How to Train a Great Pyrenees to Guard Sheep

Hello Destiny, With livestock guarding dogs you have to be really careful to avoid a puppy bonding too much with you or other people at this age. Pup needs to bond with other animals he will be guarding later during this important developmental period. Are there any other, safer goats that can be separated from mom (who aren't nursing still) that puppy can be fenced with? Being penned near the animals is better than him bonding with you too much inside and away from them completely, but I would definitely look for a way for him to bond with the goats that are more accepting of him while having him close enough by that mom goat can adjust. This may look like taking the other goats away from the main group to pen with him one at a time. At night, keep safety in mind. If you have wild animals that can get into the fence where he is alone, that needs to be taken into consideration. Most puppies are locked in a barn or pen at night where the goats are kept to keep them safe while they are still small. Obviously you can't put him in the same stall as the other goats, but he needs somewhere safe to go at night - even if that means somewhere away from people and goats - somewhere near the livestock animals but safe from momma goat is most preferable. I suggest finding a couple of good livestock guarding forums online where you can talk with other shepherds along the way, and ask questions as they arise over the next year. https://www.workingdogforum.com/vBulletin/f33/best-livestock-guardian-breed-11176/index7.html https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/training-new-livestock-guardian-dog-zbcz1608 If you search "livestock guarding dog forum" on google a lot of additional forum options come up. Find a couple that look good to you, usually along the farming, homesteading, agriculture, dog training, shepherding, ect... type websites. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Sandy, Look into high quality remote electric collar training. Check out the YouTube channel I have linked below. The trainer is James Penrith and he does a lot of work with electric collars, also known as e-collars, and livestock chasing. Since you want Bindi to still be able to be with the flock, you want to use what's called a "Working level" stimulation. A working level stimulation is a stimulation that is low enough to simply get your dog's attention and show your dog that you are extremely consistent even while not with her. You do not want to use a high level of correction to teach total avoidance. High levels of correction with chasing behaviors are only used for dogs who need to never go near animals. Use only a high quality e-collar brand for this. A collar with at least thirty to forty levels, and ideally at least sixty to one-hundred. Dogtra, Sportdog, Garmen, and E-collar Technologies are all reputable brands. Do not buy a cheap collar. They can be dangerous and ineffective. A good quality collar will let you set the collar to a very low stimulation level. E-collar technologies and Sportdog would be the two brands I would most recommend for your purpose. See if there is a trainer in your area who is very experienced with using e-collars on "working levels" and hire that person to teach you. You can learn some of what you need online but e-collars are best taught by a professional. Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrI7sJTnP64 Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Clenden, Opal might be able to adjust to life outside, but the main issue is whether she was raised with sheep or not. Many flock guarding dogs learn to protect and view the sheep as litter mates because they grow up with the sheep outside - as if they are a member of the sheep flock. Because the Sheep are all the dog knows as family, she believes they are her family and thus wants to protect them. A dog that has not been raised with sheep or at least exposed enough to them to be bonded to sheep will not necessary protect them while in a pen with them. Some will even chase and bother the sheep. As a regular outdoor dog, who will simply be on your property and not expected to stay with the sheep, she might be a good coyote deterrent because Pyrenees do have a natural territorial-ism and protection instincts, but if your property is large, she might be protecting one end of it from intruders while a predator is on the opposite end of your property attempting to kill a sheep. A true livestock guardian dog needs to stay with the animals, and that only happens if the dog is bonded to the animals - sheep. Since she is used to living with people, she may also experience anxiety when she is not given human interaction. She could likely adjust fine to sleeping outside at night, but if you expect her to be away from people the majority of the 24 hrs in a day, especially when she is awake, that might be difficult for her and cause anxiety for her...Essentially she views people as family - the way you want her to view sheep as family, unless she was also around sheep all the time, then she might view people and sheep as family. Ask the current owners what her exposure to sheep is. If she has no experience with sheep, then she might be better off in another pet home. