I truly enjoy helping people with their Livestock Guardian Dogs. Below is a heartwarming success story from a client of my consulting service. It's a touching E mail from a lady who reached out to me for my support, advice and direction.
With patience and by following my advice, she was able to turn around and "salvage" and save, a completely feral, wild, frightened and unsure LGD, and help her turn into a fantastic stable, calm and loving protector of her flock and…a guardian for her baby son.
By developing a deeper understanding of these great dogs, you too can experience a more fulfilling and successful working relationship with them. These dogs are not merely tools like a hammer or saw, or something to be treated with disrespect. There is so much more to them than most people want to realize, or care to take the time to understand.
I am so much in awe of these dogs every day of my life, and I learn so much from them.
You can too.
Hi Brenda,
I hope you are well. I just wanted to let you know about all the progress I have made with the dogs since our consultation. Most of the progress is with Gigi, who would hardly let me pet her when I first spoke with you. I worked diligently on communicating with her using "calming signals," and they worked wonders. I was able to earn her trust enough that she allowed me to catch her (drug free) and take her to the vet (her first time ever). She is back home with us now, and loving all the love. She cuddles, rolls over, licks and can be just plain silly with us now. She is still a diligent worker, but not just for the goats she had been force bonded with her whole life. She's taken to gently protecting all our animals, fowl and even my 10month old son ;-).
Formerly feral, untouchable Gigi on her way to the vet.
Look at her calm eyes now! A relaxed, happy dog!
Alpha LGD Sheila and puppy pal Arwen.
Arwen with my son & her turkey training time.
It doesn't get any better than this!
Sheila (our alpha LGD) has really taken Arwen under her wing and is a great mentor. I'm very impressed by her guidance. Arwen is spending more and more time in the pastures at night (finding her bark) and every morning she seems so satisfied with herself. She is very astute with her fence checks. Also, Arwen is as tall & weighs the same as Gigi and Sheila even though she is only 6 months!!! Not once has Arwen EVER hurt one of our chickens or turkeys. She just loves them and seems to know I want her giving them special attention.
Thank you again for what you do! And thank you for your advice! Have a great weekend.
-Hannah
If you are interested in contacting me for a consultation, please visit my website here:
With the huge uptick in the popularity and use of LGDs in America, sadly with it has come the flood of armchair experts and of course, the opportunists and people with no real background in these dogs, or any experience.
I'm sure you know who I'm referring to as these are the egomaniacal braggarts who usually fill up huge Facebook LGD groups with bad advice. They generally possess zero understanding of these dogs. They use and promote harsh, cruel and in many cases sickening training "tricks" and devices such as yokes, shock collars, staking dogs out, tying dead chickens around a dog's neck, refusing to give a whelping bitch support or a safe and comfortable place to whelp out a litter, and worse. It is for that reason that you must be very careful who you take direction from, or you can have a very negative LGD experience and end up with an epic fail.
Choose who you listen to and take direction from very carefully.
These dogs deserve your best intentions, not your worst!
