Customer Reviews

Livestock Guardians: Using Dogs, Donkeys, and Llamas to Protect Your Herd (Storey's Working Animals)

5 star:		(6)
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The book starts out talking about the problem of predation, describing the range and hunting habits of predators. There are sections on lethal and non lethal methods of control, including a section on effective fencing. The book then goes on to talk about guardian animals, predominantly dogs. There is a section that describes 31 different breeds of livestock guardian dogs, giving some history, appearance, and character/temperament info on each breed. Each section talks about selection, training and management of guard animals, the pros and cons of the animals and solving problems with the animals (such as aggression towards the family pets). Interspersed throughout the book are reports by shepherds on what has worked for them. I found this book to be very useful, and recommend it to anyone considering a livestock protection animal.

We keep sheep and goats and also have a livestock guardian dog, a donkey, and two llamas on our farm, so we're familiar with the ground Ms. Dohner covers in her book. Her advice is spot on!

If you're considering a livestock guardian for your farm, read this book before you choose one.

As a former donkey breeder and author of The Donkey Companion (Storey; 2008), I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up!

Not knowing anything about livestock guardians, I found this book very informative. It appears a lot of research went into it. Covers all the breeds of dogs, their origins, temperment, pros and cons. Also the care for each species.

Once again, Storey's guides are the greatest! I'm still reading this book, but it's very interesting and easy to read. It's chock-full of information that is perfect for novice farmers like us. Even better, they specifically address poultry issues (not just sheep, goats, and cattle) which is where our problem is. Great details on fencing, good pictures of young livestock guardian dogs with animals, and a chapter I can't wait to dig in to more deeply on training an LGD puppy. I can see that it deals with many of the issues we need help on since we already bought a Great Pyrenees puppy. I've already learned from skimming this chapter that her friendly yet cautious manner with our birds is a good thing. Not having an adult LGD to teach her the ropes, I am so happy to have this book to guide us in her training. And if we should ever decide to add a llama or donkey later, this book will cover it all!

I have not bought a single goat yet, I am Collecting a lot of information on it first! This book is great for the beginner! Very easy to understand and a super resource. This book is one of the books that will get pulled from my shelve over and over, it full if invaluable information and excellent resources. It will help you pick the right dog that will fit you and your goats.GREAT BUY!

This is a great book for learning about animals to use to guard your other animals from predators. I highly recommend it.