I am looking into sheep and have questions.

[Finnie]

What Baymule said.

Also, I’ve read that you shouldn’t get an LGD until after you have the livestock for it to guard. So you have some time. If you are wanting a replacement pup for your hunting dog because he’s starting to get old, then that would be separate from an LGD. For that the possibilities are endless. I have seen a pit bull that was an awesome all around farm dog. Then there is the Old Time Scotch Collie.

Your shepherd mix sounds like a great dog. I wonder how hard it would be to get another that was the same. Probably a crap shoot. One mix I would definitely stay away from is any type of LGD-herding dog mix. You don’t want to combine chasing instincts into a livestock guard mentality. You will learn about this kind of thing when you stalk the LGD section of the forum.

 

[secuono]

Curious how many here have LGD that lives with the herd 24x7x365?
View attachment 79621

I do.
Always outside, never in my house or on my porch.
Just got a 3/4 Anatolian, tiny bit of GP mixed in, and she's far superior to all my previous dogs. She has real instincts to be with her sheep & not wherever else.

LGD breeds are-
Short coated- Akbash, Anatolian, Kangal.
Longer coated- Great Pyrenees, Karakachan, Komondor(dreadlocks), Maremma & Polish Tatra.

There are a few others, but they are very new to the states & haven't been proven to do the job yet. At least, not that I've seen, so, I left those off.

Her first snow, sleeps out on snow instead of in barn during the day. Short coat doesn't make her cold, not like a Doberman coat, that is very short & thin, with no undercoat.

 

[Baymule]

You MUST have a good fence. LGDs own the land they stand on, they own everything they see. If they are not contained, they roam. Many get lost that way.

My dogs are outside 24-7, but they all can come in to have a short time off. On stormy nights, Trip, our male Great Pyrenees, will come to the house and we let him in. He is terrified of thunder, was before and after being neutered. We do put him out when we go to bed, and he stays on the porch.

 

[Beekissed]

CC, my best LGD was a female Akbash and I could take her anywhere. I used to take her to the nursing home where I worked and she would sit up and beg like a poodle and the residents would give her dog treats. She was not dog aggressive to dogs off her own guard territory, people friendly to the max unless they were creeping around the place when we were not at home and even got her picture on the cover of Star magazine once. She was an all around excellent family dog and beautiful to behold.

She would roam if not in fencing, though, as I didn't have large acreage for her to guard but she also obeyed wireless electric containment perfectly even without a physical fence in place. Very sensitive to training and correction of any kind.

I haven't had pure Anatolians long enough to attest to how they will be towards humans when they get old enough to be considered mature. Right now I'm really liking how Blue stays on the land when he could be roaming all over(he can slip easily under the high tensile)....he stays with his flock and this new little one seems to be bonding even more closely to the sheep than he is. That sort of behavior keeps a dog home, no matter the fencing you have.

The other day one of our absentee neighbors was walking our property line and Blue had seen him here once before, so was not barking at him....but he was definitely keeping a close eye on him. Meanwhile, the little 9 wk old female pup had moved the flock to the extreme back of that paddock and was barking at the man from there, way up on the hill. I was just gobstoppered over that little pup's instincts....I've never seen one so young bark at strangers, nor know what to do when a threat appeared. Blue advanced towards the threat, but since he had seen this man talking to me previously for some time and I went down to speak to him once again, he was not barking or posturing at him. Pinky moved the stock as far from the perceived threat as she could get them and then guarded from that high point.

So far I'm incredibly impressed with the intelligence and instinct I see in the Anatolian breed.

 

[Beekissed]

Can't see the pic, CC. 100 sheep on 5 acres???? He has a feed lot situation.....very hard to manage parasites in such a setup. If I were you I'd try to go on FB in your state and find folks who are farming sheep the way you want to, because all the advice you get from a feed lot farmer is going to be geared towards that kind of farming and doesn't translate well to someone who is going to be mostly grass based and rotating pasture.

 

[Baymule]

Many people, many ways of doing things, many ideas, all combine for you to sort out and apply what works for you.

Gee, what words of wisdom, I sound Smart!

OR...........

Many people, many ways of doing things, many ideas, all combine to confuse the crap outa you and it is all clear as a bucket of mud.

 

[Baymule]

Oh no, never give up! Just make mudpies!