New Anatolian Shephard puppy - Questions

[AgnesGray]

You will figure this out. yes, you will make mistakes, but you will correct them. These dogs are resilient, smart and do fantastic jobs at what they do, no matter what our inept efforts are. The fact that the breeder lives near you is awesome, you have a mentor nearby.

Fence your entire property, it can be done in stages, 1 pasture at a time. That's what we did.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Livestock Guardian Dogs. I never want to be without 1 or 2 or 3 or 4............

This is spot on! We have learned so much from our dogs and with them as they've grown. Can't imagine ever not having them now. Unlike any dogs we've ever had before them. Best "help" we've ever had too.

 

[Hideaway Pines]

Our pup, Jojo, is doing great. For now, she is inside, but once my hubby finishes the dog fence around the dog kennel she will be moved outside, this space will be about 1,700 sq ft, so she will have lots of room. But she needs to be bigger too - at her current size our hawks or owls could still make off with her. She is a super sweet and lovable dog and is learning basic things at this point like, sit, wait (with treat in front of her nose) down and so forth. She has only had one accident in the house (my fault), she knows where she is supposed to do business, so that is good. But looking forward to getting her more accustomed to my chicks and rabbits. She has met them, and it went fine. She loves our other dogs, two of the three think she is great, the old girl Misha (Coton de Touler) thinks she is a pain but all in all they are doing great. Sadie is our youngest one and she is doing a good job of playing with her and teaching her the ropes. Jojo is good to stay at my heels when we go for long walks each day, I am hopeful this will continue. If not, I will put a long lead on her to reign her in a bit. We are considering getting some other animal along with the pigs so she will have something to guard in that area during the time frame we don't have feeder pigs... but may wait to see how she does with the pigs, chicks and rabbits first... it has been fun having a pup again. I am a sucker for puppy breath and watching a pup learn new things.

 

[Baymule]

She is going to do great! She is off to a good start. Work with her as often as you can with the chicks and rabbits. You are doing great.

 

[Ridgetop]

Please do not put her in with the pigs since she is too small. They will savage her and can kill her.

 

[Hideaway Pines]

Please do not put her in with the pigs since she is too small. They will savage her and can kill her.

you are right, she is too small right now... and since we have not got the pig pen or pigs ready yet (it is not an issue right now), we are thinking March or April before we start them. She should be old enough by then (6 months) to be in there, and we will get baby pigs so they will not be too large so they can all get accustomed to each other - we hope to have her 1700 sq ft dog yard done in the next few days, this also has her kennel with attached doghouse in it, so she can get totally out of the elements. But for now, she is happy inside with us - she is doing so good, this morning she told me she wanted outside, did all her business without me stepping off the back porch (that was a first) and the other dogs are playing more and more with her too. she is bonding with us all.

 

[Baymule]

I feel your worry about the pigs. I’ve never had predator problems with pigs. Their pen is up against the dogs patrol. They protect the young pigs without realizing it. But generally, nothing messes with pigs. Your dog doesn’t have to be in with the pigs, next to them or the ability to patrol around the pig pen would take care of it.

 

[Hideaway Pines]

I may try that too, but my goal is to have her willing to be in with any critter we have, we have some roosters that I am considering placing in with the pigs too, and we are thinking of getting other livestock as well (not too many, just one or two). Since the pig yard will be several acers, we have room for other things in there. Some neighbors near us have multiple critters (including pigs) in such a space, so this is what caused us to consider this idea. But either way, her dog run is very close to this area, so she can be on alert if need be. We plan to put any young pigs into a smaller yard inside this area to start with - then once they are big enough to find their way around the bigger pig yard, they will get the free range of the whole space...at least that is our plan at this moment, things morph once you get started on projects (at least ours do) we adjust as we land on better solutions to the things we are doing. I plan to visit a local farmer who raises pigs over the Christmas break. They will be giving me tons of advice on our construction of the pig area - I am sure we will come home with other ideas we need to incorporate in our plan. I so appreciate all the advice; I gather everyone's input and then try to come up with the best way to make it all work for our situation. We do have a lot of coyotes who have moved in recently due to some neighbors clearing some land. So concerned they will find easy prey in our pigs... or anything else we do get. We got Jojo with the mindset that she would be the guardian of all things on our place - really hope she lives up to the things we have read about this breed. If so, we will be thrilled!

 

[Baymule]

Feeder pigs I’ve had would eat the roosters. I never put any other animal with pigs. Never.

 

[Baymule]

You have this vision where all the animals live together in one big pen. I hate to tell you, but for the most part, it is not grounded in reality. Does it happen sometimes? Yes. But more often than not, it doesn’t. I would not even put a grown dog in with pigs.

My last feeder pigs killed and ate a crow that flew in to look for morsels of feed.

 

[Hideaway Pines]

wow, okay then, good to know!