Training an LGD Puppy (and How I Almost Ruined My Livestock Guardian Dog)

Let's talk how about how it's going training my lgd puppy to be a reliable livestock guardian dog. Uhtred is 8 months old and doing really well, overall, with our goats, chickens, ducks and turkeys and has begun to take his job a little more seriously.
We've mastered recall, stay and back and he no longer chases stock (except on rare occasions when all the bucks run in from the back pasture) and now we're working on Uhtred not eating the ducks when they try to get his food.
I'm also going to share with you guys my biggest mistake I made training my lgd puppy, a mistake that almost totally ruined this dog as a livestock guardian.
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[@Yuracirlce]

So happy to find this channel

[@FableHillFarm]

I'm happy you found my channel too! What's the scoop? Do you have an LGD, looking to get one, doing initial research? Tell me about yourself!

[@prayerangel1]

Great vid! Good and beautiful dog and you are doing great for this having been your first LGD. I hope more people follow the advice of letting them stay with the stock and training in the field as a pup...it truly is the best way to raise them.

[@FableHillFarm]

Thanks for watching and for taking notice of the hard work Uhtred and I have put in with his training. He's a wonderful young dog and I look forward to seeing him mature.

[@Yuracirlce]

Thanks so much for the knowledge you are sharing with us

[@FableHillFarm]

Thank YOU for watching Cory. I appreciate it and I'm glad you are finding value in my videos.

[@desertfrostfarms151]

I’m getting my first LGD this weekend. I’m so excited and your videos were very helpful

[@FableHillFarm]

Thank you and congratulations! What type of dog?

[@desertfrostfarms151]

@@FableHillFarm he’s a12 well old Great Pyrenees we named him Ragnar

[@laurenkilby5009]

Thanks for sharing this! We just got our lgd puppy a few days ago. She's doing well with the chickens, but won't stop chasing the ducks. We're trying our best to correct, and hoping she wont keep this as a habit. Nice to see that it's possible for them to coexist

[@FableHillFarm]

I would recommend researching an e-collar, if you have experience with using one, it can be a great tool when used properly to correct behavior such as chasing poultry. I did use an e-collar minimally with Uhtred to correct his chasing of our goats initially and it made an impact.

[@oliviaalfrey]

@@FableHillFarm we're about to pick up 2 female LGD puppies and our inside dog has worked with an e-collar. Do you have any specific training tips for working with puppies and poultry with e-collars? Any specifics to work on? Or other tips?

[@kevelpurcell9141]

Just found your channel, this is inspiring. I just got a LGD which is part Great Pyrenees and Anatolian shepherd. He is very playful but a good temperament. Glad to see the progress your dog has made at just 8 months.

[@FableHillFarm]

Thanks for watching! If you haven't seen my 1 year update on Uhtred, it's pretty comprehensive on how his training has gone. How old is your dog? Do you have experience working with lgd's? They are certainly a whole new type of dog for me to work with, but I have loved the process.

[@kevelpurcell9141]

@@FableHillFarm Good morning, no this is my 1st LGD, we have had Malcom for about 3 weeks now, we got him for our Pygmy goat and kid goat. I will definitely be watching and learning.

[@FableHillFarm]

How old is Malcom?

[@kevelpurcell9141]

@@FableHillFarm Malcolm is 13 months with no prior training. I believe his mom was raised around horses. Your work with Uhtred is amazing and gives me hope.

[@gingerreid8569]

We have our first lgd pup - Cowboy will be 6 mos. old at end of July. His parents belong to a man and his uncle that have their own goat farms about 1/4 mile from each other...Sire was Mareema Sheep Dog and Dam was Anatolian Shep. - Cowboy was also born in a shed in the goat farm...I had joined two lgd training groups...one was absolute put the dog in the house for the first 3 mos and keep him on leash or long line around livestock. Another group was absolute keep out of house and in a pen next to livestock and take dog into livestock on leash and also tether on long line for period of time but not until 2 yrs old, do you let them out loose with livestock...so...it is very confusing and intimidating for those of us new to lgds...we of course want the best and love our dogs. So this is an interesting approach...we have Cowboy in a large pen with access to his place in barn living with our young (to be new sire) buckling (7 mos.) and this pen adjoins the front pasture of 10 acres...they are doing fine with each other and they both eat in the barn area assigned to them....Everything here is fenced in 5 strand hot wire and cowboy was introduced to it in his pen area...so following and wanting to learn more so we raise him in the best way to be a partner and a guardian to our livestock.

