Hello and welcome to another week of homesteading goodness with your favorite Silly Couple! Today we’re going to example how we went about training our livestock guardian dog, Jadzia. Let’s start out by making one thing clear: there is no single secret to training livestock guardian dogs. And, we don’t claim to be experts in dog training. There are plenty of people who have been doing this for decades, and they can offer great resources.
Of course, we are proud of the job we’ve done with our own Great Pyrenees and are contemplating whether we might breed her. After all, she is doing an extraordinary job as a guardian dog, so if the genetics are right, it would seem a crime not to. With that said, we have spent no shortage of time studying the experts. And we have one secret tool on our side that has made the training easy.
What is that tool, you ask? Well, let’s dive into it.
The Right Tool for Training Livestock Guardian Dogs
Early on when training Jadzia, we tried a lot of things. We went with the gentle lead to help her walk better -that didn’t go over well. We tried a chock chain, which actually does work great when taking her on walks. But, when training her to avoid playing with the chickens or the goats, we wanted something more hands off. So, we did some research and came across an affordable option that seemed like it might work: the PATPET Dog Shock Collar.
Before you get turned off by the name, let’s set the record straight. We have not used it once to shock Jadzia. Instead, we rely on the two other settings this collar offers: vibration and sound. Before diving into the specifics, let’s also take a quick aside. If the other settings didn’t work, we would consider using the shock setting. Our stance is simple: do what works. And, if a little shock today means happy and healthy animals tomorrow, go for it -we’re not here to judge. But, let’s talk about why we recommend this and how we have avoided using the shock feature.
Don’t Expect Overnight Results
The first thing we should stress is that, like we said above, we didn’t start training livestock guardian dogs with this PATPET collar. Instead, we did work to teach her some basic commands and obedience. Most notably, she definitely understood the word “no” before we started using the collar. With that said, introducing the collar while keeping your guardian dog separate from the livestock they are meant to protect is an excellent step.
Looking at the goats as an example, we had Jadzia on one side and the goats directly on the other side of the fence. And, being brand new animals, you can’t blame our great Pyrenees for being curious about these little Nigerian dwarf goats. That curiosity sometimes led to playfulness as she went by the fence next to the goats. So, when we saw that playfulness rear its head, we’d hit the little sound button and that simple tone would sound out. Jadzia would immediately pull away and run back to her dog house.
We don’t know what it is about the sound, but in our case it worked so well that we quickly grew to trust it. So, a few weeks ago we let the goats loose into the entire fenced in area. And, Jadzia was curious, but she didn’t rush in. Instead, she cautiously approached. Naturally, when the doelings got a bit more comfortable with her, they would start running. The first few times this occurred, we had to hit that little button again. And, with that simple tone, Jadzia would cease her chase and sit back in front of her dog house.
In other words, the reason we are so happy to share the effectiveness of this collar is not because we can make a few pennies from the Amazon affiliate program (seriously, it’s not worth writing all this for that). But, it’s because this collar actually works. And, it works extraordinarily well. So, if we can help any other great Pyrenees or other livestock guardian dog owners better get a handle on their dog as it gets accustomed to their new livestock, then we’re doing our job. Please leave your comments below if you use this and it works for you -that will make our day.
Our Livestock Guardian Dog, Jadzia
Now, before you just grab yourself one of these training collars and get gung-ho about it, let’s talk a bit more about the time-table of training livestock guardian dogs. As a general rule, any dog put around more vulnerable livestock like chickens should have some amount of supervision until they are between 18-24 months old. That’s right -it can take a solid two years before you should really trust your dog around the chickens.
This is partly why we keep our chickens in their nice, spacious run. But, let’s make one thing clear. The reason you need to supervise your great Pyrenees or any other dog is due to maturity. We can say with absolute confidence that Jadzia doesn’t want to hurt any of our chickens. However, being just one year old, she still has that playful puppy energy at times. And, if she does get to playing with the chickens, she can accidentally cause them harm.
In fact, we still like to keep an eye on Jadzia at times with the goats. Especially in the morning and later in the day when she knows we’re going to be out there, she can get some excess energy. So, we leave the PatPet collar on her and if we notice anything amiss we’ll give her a beep to remind her what is appropriate behavior. The best part is, since allowing them to be in the same area just a few weeks ago, it seems we are almost never needing to give her that reminder.
The Perfect Option for Great Pyrenees
There are plenty of options out there when training livestock guardian dogs. But, the main reason we love using a collar like this Patpet is because we don’t have to be directly intervening. It gives the dog a sense of independence and lets her know that this behavior is unacceptable whether we see it or not. The best part of it is that we haven’t had to use the shock feature once. Whatever frequency that beep is that it makes seems to do an excellent job at interrupting Jadzia’s behavior and letting her know not to repeat it.
Whether it’s a great Pyrenees or any other dog you’re looking to train, we really can’t recommend using a PATPET training collar enough. Until next time, we’ll see you around the homestead.