LIVESTOCK GUARDIAN DOGS, THE MIGHTY PROTECTORS
Our gentle but fierce LGD “Apu” watching after his goat crew.
Goat farming, without a livestock guardian dog (LGD), can be risky. Goats, especially young ones, can fall prey to coyotes, mountain lions, bob cats and similar predators, very easily. We had our fair share of heartbreaks when some of our younger goats were taken by predators. When installing better fencing and motion lighting was not enough, our local wildlife authorities recommended adding an LGD to increase the protection of our growing herd. They were right! Immediately after we bought our first LGD, goat farming became much safer.
Our proud Ranger, at a job site, protecting his herd.
Common breeds of LGDs:
Akbash
Anatolian Shepherd
Great Pyrenees
Kuvast
Pyrenean Mastiff
Our amazing dog Apu (his name means “Mighty” in Quechuan language) is a mix of Anatolian Shepherd and Akbash breeds. He is very gentle with his animal and human friends but watch out! Apu becomes ferocious when he senses a threat. We were told that he is strong enough to kill a lion. Well, I am sure that predators have preferred to stay away rather than testing out his potential.
When our goat population started to increase, we had to acquire additional LGDs to help protect our goats, especially when they are hired for land-clearing and wildfire risk reduction. Ranger and Mo are the most recent members of Dottie’s Goat Farm. They are a mix of Great Pyrenees and Anatolian Shepherd. Fortunately, just like Apu, they are the sweetest gentle giants as well as super protective of their herd.
The day when Apu and Ranger welcomed LGD puppy “Mo” to Dottie’s Goat Farm.
We love our LGDs as much as we love our goats. We love to hug, pet and spoil them, every chance we get. These dogs have given us so much peace of mind and we can’t thank them enough for that! There are no words to describe the appreciation of the important role they all play in the mission to help reduce wildfire risk, one property at a time. We are so happy that our customers love these dogs too and make sure to give them the best attention while they are protecting the job sites.