[@FableHillFarm]

Ginger, thanks for sharing about Cowboy. I too felt SO confused about the conflicting information and opinions on raising pups with livestock. I just chose to follow my instinct and trust in thousands of years of adaption to serve their purpose. I mean, I certainly have stood by and observed every step of the way, and there are still times I’m not sure if I’m making the right decisions…but I trust Uhtred and have built a partnership with him since the beginning and I guess that is the number one thing I would stress - spend time with your dog. Not only to build trust together but to train and solidify those basic commands, to watch him interact with stock and see the areas he needs help in working through.

[@hrbailey9893]

Also I LOVE the name!!! My favorite show💕!! Kinda wanna change my decision on naming my new pup Bryda instead of Bessie 😂

[@FableHillFarm]

Bryda would be an awesome name for a guardian. Bessie is sweet too. I personally loved having a formidable name for our LGD.

[@BillieRC]

Hi , just wanted to learn more about the breed and found your video

[@sunshinedaydreamlife9263]

Awesome info! Our first comes home in 6 weeks😅. Will You elaborate on how you trained him for recall? Thanks!

[@minnahumble2294]

You were going to link a playlist, but I don’t see it.

[@lacielerum707]

Someone in our town asked us if we could adopt their 10 month old Great Pyrenees, Karakachan mix. The parents were working dogs, but for some reason the breeder didn’t inform these people that this dog work not be at all ok to live in town. We do have a 365 acre farm with 45 cattle and 200 chickens, but are unsure how to go about training a LGD at 10 mo old. He’s going on his 3rd night staying with us and it feels like he will bark all night if we let him stay in the pen we have for him. He doesn’t bark much during the day, he just chills out on his tether. If we walk him around he lunges at our cats. I’m not sure what to do or where to start.

[@FableHillFarm]

You’ve got to go back to square one with this pup and pretend he’s 8 weeks old and take it very slow. You want to build trust slowly and work on mini obedience training sessions 1 on 1 with lots of praise and treats to build that bond. Where are you housing him? What are you doing when he lunges at cats, how does he react to stock?

[@ianwilson4841]

My Mareema is 4 months old. We've had him 3 weeks now. Initially I could gave him around our ducks unleashed and he was ok. Occasionally he'd chase the ducks but come when reprimanded, but last week one our ducks got out, and he attacked her. She wasn't seriously injured but now Im worried about leaving him unsupervised around the ducks. Ive put a long line in their paddock and chain him to it every day for 10 minutes. Ill increase that time every week until he can sit quietly for an hour. I read allot of people have their dogs near their livestock 24/7. Our Mareema spends allot of time sleeping in our laundry which is near where the ducks luve. Do you think hes spending to much time bonding with us? He was locked in a garage every days for 3 months before we bought him

[@honeycaffena4897]

Thank you, nice video. Wondering if several brooding duck hens & baby ducklings can be together in one coop? I also have a problem- the hatchery sold me 2drakes & 4 hens. They are almost 12 weeks old & trying to find a home for one of the drakes. Stress 😞

[@FableHillFarm]

Hi Honey! Thanks for watching today.

[@honeycaffena4897]

@@FableHillFarm thank you, I have a big learning curve, thank you for your videos

[@jacksgirl23]

Thank you for sharing!!❤️After watching many videos I I'm starting to come to the conclusion that I need more than just a five strand electric wire fence for my pyrenees. Would you agree?

[@TopHatCaroline]

We have a 6 strand electric fence and it keeps in our Great Pyrenees

[@ruthsmith9836]

We are just starting our little goat farm on 10 acres in rural Oklahoma. Our herd currently only consists of 5 nigerian dwarfs. We picked up our first LGD this weekend from Colorado. She sleeps in the does barn which is in a large penned off area. We do let the goats roam the entire acreage a few times a week. How often should I be hiking the fence lines now with our pup to teach her the boundaries? Daily?

[@FableHillFarm]

Ruth, that's a great question. I think doing a perimeter walk at least once or twice a week is helpful, but certainly no harm in doing it more often if you can. What breed of puppy did you go with?

[@joshuahitt4777]

Have you ever worked with training an older lgd breed to work with goats or sheep I imported a male puppy and we had him inside for a monthly two but he prefers to be outside with the animals. And weather finally is cool enough for us to be comfortable having him out

[@FableHillFarm]

Unfortunately, I have not. Uhtred is my first LGD. I would definitely say your best starting place is getting him near the stock in a supervised but large enough environment that he doesn't feel stressed from confinement, get him working with the stock on leash or with very close supervision and see where he is at as a starting point.

