Bringing Home a Maremma Sheepdog Livestock Guardian Dog

Reader Contribution by Kirsten Lie-Nielsen and Hostile Valley Living
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We recently brought home our first Livestock Guardian Dog: a Maremma Sheepdog we have named Stanley. Stanley is not a house pet, but an important part of all of our farm animal’s protection. Livestock Guardian Dogs are alternatives to hunting and patrolling for every predator on the farm, and they can save a farmer many headaches as long as they are properly trained.

livestock guardian dog puppy

We chose a Livestock Guardian Dog for a variety of reasons, knowing that we would have to add extra protection for our animals when we moved to our new, rural farm.  We have always had dogs, and recently lost our last pet, so an LGD sounded desirable right away.

Our geese help to deter smaller predators from approaching our chicken flock, but geese can still be victims to larger aggressors. For this reason, and to help protect our goat herd and property, we knew we needed a serious guardian animal. Other options included a llama or donkey, but the bonds that LGDs form with their flock and people was very appealing to us.

Bringing Stanley home starts a long process of teaching him about the goats and other animals, obedience training, and general puppy care. While the training process is not the same as it would be for a house pet, it is equally if not more rigorous.

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