Re: Coyotes, [Homesteadingfamily] TN Homestead

My mistake...sorry! It was the herding that has been bred out of most
lines of them. I was so tired last night when I wrote that and I've been
reading up so much on sheep, dogs, chickens, I don't know which way I'm
turning. German Shepherds are extremely smart dogs, and I know that some people
do use them for herding, but they *have* been bred much more for
working/police/seeing eye/etc than for herding. Although, when we were looking for a
good dog to help with the sheep, there were a handful of people who still
trained them to herd. We eventually settled on a Border Collie, only
because they are easy to come by here and the majority of people I know with
sheep use them. Ours "herds" the chickens because our sheep are rotated
through paddocks,...though he LOVES helping me move them every couple of days.

I say go for a great Pyrenees, they are gentle giants. A friend of mine
has a Komandor (sp) and a Pyrenees, and says the Pyrenees does a much better
job. Anyone else have any favorites? I'd like to hear about it.
Sometimes, if you let the local shelter know you are looking for one, they can
call you if one comes in. A lot of people get them thinking "family dog" but
they are working dogs, and bark constantly at night, which annoys
neighbors, so a lot of them unfortunately end up in shelters.

Nancy

In a message dated 10/22/2010 6:43:15 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
mcdaniel@blackfoot.net writes:

>> I'm not
saying the German Shepherd won't do some good, but a lot of the protection
of livestock that they used to have in them has been bred out through the
years because of the breeders maximizing other traits,...<<
-----------------------------------
German Shepherds are herding dogs, not livestock guard dogs, there's a big
difference. They were never bred to protect livestock on their own, in a
nutshell, they were bred to move the herd and keep them together, that's
*all*.

Marita in western MT

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