checking into another LGD

[treeclimber233]

Even tho I am still very upset about losing Drift I am worried about leaving my goats unguarded at the barn. I still think I see him out of the corner of my eye and expect him to come running around the corner any moment. I have seen some dogs advertised on Craigslist but they are both adult males. Neutered I hope. I am wondering if I should get them because I already have a female Border Collie mix. Since Drift grew up with her there was never a problem with them but will an adult male be as accepting of her. She does not chase the goat because they don't run from her anymore. She runs toward them trying to get them to run and they just stand there looking at her like she is crazy. Would I be ok getting an adult male (3 years old) or should I get another young dog and let him grow up with my Border Collie>

 

[woodsie]

what kind of crosses are you talking about? Some LGDs are more dog tolerant than others. Definitely get a male so you don't have females fighting for alpha female positioning. I would ask the person selling and seeing how they are with other dogs....and make a judgement call on if they are giving you the whole truth.

I found most people very honest with me when I was looking for an adult farm dog....unfortunately I couldn't find something suitable and ended up with a pup so I could train it the way I wanted and he's been awesome so far. I have also taken a chance with my Male Pyr who was in 3 previous homes before he turned 2 and with some (okay lots) work he has turned out to be the BEST, most incredible dog, but we did have our trials while we were both learning what works.

 

[babsbag]

I would be really worried that Drift was poisoned by someone intentionally and that they will just do again. Please be careful.

 

[treeclimber233]

I am going to reinforce my fences and put the invisible fence around the area the goats go in. I know that people say the invisible fence does not work for LGD but I already have fence that Drift had to crawl over or thru. Since he respected my hot wire fence I think it will work on a dog once it learns to stay away from the fence. It may not work on a dog where there is just open yard with no real barrier marking the line (except little flags that are removed)where they can just run thru full steam ahead. And more hot wire along the top too.

 

[Robbin]

I finally got my inground fence to work, but you have to turn the warning off, so they can't gauge the exact distance to bolt from. Once they get stung enough, you can turn the warning back on. Mine rarely ever challanges the fence now.

 

[woodsie]

Should work well for you....I have the invisible fence running along my pasture fence and they have never escaped since I installed it that way and they were previously finding all sort of ways to escape, under, over, through gates. Now they can't get close enough to test for gaps or lower fences so everyone is happy in the pasture....they are now so bonded to the animals that they aren't looking to escape anyhow but it worked really well in tandem with a standard fence.

Someone left the gate wide open the other day and Sampson, my runner, was still at his post right in view of the open gate not even thinking of escaping....good boy! Daisy my milker goat had no problem taking full advantage of the open gate...found her in the front yard hoovering up the first falling leaves.

 

[bcnewe2]

I have found that females usually rule the roost. Most males will bow to the powers of a female. So if introduced properly I think it could work.

I would worry about your under ground fence or any electric. If the dogs were raised respecting it already then you would be good to go but if it had never had any training with it you might find yourself in a predicament.
I had 2 lgd's in AR. it was very rural and lots of big predators. I had very tight barbwire, over 6 strands. Didn't keep the sheep in nor did it deter the lgd's who were following their sheep. I put a hot wire on the bottom, everyone had to hit it to get through the fence. Sheep totally respected it but the lgd's were hairy, and quick. They either choose to take the shock or didn't feel it cause it did nothing to contain them.

The Anatolian that I have now respects a single hot wire, even if it's off. She was hit with a good strong hot wire at a young age. She doesn't want to test one again.
Difference between the dogs was the dog that respects it was raised with it and predator risk is low so I don't think she is motivated to go through. But the AR dogs (which happen to be pyr and a pyrX) grew up wandering the fields where ever they chose to go and did some very active patrolling of predator filled areas. So I think I changed their boundaries and they didn't agree! plus the predator load had them at high alert with high adrenaline

I think it will be a try it and see basis on adult males. Hopefully the owners will be up front with you. I always am when selling or placing a dog, I sold the AR dogs when I sold their sheep. The new owners told me they preformed exactly as I had warned. Even going out in the road to stop traffic if they thought the cars were to close to their sheep. Thank doG them nor I lived on a busy road! I don't want the dog to surprise the new owners with behaviors I knew about but kept mum.

Good luck. and I am so sorry about your loss of Drift.