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Paula, Typically it is recommended that a guardian dog sleep with its flock as part of the bonding process, but there might be individuals who have done what you are wanting to do successfully. If you do bring the dog inside at night I suggest crating him and not giving a lot of interaction or play, so that coming inside is primarily sleep time and not time to bond with humans - you want to limit bonding with humans to just training and basic care generally, so that the bond with flock is greater than a bond with people. Also, be aware that there is the chance that he may experience separation anxiety because many livestock guarding dogs get extremely attached to their flocks and worry when not with them. This is less likely to happen if you start out crating him inside instead of the barn, but those first few weeks are also the prime time for him to be bonding with sheep. I would ask other farmers what their experience with livestock guarding dogs and sleep arrangements are and what their opinion are on whether the dog can sleep inside would be. If some of them have done that before and had a successful livestock guarding dog still, then it would be worth learning from them. A good place to ask questions is a farmer, homestead, or livestock type forum online. https://www.homesteadingtoday.com/threads/guardian-animals.68514/ Here is a link to a blog also. It has some useful information about their experience with guarding dogs. I find when it comes to these matters it's great to talk to those who are actually working with and living with the livestock guarding dogs and have tried different things with varying measures of success, and learned what actually works for them. https://www.uptownsheep.com/pyrenees-faq.html Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Tracey, It sounds like the pups from that litter may have had too much interaction from people from birth - which is normally something you want for a pet dog, but something you have to be careful about with a livestock guardian dog. If you didn't bring pup home until 12 weeks that is also late to bring a pup home who needs to be introduced to goats if he was not being raised with them at the breeder's home. Since puppy is still young he may still be able to bond with the goats but you will need to limit interaction with people where you can and be firm about him not sleeping with people at night. Your other dog is a good role model for him. I would not despair just yet, bonding with goats is your main goal right now, the guarding instincts probably won't surface until after a year. I would reach out to others who have experience with raising livestock guardian dogs and ask if they have ever dealt with this and what ended up happening in their case and how they handled the situations. Knowing what others who have been in your same situation have done that has worked can give you great ideas for trouble shooting the situation, and knowing if additional things need to be done that you wouldn't normally have to do if he had bonded with the goats earlier. Forums are a good place to ask questions also if you don't have people in your community you can talk to in person about their experience: Forum 1: https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/training-new-livestock-guardian-dog-zbcz1608 Forum2 : https://www.workingdogforum.com/vBulletin/f33/best-livestock-guardian-breed-11176/index7.html Forum 3: http://www.greatpyr.com/forum/showthread.php?39445-Livestock-Guardian-Dog-as-Pets-(Ethical-Argument There are also bloggers out there with a lot of experience who share their experience for free: http://tiramarhomestead.com/2017/01/succeeding-with-a-livestock-guardian-dog-puppy/ Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello David, It sounds like the pups from that litter may have had too much interaction from people from birth - which is normally something you want for a pet dog, but something you have to be careful about with a livestock guardian dog. If you didn't bring pup home until 13 weeks that is also late to bring a pup home who needs to be introduced to livestock if he was not being raised with them at the breeder's home. Since the puppies are still young they may still be able to bond with the sheep given time. They probably will have to do a lot of catching up though, and there are no guarantees. Guarding instincts also probably won't become obvious until closer to a year - as you approach adulthood just watch for signs of aggression toward the sheep most of all if they have not obviously bonded. I would not despair just yet. I would limit interaction with your other dogs. You can still bring the dogs with you occasionally for socialization purposes but the interactions need to be more structured, with less play and free roaming that teaches the puppies bad things. I am most concerned about your terrier's behavior toward the sheep - that is definitely something you do not want to risk puppies learning from the other dogs. You may need to keep the terriers on leash while with you so that they are used to being in their presence but not directly playing with them or near the sheep. Bringing one