Basically chickens in dinner suits
November 6, 2015 7:04 AM   Subscribe

This post was deleted for the following reason: Nice, but does look like we had a post about this a few weeks back. -- cortex



 


My cousin's had Maremma sheepdogs all her life and they are the greatest pups. They have a strong need to STERNLY GUARD ALL THE THINGS which is adorable when it comes to, like, chickens and kids.
posted by lydhre at 7:09 AM on November 6, 2015 [4 favorites]


This is so much better than the earlier plan to use cats to guard tiny defenseless flightless birds.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:14 AM on November 6, 2015 [4 favorites]


Previously (though the video and the article linked here are new.)
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:15 AM on November 6, 2015


"Swampy Marsh and his strong-willed sheepdogs"

Top-shelf alt-country band name ready for the taking, y'all.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:16 AM on November 6, 2015 [19 favorites]


My sister has a story of a friend with a sheepdog. At a party this fellow hosted, the guests suddenly noticed they were all clustered in the center of the room, and realized the dog had been herding them. The dog did this so subtly they hadn't noticed it was being done — by moves like brushing against a guest's calves from behind, which would prompt him to step forward in the direction the dog was trying to steer him.
posted by rochrobbb at 7:18 AM on November 6, 2015 [54 favorites]


good dogs!
posted by dismas at 7:31 AM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


"Yeah, I recognize all these types. They just haven't got their feathers on."
posted by Room 641-A at 7:33 AM on November 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


Good dog!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:44 AM on November 6, 2015


Herding dogs are fantastic. Like rochrobbb, I grew up with a collie, another type bred to herd livestock. She was the world's sweetest dog, but would develop severe anxiety if people were outdoors and not congregating. When she was a puppy, we used to get her to calm down by having four of us stand in the middle of a field, and then walking away from each other in four different directions. She would frantically run laps around the ever-expanding circle of people, trying to take out our knees to encourage us back toward the starting point. Woe betide the fox that messed with that dog or her charges.
posted by Mayor West at 7:57 AM on November 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


This article is heartening, like a wild west morality play. One determined, rational being makes life work for the vulnerable. Then, his name, really great earthly name.

I once was driving over East Canyon Pass, when suddenly two sheepdogs barreled down the upper embankment and onto the road. I stoped and the dogs remained in the road, one for each lane barking and holding the traffic. In another couple of moments a herd of sixty or so sheep came after them crossing the road and heading down to the ranch below, followed by two more dogs. When they all crossed, the two dogs on the road finished up the traffic detail, then headed down home. I waited for the sheepherder to come down, but there were only sheepdogs managing the migration. I sat there in amazement for a couple of minutes.
posted by Oyéah at 8:20 AM on November 6, 2015 [19 favorites]


everybody keep posting stories about good dogs doing a good job please
posted by dismas at 8:28 AM on November 6, 2015 [19 favorites]


I can't even deal with the second link, which has FLUFFY DOGS and FLUFFY HAPPY DOGS GETTING PETS and HAPPY CHICKENS and PENGUINS.
posted by joyceanmachine at 8:35 AM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


I demand this be made into a movie

Done.
posted by Karaage at 8:35 AM on November 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


Ha! That's wonderful. These big livestock guard dogs, they don't actually control where the livestock goes--you want a specialized herding dog like a border collie or a sheepdog for that--but they just... keep out whatever is weird or a potential threat to "their" pack. Which can, depending on what you raise them around, be just about anything. Sheep, goats, chicken, cattle, doesn't matter--they'll attach to whatever you raise them with. So that sounds to me like it could be an awesome transition to looking after relatively stationary colonies of, say, endangered birds.

As long as whoever sponsors these projects can guarantee food, veterinary care, and regular visits to the dogs to keep an eye on whether they need vet care--not always a trivial task!--this could be incredibly effective as a strategy for a variety of species. It certainly seems to be working well here!
posted by sciatrix at 8:38 AM on November 6, 2015


Swampy Marsh seems like a delightful dude.
posted by ghharr at 8:41 AM on November 6, 2015


Guardian sheepdogs are so interesting to me - I always sort of assumed that the fact that they're sort of sheep-looking was integral to their functioning, so it never occurred to me that they can guard other species too!
posted by muddgirl at 8:45 AM on November 6, 2015


An aside about penguins -- did you hear Santa's moved to Antarctica since the North Pole is melting?

And he's replaced the reindeer with a flock of penguins.

What, you don't believe penguins can fly?
posted by hank at 8:49 AM on November 6, 2015


as god is my witness...
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:14 AM on November 6, 2015 [4 favorites]


Raised sheep for about 16 years and for part of the time had a Great Pyrenees. Gina was too old when we acquired her to be really used as livestock guard dog, but man did she love little animals. When we were lambing she spent her whole time in the barn near the lambing pens and had a great love for some of our barn cats. Really miss that big, old goofy dog.


Bat Girl and Gina
Bat Girl going for a ride
posted by jgaiser at 9:23 AM on November 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


Swampy also needs his own stand-up show /newspaper column. Am afraid what will happen if he doesn't get a regular outlet for the all the dad-cracks!
posted by runincircles at 9:41 AM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


If all these hijinks are just too much, perhaps you'd prefer your Guardian Dogs to be accompanied by light techno music as they confront the threat of stoic, rule abiding interloppers.
posted by ethansr at 10:13 AM on November 6, 2015


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