Lgd Video From Saskwatchen

[sandgrubber]

These guys raise and advocate a mixed breed LGD pack, some to work close to the animals, some to more directly confront and chase predators.

I'd be interested to hear opinions from the LGD people on DOL I thought it was good, but I don't know much about LGD's

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/obmBXCzTp2Q?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://www.youtube....mBXCzTp2Q#t=377

p.s. having trouble getting the video to come up. One of the links should work.

[Sabbath]

I don't know loads about LGD breeds either so this was very interesting.

[DakotaJ]

What a great video, so interesting. It seems like a big win- win, the dogs doing what they are bred for, the ranchers sustaining their livelihood and the wild predators being discouraged without being killed. Great publicity tool for LGD breeders

[cali]

ahem "Saskatchewan" lol sorry, pet peeve, I live there ;)

I don't know a lot about LGD's either, sounds cool though lol. I can totally understand the need for that though, Saskatchewan is populated almost entirely in the the south, up north where this is, its pretty much wilderness with native reserves. there are packs of wolves and coyotes, as well as good size populations of bears, cougars, linx etc.. a whole lot of predators and very little human disturbance to keep them wary. down here in southern Sask. we have coyotes mostly and a small population(300)of cougars. Coyotes are the biggest threat. most of the farmers have Meremma, Pyr's or Kuvasz.

[espinay2]

In general a pack of the same breed will work in a similar way. It is always interesting to see how they operate. Some stay back and may even move the flock to safety while others act as a front line against the predators.

If you want to read more about the different breeds etc a good place to start is www.lgd.org. If you go to my website links page you will also find links to other videos.

[Steve]

Maremmas work as a team and do this - no need to have different breeds working together .

One in a paddock with its herd works completely differently if you bring in one or two more .In the 20 plus years Ive been breeding them I have never seen a dead fox or a dead wild dog but Ive never seen any on my property either - whilst my neighbours have every second lamb taken during lambing. Pre dogs we lost over 100 lambs in one season - never lost one since. Not one.

[Lhok]

The ranchers don't seem to confident in some of their dogs abilities, as they got another breed then another. As Steve and Espinay said you don't need to mix LGD's to get them to work like that when in a team some will be enforcers and others protectors where as in a single the dog will try and get the flock to move away to somewhere safe if there is one.

One thing I don't really like is that most those ranchers don't seem to brush out their dogs (going by the matted GP in the video). I'm not saying that a dog needs to be show ready but they still need to be checked and brushed out.

--Lhok

[myValkyrie]

I've watched this video before & I would agree with some of what the rancher says regarding the differences in working style of some of the breeds ie. 'the Kangal stops chasing when the chase ends' is exactly how my girl is. She would leave her flock to pursue a threat & continue to chase well off her territory. My Maremmas would not leave their flock unattended & could care less about a threat that is rapidly vanishing over the horizon - once it's off their patch.

I would argue his point that 'they are like big teddy bears & they are only aggressive to predators, not people' though - ours will behave in an aggressive manner towards anything that doesn't belong here, as far as they're concerned, people are predators.

I also didn't agree with his comments regarding numbers of dogs being reliant on number of sheep/cattle they are guarding - we've found it's more about the size of the area & the predator load (and type) the dogs need to deal with that matters. Plus balancing the individual working style of your particular dogs - we use packs of 3 (didn't really plan it, it's just what has worked out) & in each pack there is an alert dog, a patroller and a fall back dog (in no way official terms, that's just what we call them :)).

Maremmas work as a team and do this - no need to have different breeds working together .

One in a paddock with its herd works completely differently if you bring in one or two more .In the 20 plus years Ive been breeding them I have never seen a dead fox or a dead wild dog but Ive never seen any on my property either - whilst my neighbours have every second lamb taken during lambing. Pre dogs we lost over 100 lambs in one season - never lost one since. Not one.

This. They work together & back each other up. We found a couple of dead foxes, 1 dead wild dog, 2 crows & an eagle in the first year or so that we had the dogs in the paddocks (along with lots of speedily departing town dogs), nothing since then. One of our neighbours has lost over a dozen kiddies to crows alone this season, another who shares a boundary fence with us lost 3 in a morning. We've not lost an animal to a predator.

Edited September 27, 2013 by myValkyrie

[Steve]

If I have two or three [Maremma] in a paddock they will chase them to what they see as the end of their boundary whilst one stays back to look after the sheep. They wont go through over or under fences to keep chasing but they will definitely go as far as they see is their area. I agree its not about numbers because the sheep all move as one and go where the dog says to go and stay there - no matter how many you have - still not sure how the dog gets them to do that because its not a mad panic or the dog threatening them to move etc. Its like they speak the same language. It is definitely about predator type and load in my opinion. The sheep can be spread out pretty well one minute and as soon as the dog says get here they magically bunch up into a safe spot. Awesome!

We often sit and watch them and talk about how they appear to bundy on and off when there is no threat - reminds me of that old disney cartoon with the sheep dog and the dogs clocked on and off at shift change.