dog at a time might also keep things calmer. I would reach out to others who have experience with raising livestock guardian dogs and ask if they have ever dealt with the late bonding and what ended up happening in their case and how they handled the situation. Knowing what others who have been in your same situation have done that has worked can give you great ideas for trouble shooting the situation, and knowing if additional things need to be done that you wouldn't normally have to do if they had bonded with the sheep earlier. Forums are a good place to ask questions also if you don't have people in your community you can talk to in person about their experience: Forum 1: https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/training-new-livestock-guardian-dog-zbcz1608 Forum2 : https://www.workingdogforum.com/vBulletin/f33/best-livestock-guardian-breed-11176/index7.html Forum 3: http://www.greatpyr.com/forum/showthread.php?39445-Livestock-Guardian-Dog-as-Pets-(Ethical-Argument There are also bloggers out there with a lot of experience who share their experience for free: http://tiramarhomestead.com/2017/01/succeeding-with-a-livestock-guardian-dog-puppy/ Continue to keep human interaction boring and not overly affectionate so as not to encourage further preference for people. You want the dogs to be tolerant of people and let you handle them when needed, but not overly social with people - as you know I am sure. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello, Honestly, I would not ever trust them to guard the sheep. You could likely train them to avoid the sheep to stop future killings at pets who do not live with the sheep, and even to potentially guard with a barrier between them and the sheep - like a secondary fence outside of the original sheep enclosure, so that predators have to go through pup's fence before they could get to the sheep fence within the other fence, but your dog's still have a boundary between them and the sheep fence. Imagine a square within a square - sheep in the inner square, dogs on the outer square, with fencing between the dogs and sheep and between the dogs and rest of the yard. I would also ask your question on some livestock dog forums to see if anyone has done so successfully. There are exceptions to things certainly, and someone there might be able to offer some insight. Personally, the risk to your sheep seems to great, even though the dogs could likely improve enough that they did okay most of the time - it only takes once though, and since they have already killed livestock, the usual route for training is to treat the dog's to avoid the livestock to stop the killing - which isn't very compatible with being able to guard them at the same time. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Jenny, Honestly, you can teach most dogs not to chase or kill livestock but that involves teaching an avoidance behavior - where pup learns to stay away from that animal, and having a dog who avoids the livestock doesn't correlate with a dog being able to bond with the animals and protect them at the same time. You might be looking at needing to retire the dog from livestock guarding. You could probably keep him as a pet away from the livestock with the right avoidance training, but I would not trust him in such close quarters, unattended as a guardian if it were me. It's always good to get second opinions though. I do not specialize in livestock guarding dogs, so you may want to find a trainer in your area who specializes in that area and get a second opinion from them. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Georgia, That depends largely on what type of aggression it is. If it's resource guarding, then that would be addressed the way you would address a dog resource guarding around another dog. In that case, I would recommend hiring a private professional trainer to help you in person. If the aggression is prey related, then that is a lot more serious. Tying her might help but you may need to use a soft silicone basket muzzle on her while doing it, to keep your goat safe. Either way closely monitor her reaction toward the goat. I suspect that she is responding to the goats the way she might would to other dogs. Now that she is older, her desire for dominance, and things like resource guarding, possessiveness, protectiveness, or fear aggression can all surface. Between one-to-two years is when I see the most temperament related behavior issues. Those things are often present in younger dogs but do not become obvious to owners until mental maturity and hormones change, even in fixed female. I would suggest hiring a very experienced trainer to come and evaluate her reactions to get an idea of what is going on, so that you will better know how to address it. If you want to include more details on the aggressive behaviors and exactly what she is doing and when, then I would be glad to help further. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Christine, What you just described sounds like fear-aggression. It won't change unless your husband stops doing things like kicking, yelling and throwing rocks because you need to be able to address the underlying fear in your dog, on top of teaching better obedience for management. To improve the situation your husband would need to work on building the dog's trust and respect for him by practicing obedience with him, tossing him treats when he behaves calmly around him, and being calmer around your dog. When the dog does something he doesn't like, the dog needs to be proactively taught calmly what to do instead (such as a Quiet command for the barking) instead of yelling. I know that is much easier said than done, but the your husband's frustration is probably related to the dog's lack of training partially - Your husband doesn't have a way to tell the dog "Out", "Quiet", "Down', "Stay" and other commands that make living with a dog easier, so he yells. The dog working for your husband doing obedience while your husband is calm will help establish respect without increasing fear. This would likely need to happen with a long leash, a trainer, and possibly a muzzle because of the amount of distrust there is in their relationship right now. As the dog improves, your husband will need fewer of those things to continue the training. I also suggest teaching an e-collar Out command so that you can separate the dog from the goats or other areas as needed without your husband having to approach. Check out the article linked below on teaching Out. Because of your dog's fear aggression and lack of socialization around people I suggest hiring a trainer to help you teach this. https://www.petful.com/behaviors/how-to-teach-a-dog-the-out-command/ Great Pyrenees are naturally protective guard dogs, that's why they make good livestock guardian dogs. If your dog not only doesn't have a relationship of trust and respect with you guys, but also views your husband as a 'predator' due to bad encounters he has had with the dog, then the dog is likely going to naturally want to keep your husband away from those he views as his family (the flock and possibly you and the kids). It is never okay for a dog to guard family members from each other, but to change that your dog needs to view your husband as a trustworthy leader and member of the 'flock' and not a predator. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Rich, I would suggest kenneling them closer to the livestock for longer, but I would also suggest asking this question on a livestock guarding dog forum to get the feedback from other's with livestock guarding dogs and see what their experience has been in this area. You definitely don't want to let the pups inside or with your other dog either way. https://www.workingdogforum.com/vBulletin/f33/best-livestock-guardian-breed-11176/index7.html https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/around-the-farm/61887-livestock-guardian-dogs-tell-me-more http://www.greatpyr.com/forum/showthread.php?39445-Livestock-Guardian-Dog-as-Pets-(Ethical-Argument https://www.dogforum.com/threads/lgds-livestock-guardian-dogs-breeds-problematic-behaviors-temp.331882/ Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello, I think you should ask the vet, to know healthwise, at what age is safe (I am thinking vaccines and parasite protection). Because I am not knowledgeable in this area, I will refer you to an article from Premier 1. This article gives insight as to when a dog should be around livestock: https://www.premier1supplies.com/sheep-guide/2016/04/12-keys-to-raising-successful-livestock-guardian-dogs/. Young dogs can easily get hurt if they don't understand how to act around the animals. Take a look here: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-great-pyrenees-puppy-to-guard-chickens. Good luck and happy training!

Hello Doug, First, check out Livestock guarding dog forums like this one. They can be a great resource as issues come up along the way. https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/great-pyrenees-rough-with-sheep.39105/ How is pup's Leave It and Come type commands? If those are not excellent, I recommend teaching pup those commands, then practicing them around the sheep with pup on a long training leash. What are the Sheep doing when she nips at them? Are they running, ranging too far, simply standing there? There may be something in the sheep's behavior that is causing pup to interact that way. If not, pup may simply be trying to play like you said. I would pen pup in an adjacent pen where she can be near the sheep but not able to physically bit them for a while. I would allow pup to interact with the sheep several times a day while on a long training leash and interrupt pup anytime she tries to be rough with the sheep while in the same pen as them, using the long training leash and verbal commands to call her away from them. If she is completely reliable with commands like Leave It and Come even in a scenario like that, you can forgo the training leash potentially, and just use your verbal commands to teach her whenever she starts getting too rough or looks like she is trying to engage the sheep in a way she shouldn't and needs to give the sheep more space. Expect this to take some time and practice right now. She is young and will need your guidance, the behavior to be prevented when you can't train, and a bit of time to mature most likely. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden