where people think it's great to drive out here and dump off dogs they don't want.

I have two, one is just a Lab/Border Collie mutt that I've had for 10 yrs and he is one great dog. He has worked with partners or alone and either way he stands up to coyotes, bear and bobcat and keeps his flock safe. He grows quite attached to his chickens and worries himself sick when one dies...if I don't remove the carcass, he will spend days trying to get that chick or chicken back in the coop, sleeping with it, carrying it and pacing back and forth. It's really sad to watch, so now I take them far away from his boundary so he can't stress over them.

The other will be 2 yrs old in July, a mix of Anatolian/Maremma/Great Pyr and has the potential to be a great dog as well....since he has come, we no longer have deer and squirrels stealing our peaches. Now it's just him stealing them! Ben will have written a great story by the time he's gotten Jake's age, as he has a very quirky and cute personality.

Took pics of them lounging yesterday....

This is a thread to tell farm dog stories....how they work, what quirks they have, how you train them to do the job, and just to tell their story. ​

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Gracie saved the day again! Only a slight exaggeration lol. Heard her barking on the back porch in a weird, high pitched "come and see what's going on" type of bark. DH went out, in sandals and Gracie was barking towards the chiminea. DH had a broom and poked under there and out comes a snake! I came out barefooted and grabbed the broom and flicked the snake off the porch. Gracie was chasing it - Cowboy was standing there with a "what?" look on his face, lol. I tried to pin it down to see if it was a copperhead or a chicken snake. I'm still not sure and I'm pretty good at ID'ing snakes...but it was moving too fast - Gracie was in the way - Cowboy FINALLY got in on the action and the snake hauled butt outta there, lol.

Excitement on da farm! Sure wish I had been able to catch it though cuz I'm fairly sure it'll turn up again and I'd like to know what I'm dealing with. Especially since it headed for the garage, which is DH's domain, and sometimes he's less than observant. A snake bite on a lower extremity of a severe diabetic could be life and/or limb threatening. Just hope Gracie keeps her eyes open and warns us again if it's hanging around!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Sorry you lost a bird - but did you have a 2 footed predator also with all the doors/gates left open?
Some days I am more worried about the 2 footed varmint than the ones on 4 feet. I have set up a trail cam in the barnyard to see what is coming and going in the area around the buildings. Sometimes it seems that I had visitors during the day while I was at work...

I was interested in how the 'yotes got into the living room also.
We have a couple of packs around us. We can hear the ones in the woods to the east yapping and the pack to the south-west will answer back.

My brother's lab would retrieve just about anything that B-I-L hunted - grouse, duck, goose and even used him for tracking blood trails a time or two to find shot deer that got into the swamp and laid down to die. That dog only touched one bird when they visited his sisters hobby farm. The first time they went to vist after she got chickens and ducks, the dog "retrieved" a duck from the pond. BIL took the bird from the dog and looked it over really good, told the dog "Leave It" and let the duck run off to join his flock in the pond. No damage and hardly any feathers ruffled on the bird when the dog handed it over. That dog never touched a single bird on the property after that. A good hunting dog (I am talking bird and gun dogs) have a soft mouth so they don't damage what they are retrieving.

 

[baymule]

Paris. Part two. We moved February 14, 2015. We had to leave Trip, Paris and the chickens as we just didn't have room. It was a fast move. We closed on our old house on February 11 and was moving out 3 days later. We went back a day later to get Paris, Trip and the chickens. Paris was in for culture shock. When she got in her new yard, there were horse monsters in the pasture that shared a fence with her! She chased them up and down the fence, barking for months.

Her first night in her new home, a really dumb cat jumped the fence to eat her food and she killed it. She was really proud of herself! We were worried that she had killed somebody's beloved pet. Later we found out that it was a feral cat and a neighborhood nuisance. We were so relieved!

Paris was happy in her new home. At our old house, we were 1 block off a 4 lane highway, right in the middle of town, so something was always going on. People walked down the street at 3 AM, the high school foot ball field was across the highway from us, a tire store was across the street from us, traffic, noise, all of them things she felt she needed to protect us from. Now, there were new things to protect us from. Deer. Possums. Falling acorns. Horses. Coyotes. Cows across the road. Squirrels. She barked. A lot. All day. All night.
Finally she settled down and quit barking so much. She seldom barks now. When she does, there is something out there.

This one got away. It was in the horse pasture and she could only bark a frenzy on her side of the fence.

Then we got sheep. She thought she had to protect me from them and bulldozed them. I walked her on a leash in their pen.

When I let her off the leash, she tackled them again. I was afraid of coyotes wiping them out, so I put her in the pasture outside of their pen. Nope. She climbed out and was trying to get back in HER yard.
Total fail. I had to put her back in her yard and think on how to get her sheep friendly. I had to put Paris on the back burner for awhile.

The ewes lambed and as they got to weaning age, I had a brain fart. If I put the lambs in her space, by default, they would become "hers" and she would protect them. But first, they would have to be protected from HER! So we dragged the Hawg Hut in the back yard. (The pigs had gone to freezer camp) We built a pen in Paris' yard and put the lambs in it.

