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Some of what you want is mutually exclusive. Often dogs that are good at protection have a lot of prey drive and would kill chickens (e.g., GSDs). Dogs that would not harm chickens are often not particularly protective. I think you need one of the livestock guardian breeds like a Great Pyrenees or Anatolian Shepherd. They may shed a lot though but if you expect your dog to be outside a lot it probably needs a thick coat.
There are different manifestations of prey drive. Hunting dogs behave much differently than herding dogs. It is much harder to have bird dogs and chickens, than it is to have shepherds and chickens. Both take training... but it's best if you get a dog that doesn't have to have every instinct it has, trained out of them. Don't fight nature.
Best tip above is the best rural dog is on your own property! Don't expect the neighbors to all welcome your dog at their house, with their livestock.
We kennel train our dogs with the kennel thing in the house.
Our son brought his pit here when He moved back home.
We use a radio shock collar that we an adjust to leagnthen or decrease his boundary area.
We ruled out having a pit and will most likely go with a cattle dog.
Our last one was 14 when he passed.
Most livestock guard dogs have a desire to wander. Whereas, people focused guard dogs tend to stick. I have both. If you are on a small place, you will be better off with a personal guard dog breed.
We kennel train our dogs with the kennel thing in the house.
Our son brought his pit here when He moved back home.
We use a radio shock collar that we an adjust to leagnthen or decrease his boundary area.
We ruled out having a pit and will most likely go with a cattle dog.
Our last one was 14 when he passed.
Training, GOOD OF YOU!!!!!!
Someone we knew put a GPS collar on her dog and walked their perimeter with it to train the dog where the boundaries were.
There are different manifestations of prey drive. Hunting dogs behave much differently than herding dogs. It is much harder to have bird dogs and chickens, than it is to have shepherds and chickens. Both take training... but it's best if you get a dog that doesn't have to have every instinct it has, trained out of them. Don't fight nature.
Best tip above is the best rural dog is on your own property! Don't expect the neighbors to all welcome your dog at their house, with their livestock.
Prey drive has negative effects on things other than livestock, too. One neighbor has two dogs that have formed a hunting pack. I have seen them chase deer that jumped over our low, old barbed-wire fence (which I would hope the deer can do). Unfortunately, the dogs follow the deer into our property by running through the strand gaps. I have seen far too many of their pawprints all over our place now, and the dogs have the nerve to bark at us when we are on our own property. They do not seem to have much in the way of brains.
There is going to be a new fence that deer can still jump over. The dogs, not so much.
If the owners don’t like our fence, oh, well. We like having the mix of wildlife that tries to survive here, and the deer population is kept in check by means other than loose pets.
We also could get a couple of big, silent, stealthy, territorial dogs to keep the unwelcome ones away.
Agreed. I really don't like people who let their dogs roam, and we have some too, that do. I too have gone to considerable expense to fence them OUT. I wish their owners would fence them IN.
Agreed. I really don't like people who let their dogs roam, and we have some too, that do. I too have gone to considerable expense to fence them OUT. I wish their owners would fence them IN.
I don’t remember what WA law required, but CO is a free range state, often called a fence-out state. This is obviously a carryover from when ranching was more prevalent. The law was abused by a guy near our old neighborhood who would TRUCK OVER “his” cattle (they almost certainly belonged to someone he was charging grazing fees), truck them over a steep ridge between his home and our area, which he would then turn loose. People got sick of finding “his” assortment hanging out over septic leach fields, in driveways, u der building eaves, etc. Then he had the gall to suggest that we pay him to install a fence. Last I checked, he was running a “horse time-share” ownership program. Yeah, right.
We have no recourse that is under our control other than fencing the dogs out. In the city, there is a leash law, but not this county. Some counties do have a leash law throughout the county (our old one did).
I wish you luck in solving your dog problem. Or, more correctly, the owner problem.
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