Flock Guardians Discussions

I was not sure where to post so i will place here and please move if needs be.

I am seeing more and more flock guard breeds for sale in the uk ,do you think this is a good thing???

Some of the breeds i am talking about ..
Kangal

Šarplaninac.

Caucasian Shepherd.


Central Asian Shepherd.

Please add other LGD you can think of...
Lokis mum i left the Estrela for you lol

I love them and have a bit of a soft spot for the Central Asian Ovcharka(/Shepherd)

Breedia has a Flock Guardians listing.

I too love them

There are some lovely looking ones
I wonder if they are all good breeds to have as pets tho given what they are bred for

Lots are being sold as the best guard dogs in the world and born protectors and such ...

With regards to whether it's a good thing - I think like all similar breeds, they should only go to knowledgeable and responsible homes...

.
They are getting a rep even before they get a foot in the door...

Yeah it's a shame - they are probably going to be next on the press hit-list, particularly as they are much bigger and 'scary looking' than even the biggest of some of the bull-breeds. Poor things.

I think some of the lesser "pet bred" breeds might not go so well in very crowded areas etc.
Like my breed, many BB's go to pet homes, but how many kangals or sarplaninac does the same? I also find that the "big furry" ones seems more for BIG areas such as fenced in properties? Or am I completely wrong?

Many BB owners breed dogs who live with families, are more sociable and not so extreme. You ofc have people that breed the opposite kind of dogs. I've just got the impression that with lots of the big fluffy Asian guardians they are all more extreme and not so much pet bred.
Don't know if that makes sense. Aaahh!!

I wonder what sort of pets these type of breeds would make, especially if they are being imported from working parents in Europe. They are certainly impressive and attractive looking dogs, but I hope they remain with knowledgeable owners who understand their inherent instincts to protect.

Scout75 has some very scary stories to tell about the gang of Maremma dogs she encountered in the hills and mountains of Italy. They were working livestock guardians and certainly took no prisoners!

From some preliminary research it would seem that the LGD is stubborn, single-minded, and focused solely on its herd and its protection.

Here are some other snippets I found ...

LGDs are often not especially social animals, and although some people manage to make pets and companion animals of them, their "alpha" nature does not particularly suit them for this role. They should never be left unsupervised with children, pets, or livestock other than those which they are guarding.

It is critical that you work with the dog and socialise it to you so that it is manageable. If you have dogs, cats, poultry, or other livestock, you must be careful with the introduction of the LGD to these animals. Unless the Livestock Guardian Dog is taught otherwise, all other animals, even other Livestock Guardian Dogs, are enemies to its livestock. A LGD puppy raised with your pets and other livestock generally provides the best opportunity to have them all get along.


As in most things, knowledge, common sense and knowing your own limitations with such dogs will prove to be the making or their downfall as pet and companion animals.

I am assuming there will already be some show specimen LGDs in the UK, and they would probably be more suited to a pet home than a pup from strong working lineage.

As Moobli says, I lived in the mountains of Abruzzo and there were LGD everywhere.

Some houses just had one or two if they had only a small flock of sheep, but further out in the mountains the dogs are kept in big packs. They live alone up there with a shepherd coming by daily.

They are very aggressive and contrary to popular belief they will leave the sheep to come after dogs. I had dogs coming from the other side of the hill over a mile away after my dogs. It made walking anywhere an absolute nightmare to be honest and I was always armed. :?

There are many reports of them attacking cars to get to the dogs inside.


I hardly ever got any pictures as I was always either running for my dogs life (!) or avoiding them like the plague, but I did get these few of a pack that had left the sheep to come and investigate.





Beautiful dogs, and they look like golden retrievers but they aren't.

http://www.maremma-sheepdogs.co.uk/breed/character.html

They never really took off over here and CCs were removed from the breed by the KC in 2008

http://ourdogs.co.uk/News/2008/May2008/News090508/maremma.htm

Interesting links. After reading the first one, it is easy to see why the second one happened.

The description sounds to me as though the breed is one that should be working out in the Italian mountains and not living in a terrace in Manchester (or wherever!)

I think the other thing with Maremmas is that they are not sufficiently "different" from other breeds to look at etc.

There are not huge numbers of Hovawart for a similar reason IMHO

I think the problem is some of these breeds are still very much in their primitive state, and as such will not be suitable for the pet home.

So no, its not a good thing to see more of them advertised ,

Trouble being they look big and cute , but given breed characteristics, in the wrong hands would be extremely dangerous.

Interesting breed description.....probably accurate although I think it's aimed more at 'pet bred' Maremmas than working ones. Certainly there is very little bond between the shepherds and the Maremmas out on the plains. Usually the shepherd is a hired young guy from Romania, and they are hired for a season and live in little huts cut into the rock like the one below. They feed the dogs and check the sheep but don't live with them.



I have always been told by everyone that the dogs pretty much ignore the shepherds commands, if the dogs decide to come and attack there is not much the shepherd can do/or does because they just make their own decisions. They are taken away from the humans at 6 weeks and placed with the sheep and I have met maremmas at 7 weeks old who are already very aloof with people.

Met a young Caucasian ovcharka a couple months ago, he was lovely.

As I now own a lgd, it would be rather hypocritical of me to even suggest that people shouldn't own them. For me lgd's are like any other broad group of dogs, they've got their set of potential characteristics that could prove problematic for the wrong person. I don't see why responsible people should lose the right to choose the breed that suits them because of idiots.

Btw, my lgd lives in an urban environment, can't see an issue with that personally.

I saw an advert for Ovcharka's some time ago being advertised as having " the knock down power of a 45 " .

A friend used to live on a country estate, the owners kept two Anatolians who used to regularly jump on the bonnets of any visiting cars and snarl at you through the windscreen, bloody terrifying.

Having owned a TM ( probably pussycats compared to some LGD's ) I can certainly say they are quite different from other breeds. Very independent and not known for heeding commands, an aggressive one doesn't bare thinking about.