Opinions Please

[Baymule]

Put up a good fence and hot wire it. That will keep YOUR dogs in and THEIR dogs out. Their dogs can be the alpha dogs over their own domain and since they don't like shocking experiences, they will stay out of your sheep pasture.

 

[Bluekat2u]

Get a llama. It will protect the herd in the pasture with it, and the landowners concern might be alleviated with this solution. My llama keeps the neighbors dogs out of the pasture, otherwise we would have no birds left at all, and you cant allow neighborhood dogs back into your birds area again, once they kill birds they will never ever stop. Ever.

 

[Rammy]

What about a donkey? I know the farmers around here have alot of them. They sure will stomp a dog or a coyote after the baby calves.

 

[Ron Bequeath]

My family lives on 12 acres with another family. They have ~12 goats and a Pyrenese. We have ~6 sheep and were going to get an Anatolian to be with them at all times. We were told not to get the Anatolian and that they would get another Pyrenese to run free and gaurd the whole property. We do not feel like our sheep will be protected because 1) the Pyrenese is accustomed to staying with their goats and 2) with ferral dogs, coyotes, and bobcats, we don't think response time will be fast enough with just the two of them running 12 acres with two seperate herds. We think even with the two Pyrenese gaurding the whole property, we need an lsg to stay with our sheep. Are we being unreasonable?

I don't have either of the large breeds but do have cows, goats and many other live stock. I live on a farmette of 7.75 acres nestled in tbe heart area of 400 acres. My animals roam at least 10 to 15 acres. The dogs i use are a pair of Australian shepherds. They keep the 14 or more coyotes that my neighbor from Pittsburgh feeds all winter at bay til my friend has time to come in and take care of the wild doys, coyotes, opossum, raccoon and other varmine. They not only drive the animals in at night they cover all twenty close acers and the vermine stay clear of my place. They even hear things that I never hear and are out in a flash after them, between them and me we have put a number of vermine to their demise. They follow commands readily, and of course herd readily. They clean the kids when born and watch the herd with out being told. Although they don't mix with the herd their speed and agility gets them were their needed quickly. Even yo the fact that they clear a 39 inch fence if needs be. Hope this opens up another track of thought. And mine are not what the books say. At my age 67, they are loving and focused, yes do play hard, do shed amply, but if brushed regularly are manageable, they are laid back and easily managed. Make nice bed partners also, on the friged nights.

 

[Ron Bequeath]

Get a llama. It will protect the herd in the pasture with it, and the landowners concern might be alleviated with this solution. My llama keeps the neighbors dogs out of the pasture, otherwise we would have no birds left at all, and you cant allow neighborhood dogs back into your birds area again, once they kill birds they will never ever stop. Ever.

i had a dalmation cross and an aussie purebred, both killed the dalmation was his nature aussie was for sport. Broke both of them. The dalmation became the best groundhog dog wiping out 76 in one summer and never would even look at my geese, ducks, guienies, quail, or chickens, after the incident. The aussie now just herds all the animals even after being kicked by the cows a few times.

 

[jsteph3919]

My family lives on 12 acres with another family. They have ~12 goats and a Pyrenese. We have ~6 sheep and were going to get an Anatolian to be with them at all times. We were told not to get the Anatolian and that they would get another Pyrenese to run free and gaurd the whole property. We do not feel like our sheep will be protected because 1) the Pyrenese is accustomed to staying with their goats and 2) with ferral dogs, coyotes, and bobcats, we don't think response time will be fast enough with just the two of them running 12 acres with two seperate herds. We think even with the two Pyrenese gaurding the whole property, we need an lsg to stay with our sheep. Are we being unreasonable?

 

[jsteph3919]

I have 10 acres with 7 goats, 2 cows, 6 chicken and 3 geese with one labradoodle to watch them all. 3 of my goats just had babies. I have never had any issues. There is wooded land all around me.

 

[Dee Mini Pigs]

Hey, hi,
Are you aware or have raised an anotolian shepard dog? Cause if you do not know the breed, be very careful with who you source your pup from. As an experienced Anatolian owner they are hard work and. Although they will protect, they need extreme guardianship, meaning, unless they are to 3 to 5 years of age,even then they depend on direction from you! you got to watch them. These dogs have served as guard dogs for the Gallipoli War and still serve. There nature is very dependant evenmore than that of a wild Australia dingo. I owned one.a bitch. She was loyal, subjective would also command. But....... as soon as they can’t see you they will engage in hunt or very sneaky behaviour, rip clothes up off the line, steal food, jump fences, they are particularly good at jumping fences up to 6 feet. This bitch I had from a pup was not a working dog,just a pet living with all the rest of the heard. She tried eat my pigs and Then at 7 months , after living with her and teaching her the rules, she decided to go my daughters 11 year old pure bred rag doll cat, owned by her since she sold her motor bike for 1000 dollars. Her love and joy ,, gone, the antonlian got her in a silent kill whilst I was around the corner hanging washing. I heard not a thing....Your Shepard must be kennelled when not working! I am a lover of all dogs and animals but would really recommend unless you you are in full master ship of your Anatolian and are always home and they are in sight and in control, I would not get one! They are very sneaky breed with a mind of their own, love Dee

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Oh wow - my experience with raising an Anatolian puppy was totally different. He came to me at 10 weeks and stayed mainly in the yard with another dog for a few months - going out with me to meet the herd and the other dog - a pyr - under supervision. By 4 months of age he was pretty much full-time in the pasture with his supervisor - the Pyr. He got rolled a couple of times by mama goats only because he LOVED his goats and wanted to be near them. He learned which goats loved him back and which didn't in a short amount of time. He is 100% trustworthy with the babies and will do anything it takes to keep them safe. He barks at the cats next door just to let me know they are there and then goes back to his goats. I can honestly say that the only negative behavior was that he didn't respect the fence line and wanted to add acres and acres to his "territory." An electric fence stopped that and now I couldn't ask for a better guardian for my herd.

 

[Ridgetop]

If they will be running together you will need to make sure they get along.

What @Baymule said.

IMO that is too much land for 2 dogs.

Depending on the amount of brush cover and the topography of the property - flat, hilly, wooded - I think that 2 dogs work better and get less stressed when they have back up.

Now, why do you want an Anatolian instead of anther Pyrenees? We had Pyrenees LGDs for years, a total of 5, and 1 Sar Planinetz. We did not lose any livestock, they were good workers, friendly with children, sweet tempered with family, good watchdogs, and easy going.

Now we have 3 Anatolians. I did a lot of research before buying an Antolian since many have very sharp dispositions and can be aggressive if not trained or socialized. Properly bred and trained, Anatolians are not any worse than many other LGD breeds. We have found them to be superior to our Pyrs because they stay with the sheep and do not leave the property. They all came from one bloodline - a Basque sheep man in Bakersfield who ran his flock on leased government land. He and several other Basque herders would take a trailer into the mountains and live with about 2000-5000 sheep for the summer. They had at least 12 Pyrenees to protect the sheep. These dogs needed to set their own perimeter. I think this is why we had trouble with our Pyrs roaming - genetically that bloodline wanted to establish further perimeters than our fences. Our Pyrs were impossible to keep inside our fences. 30 years ago our neighbors did not mind our Pyrs guarding their property from the coyotes, but the neighborhood has changed. Where our other Pyrs climbed over the wire fences, our Anatolians patrol inside them. They are excellent guardians, and we have had them inside the house at night for family time where they are quiet and relaxed until they hear a threat. (Our Pyrs resisted coming inside as though being dragged to torture.) Our first Anatolian had never been around children, she was 18 months when we bought her. She bonded with the children and adores them. The others have been raised with my grandchildren and would die to protect them. Our male used to chase our old barn cat up into the loft - we thought - then we found them cuddled up sleeping together one day. Apparently the chasing was a game they enjoyed.

The only negative behavior we have had with our Anatolians has been the killing of several hoses, and the destruction of our patio furniture cushions, all by puppies. They no longer kill hoses, nor do they chew up cushions. We foiled the cushion chewing by purchasing deck boxes and putting the cushions away when not in use.

We do have a large kennel run where we incarcerate our male when strangers are on the property doing work. Occasionally the female joins him when necessary. Bubba has "true Anatolian temperament" which means he doesn't trust strangers, doesn't want them on his property, and may decide to chase them off the property. Locking the dogs up is for our protection from litigious workmen. Our dogs are loose on our property with the livestock at all times other than when strangers are working here, which is seldom. They need to be loose to protect our livestock. They have never attacked any of our animals.

However, having said all that, WHAT IS YOUR RENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE OWNERS OF THE PROPERTY? Are you living in another house on the other side of the open space, or are you all occupying the same house? Are your sheep in a separate pasture from their goats and is theIr LGD penned with their goats?

First, ask if the owners will allow you to fence off your house and the pastures and woods that you want your LGD to guard. If you do this at your own expense, and do it correctly, the owners will probably be agreeable.

Second, all Anatolians want to be dominant. You can run 2 females of different ages together, or 1 male and 1 female together, but you cannot run 2 males of the same age together or even 1 male Anatolian with another male dog if medium or larger size. You also cannot run 1 female Anatolian together with another female dog of medium to similar size. While I love my Anatolians, they are spaced by several years and gender - Bitch - 6 years, Male - 3 years, bitch - 3 months. You can run more Anatolians if they have their own pastures to patrol. (You can have a miniature breed as a pet along with your Anatolian. I don't think Anatolians recognize tiny dogs as dogs!) Pyrenees, on the other hand, in our experience are not as aggressively dominant as Anatolians and will co-exist with same sex Pyrenees in the same pack.

Third, since the other family has offered to obtain anther Pyrenees LGD, why don't you accept their offer, but ask that the new dog remain in the pasture with your sheep instead of just running loose on the perimeter. That way you do not have to front the money for a guardian dog yourselves. Dominance in a dog pack (any number of dogs over 1) is a normal situation that they will establish among themselves. Pyrenees usually will live alongside each other fairly well. However, by adding an Anatolian, you increase the risk of fights for dominance. It is not unknown for Anatolians to fight to the death to establish dominance.

I really suggest that you discuss the possibility of fencing off your portion of the land from theirs, and consider getting a Pyrenees which would decrease the possibility of any antagonistic interaction between the two guardian dogs. If you move to your own place in the future, you can get an Anatolian then.