Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Soliciting input: Guardian dogs

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Pego Rice <firekeeper38@yahoo.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Soliciting input: Guardian dogs
  • Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2010 14:21:01 -0700 (PDT)

I am more of a dog handler than a person who keeps Guardians at this time but I do get an interesting span of comments from owners & contact with these breeds. 
 
Maremma and Kuvasz are the more sober, less child-patient cousins of Great Pyrs.  I like all 3 but the GP is a really exceptional dog if you want one that needs to deal with large predators and also needs to be around small children.  Komondors are a related breed but take a stupid amount of maintenance.  I've also handled a South Russian Ovtcharka, which does need overmuch maintenance, but more in the order of an Old English Sheepdog.  These later 3 are both family oriented but all of the above sometimes think of poultry as fun to chase tasty-treats and not the "real"  livestock or family they are supposed to guard. 
 
Some herding breeds are more multi-tasking and can get more attached to poultry.  Of these I'd go with Border Collies, which are both exceptionally smart and easily find an emotional connection to small stock.  I've even seen BCs become devoted to the care of Guinea Pigs.  After that, Australian Shepherds, Blue or Red Heelers, possibly Corgies, tho Corgies and Heelers may have too much energy to be acceptable for poultry care.  (may scare them to death by accident) 
 
To find a good breeder, find the AKC-registered national breed group to call for an address to send their secretary a small fee (normally $5 to $15) for a list of breeders.  Any responsible breeder will work with a flock owner to pull out the puppy most likely to be good with their situation.  These breeders can usually be worked with if you need to bring one back and look to a different puppy.  Breed-specific rescue groups are usually willing to work with you as well. 
 
For the long-haired or double-coated breeds, owners need to, at a minimum, be able to take time to comb or rake the coats once every couple of weeks, particularly in the spring and fall. I usually see owners trying to make do with brushes, which will never work adequatly.  For the Komondor, OES or Ovtcharka a comb and a brush will be needed, with regular hair clipping.  Komondors, in full coat, get dread locks that are very fussy to start and clean and take about 3 days to dry (no kidding) when in full length.  (like I said, stupid amount of work)  
 
All dogs will need nail trimming to keep the nails from growing so long they distort bone growth.  This is less frequent when they are used to running over rocks and concrete but if you can hear nails clicking when your dogs is at a slow walk, they are too long and must be trimmed.  The other necessities are checking ears and teeth.  Vets almost never tell owners how often they need care due to it's cost, so keep ahead of it by giving your dog fresh raw chicken necks and long beef bones to chew (all either free-range/organic to help avoid disease), plus dental chews of various sorts.  Bad smells from ears or teeth are important to pay attention to.
 
 
Yours, Pego Rice




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page