We gave her a few weeks to get used to them, then let them out. I snapped a leash on her and we walked around. She sniffed them, and got lots of praise and hugs. I put the lambs back in their pen. Each day, we worked with Paris. Finally I was able to just let them out of their pen and she guarded them.

We built a temporary fence from the back yard to the front pasture to help Paris transition from the back yard. She can now run all the way to the front fence where she and Trip chase all those bad school busses, garbage trucks, cars, truck and trailers away from her sheep.

The ewes started lambing again in November 2016. Paris was there with them. She was respectful, stayed out of the way, but was right there guarding her ewes and new lambs.

Paris went from an unwanted chicken killer to a backyard chicken guard. She made the move to the country and became a sheep guardian. There were lots of bumps and lumps along the way, but Paris is an integral part of our farm and we can't imagine it without her watchful eye on things.

 

[CrealCritter]

This is our 100% outdoor free range guard dog. He sleeps most of the day under the workbench in my wood shop. He patrols the perimeter of the property at night, even has a path worn down. Anyone or anything comes up on the property he lets us know instantly he'll wake from a dead sleep during the day to bark and let us know. We got him from the animal shelter full grown, he's some kind of Shepard mix and takes his job seriously, very seriously. He even goes up to the nieghbor at night to check the horses and make sure their ok. On top of high protein dog chow, he gets atleast one raw fresh egg a day, he waits for me to come out of the coop - so he can get his egg and eats the shell and all.

And if anyone would ever try and come into the house un-greeted. They would have to contend with my wife's indoor 8 month old (already 70 lbs) Rottweiler pup - who my wife has named "Baby Bear".

We view farm dogs, first as guard dogs, second as family pets.

 

[baymule]

Thanks to all for the kind comments. I can be very practical, haul lambs to slaughter, butcher my own pig and chickens. Death comes on a regular basis when you have animals. They live, they die, but it's what they do in between that matters. Polly was my girl. I've had many dogs and I'll have many more, but Polly was just one of those special dogs.

 

[sumi]

Mine was a Bouvier x Staffordshire Terrier (no prizes for guessing who the dad was ) called Lelik (Afrikaans word for "ugly" - He was as a puppy)

 

[baymule]

Have to add to Parker's story. Our daughter has been out of town since Wednesday on business. She got home today, Saturday, after 6 PM. The children have missed her terribly. Our son in law brought the girls out today for our entertainment, LOL. I took the 2 year old to do the evening chores with me. We were at the portable building and I saw Trip alert. He was about to jump the fence into Pasture #1, so I called him and opened the gate. He ran to the front. Parker alerted too, but by this time, the 2 year old had walked inside the gate, next to Parker. Parker looked toward the road and growled his deep, menacing growl. He almost NEVER growls. In fact, our neighbor Robert was astonished when I told him about it, he has never heard Parker growl in the 3 years we have been here.

Trip was running up and down the front fence, barking. Parker stayed next to our grand daughter, protecting her from the threat. I even walked away to see what he would do, but he stayed with the baby, still growling. So I walked back to him, took the baby's hand and we went to see what was stirring the dogs up. A runner came by, Trip went mad, lunging at the fence, snarling and barking. Parker stayed close to us, but he ran to the front to bark, then ran back to us. Several more runners came by, all of them looked what we call, "Plumb tuckered out." LOL

Clearly, Parker wanted to run up front and bark too. But he stayed close to the 2 year old little girl, protecting her from danger. I praised and petted him, what a dog!

 

[CrealCritter]

My wife's less than 1 year old male Rottweiler named "Baby Bear" is huge now. I remember when he couldn't even jump up on the couch. Now he just backs up and sits his butt on the couch. If I'm gone for any length of time, He meets me jumps up and puts his front legs on my shoulders and I'm 6' tall. If I take him with me in the veggie hauler he sits his butt in the passenger seat, front paws on the floor board and rests his head on the dashboard. Good God "baby bear" is like a freaking horse. I said something to my wife about how big he's gotten and she said yes... but he will always be my baby bear.

I pity the poor fool who would want come into the house un-invited. He has a very deep bark that says "I'm a Big Rottweiler"

 

[CrealCritter]

Last night we had a large pack of coyotes pass through. I heard them sitting in the living room. By the time I got my shot gun, boots and coat on, they we're gone.

I've been leaving the chicken yard gate open, electric fence off and this morning I found a pile of feathers but no chicken. Plus the man door to the coop was open and the nursery yard gate was also open.

I searched around the yard for more feathers but thankfully it looks like the coyotes only got one hen. I have my chickens on lock down now and the electric fence on also.

Its cold and rainy this evening, i went out out to the wood shop to feed my hunting dog. When I turned on the light, there's my hunting dog cuddled up with a hen on the blanket I have layed out for him under my work bench. It was the oddest sight seeing a dog cuddled up with a chicken hen. I grabbed the hen an took her back to the chicken yard then fed my hunting dog. I suspect she had been in the shop all day still afraid of the coyotes. She still had all her feathers so she wasn't the one that the coyotes got a hold of.