Livestock guardian dogs

Conmaicne Mara

There are some groups set up on facebook about livestock guardian dogs. Mostly they are in other countries, in my Googling I've seen mention on one near Athenry. I emailed the farmer in question but never did get a reply.

Does anyone here know of them in Ireland? Would they fall foul of the control of dogs act, as "guard dogs" aren't supposed to be allowed to roam freely. Though LGD's are supposed to stay with the flock, and them not roaming is one of the valued traits.

I can foresee all sorts of problems, but still interested if anyone has any leads.

Thanks.

moy83

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

There are some groups set up on facebook about livestock guardian dogs. Mostly they are in other countries, in my Googling I've seen mention on one near Athenry. I emailed the farmer in question but never did get a reply.

Does anyone here know of them in Ireland? Would they fall foul of the control of dogs act, as "guard dogs" aren't supposed to be allowed to roam freely. Though LGD's are supposed to stay with the flock, and them not roaming is one of the valued traits.

I can foresee all sorts of problems, but still interested if anyone has any leads.

Thanks.

A buddy of mine has one in with his geese and hens , I think he got him off the farmer in Athenry , a Pyrinese Mountain dog . He reckons they are great protectors but sure they would eat the price of alot of hens in the year .
I think they would want to be reared with the fowl/sheep to get a right bond with them .
I reckon they could be easily shot too by lampers if they didnt know the score with having them in the garden with sheep .

I have a St. Bernard and a Newfoundland dog , the Newfoundland is very protective of the wife and kids . A fox sure aint going to make off with any of them anyhow thats for sure

Dont be daft

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Does anyone here know of them in Ireland? Would they fall foul of the control of dogs act, as "guard dogs" aren't supposed to be allowed to roam freely. Though LGD's are supposed to stay with the flock, and them not roaming is one of the valued traits.

Thanks.

Control of Dogs Act prohibits letting any dog "roam free" unless its on the owners premises.
A stock proof premises is more than likely a dog proof therefore once the dog can be kept within the dog owners premises there's no issue with roaming.
Commonage would be a problem.


There is specific legislation dealing with guard dogs prohibiting them to be let roam free on a premises without control. This is probably what your thinking of but agricultural premises and land are excluded.

Been a while since I looked at it so have a google of it but off the top of my head they're the two laws that would apply to the situation.

Conmaicne Mara

moy83 wrote: »

A buddy of mine has one in with his geese and hens , I think he got him off the farmer in Athenry , a Pyrinese Mountain dog . He reckons they are great protectors but sure they would eat the price of alot of hens in the year .
I think they would want to be reared with the fowl/sheep to get a right bond with them .
I reckon they could be easily shot too by lampers if they didnt know the score with having them in the garden with sheep .

I have a St. Bernard and a Newfoundland dog , the Newfoundland is very protective of the wife and kids . A fox sure aint going to make off with any of them anyhow thats for sure

Now that is interesting, did you tell me that before I have a faint bell ringing and an awful memory My greatest fear would be the dog getting out and either biting someone or killing or interfering with someone elses stock. Though my land is difficult to see from the road I wouldn't be too worried about lampers, if the number of lamp shy foxes are anything to go by they can't hit what they fire at anyway. There is a very popular walking route starting point near one end of my farm, that's my biggest concern, insurance, liability, and that very Irish of words, com-pen-sayshun.

Dont be daft wrote: »

Control of Dogs Act prohibits letting any dog "roam free" unless its on the owners premises.
A stock proof premises is more than likely a dog proof therefore once the dog can be kept within the dog owners premises there's no issue with roaming.
Commonage would be a problem.


There is specific legislation dealing with guard dogs prohibiting them to be let roam free on a premises without control. This is probably what your thinking of but agricultural premises and land are excluded.

Been a while since I looked at it so have a google of it but off the top of my head they're the two laws that would apply to the situation.

I will google that, thanks. That's very interesting about farm land being excluded. I would not intend on teaching the dog to jump fences as I don't think I'll need that. I've seen, don't know the right name for them, "dog doors" we'll call them for fences, he can use them

Wouldn't need to put him on the commonage as I'm only concerned about foxes at lambing. There have been sheep killed on the commonage because of dogs but thus far mine have escaped unscathed so I'll keep the fingers crossed. Added complications for my commonage is there's a busy enough (you wouldn't think it until you stand there for a while) road through it, it's popular with walkers, and other farmers would be using their own dogs there, so it's a recipe for disaster

Muckit

Did any of ye see the picture of the terrier in the indo yesterday that had fostered ducklings? It made me think of this tread