Dogs and farm/ranch life . . . stupid question

[melindaregner]

I live in a very VERY remote rural area. We are 45 minutes to an hour from our closest towns. We have lived here since the summer of 2004, and I have been coming out here since September 2000. My husband has had the land since the early 1980s.

I am a Boxer person and have had them in my life for 60 years. We also have a rescue German Wirehaired Pointer (GWP), and kept 2 of her pups, born January 17. Both Boxers and GWPs have a strong prey instinct, and I am told that GWPs used for retrieving will kill the prey if it is still alive when retrieving. Our dogs live in both the house and stock panel yard, and only run free when the sheep are put up or in empty pastures. The GWP will walk through the chickens and cats, and even former bottle baby lambs, and pay no attention to them. My current Boxer is less than 2 years old and has chased the chickens and cats, but only mouths them.

Traveling to our surrounding towns I have seen a HUGE turn over in farm/ranch dogs that are allowed to free range. I have seen a lot of Boxers, but they do not last more than a year. One guy, who died recently in his early 50s, went through 12 dogs. I stopped counting after 4 years. Other people close to us, within 6 miles, and traveling to and from our "close towns" go through lots of dogs. I have no idea what happens to them. People who keep dogs in yards around their houses seem to have their dogs for years. Hog dogs, retrievers and pointers are kenneled when not working. I have no idea what their attrition rate is. I see mixed breeds and Blue Heelers in the cowboy trailers with the horses going to and from working cattle. Have no idea what their attrition rate is either. It it is the free ranging dogs that do not last long and disappear.

The only breeds I have seen that free range and have been with their owners for years and years are Labs and Golden Retrievers.

Is what I am seeing NORMAL for rural living?

I love my dogs, but they are NOT rural type dogs in my opinion.

What kind of dogs do ya'll have? Do some free range and others not? Do ya'll have LGDs and other dogs? Do they mix together or not?

What are the best dogs to free range when you have live stock?

Thanks!

They are not the usual rural dogs or farm dogs. But they are trainable. It is up to you how you trained them. It's better to train them not to range and run loose whether you're with them or not. Let me remind you that the leading cause of death of dogs is IRRESPONSIBILITY.. owners who let their dogs range free don't see their dogs alive again(most of them). Good luck and have fun training them.

 

[rockdoveranch]

Oh no no no. I have no intention of allowing my dogs free range. Even when I lived in Houston I always had locks on my gates. No way my dogs were ever going to get out of my yard or front door unless on lead.

I was just wondering about what I see out here in nowhere Texas and whether this is what most rural folk do.

I noticed I had a typo. My dogs only run free "when the sheep are put up and in empty pastures." When walking to the pastures, 400 - 600 foot away, and much much farther if we go to the big pond, I do allow my GWP off lead because she stays with me. She has a keen devotion to me. I think it was because she was a stray. My Boxer now must be on lead because he WILL go after the chickens and cats mouthing them if he catches them. Interesting though, when inside closed pastures, my GWP is off and running non-stop and my Boxer stays close to me or in eye sight.

I just don't understand how people can go through so many dogs. Don't they grieve when they loose a dog?

 

[goatsintheopen]

I just don't understand how people can go through so many dogs. Don't they grieve when they loose a dog?

I know right?!

we had a problem with a couple dogs coming onto our property..had a talk with ALL the owners of the dogs. actually, we had quite a few as we were trying to be patient and give the owners a chance to do something.

Long story short..two of our roosters were attacked by a dog one saturday morning, when we were gone..very next saturday morning, there are two dogs almost at our back door..next to our goat pen and chicken pens.

One dog got away, one dog didn't. took the collar of the dead dog back to it's owner.. the owner seeing my DH asks if her dog was on our property again. He tells her her dog is No longer alive and hands her the collar.

He said she had NO REPSONSE..said he was more upset than she was or looked. said she just kept smiling at him as he told her what happened. ????

 

[carolinagirl]

I just don't understand how people can go through so many dogs. Don't they grieve when they loose a dog?

many people only grieve because of the monetary loss. Some got the dog for free and have almost nothing invested in it (poor quality food, no vetting) and certainly no emotional investment. To them, a dog is nothing but a possession that can easily be replaced with a new, cuter, younger version. Pathetic, isn't it?

I wish my anatolian was already here and old enough to work. Our neighborhood has been having a lot of 2-legged predators lately. So far they are leaving animals alone and stealing farm gates, steel, tractor implements, whatever they can get money for at the scrap yard. Time to get more secuity around here!