[@HappyLandFarms]

Curious: What is the tattoo peeking out of your shirt? Thank you for the videos. I want to learn about the breed. We are getting a puppy in a couple weeks.

[@FableHillFarm]

Hi there, thanks for watching. The tattoo is a VERY unfinished portrait of my mother, who passed away when I was sixteen. It was a pretty raw, rash decision made in a time of immense grief in my life and my mom would have totally hated it ha. I never finished it after my first 4 hour session. However, it turned out to be a pretty amazing, albeit unconventional way, of doing unintentional group therapy with thousands of strangers throughout my life who had the courage or curiosity to ask me about it, and has helped me to really open up about grief in a way that has been surprisingly helpful to some people I've met who also happened to be going through pain and loss. Anywhoo, ha, are you getting a full GP puppy then? What kind of stock will it be guarding? They are amazing dogs who can really challenge you.

[@hrbailey9893]

Now I’m new and want to train my GP to be guardian for future poultry and other small livestock however I won’t be on our new property til she’s about 6 months old. I was told to start working around that age but as I’m watching other peoples training methods I see they start asap and when they are a lot younger. What is your suggestion?

[@FableHillFarm]

That’s a tricky one. I would say really focus on obedience; primarily recall, stay, back, leave it. And use this opportunity to socialize, spend LOTS of time grooming to build trust in that area, and if at all possible, get that puppy around any livestock you can do you have opportunities to develop those instincts and train her to at least leave poultry alone. I personally would really want a puppy I hoped to guard poultry (and live outdoors) to start off doing exactly what I expect them to do from Day 1. But it sounds like you aren’t in a position to do that. Hope some of this helps! There are definitely still things you can work on now that are critical to a lifetime partnership with your LGD.

[@michellerhode5819]

Is it too late to train my 1 year old Great Pyrenees to live full time with my sheep? He's mostly bonded to my family at the moment and barks way too much, inside and out. He spends time with my sheep but tries to play with them. He's curious about them, licks them and seems to like them but barks to follow me whenever I leave him with them, tethered or not.

[@FableHillFarm]

Hi there. I'm by no means an expert, but it sounds like you would have to start from the ground up and completely retrain him. This means full supervision with stock, constant correction and positive reinforcement and penning him near the stock without him being able to access them so he can properly bond with them over time. I have no experience with bringing a house trained LGD from the inside to outside so I would recommend a livestock guardian dog training group online (Facebook has some great ones!) and/or an experienced breeder or trainer. I hope you can make it work for you!

[@Lost_souls_lose_freedom]

What did you use for incentive to train your LGD? We have 2 pups and two 1.5 yr olds none of them have food drive or toy drive! My pet dog has both so he was EASY compared to LGD's.

[@prettybirdthepetgoosefrien8155]

My puppy ldg (GREAT Pyrenees x Anatolian mix) has little to no interest in "treats" as well, so I tested him on REAL MEAT and he LOVES ground beef, hotdogs and chicken breast. So I have been buying meat on sale, cook it up into small pieces and then freezing it in baggies. Each day, 1 baggie is removed from the freezer to use for training. It's healthier and they LOVE IT ❤

[@Lost_souls_lose_freedom]

@@prettybirdthepetgoosefrien8155 I found that a couple of ours like a certain brand of beef Jerky. But real cooked meat is a great idea I'll try it on the other two! Thank you!

[@prettybirdthepetgoosefrien8155]

@@Lost_souls_lose_freedom no problem. You can even mix in other food like carrots etc if you want. Training our pup has greatly improved and become 100% easier since I started using the real meat 🤣 ... spoiled little butthead 😘

[@amandagrinstead8302]

How do you stop an 8 week old pyr from chasing and nipping at the lambs?

[@FableHillFarm]

Hi there. It should be separated from the lambs unless you are there, with a lead, to offer a physical (ie. jerk of the lead) and a verbal correction. Otherwise the dog should not be with stock if it is displaying those behaviors.

[@wandashavis7411]

Lean dogs are healthy dogs.

[@FableHillFarm]

That is certainly true in most respects, though, I did find that after deworming him, he has really filled out a bit more and looks much healthier.

[@mikehayes3014]

You’re first mistake was not getting a CAS lol

[@alphacat9302]

We feed our LGD by themselves to avoid food aggression. Our chickens and sheep are pigs in disguise.