Most sheep producers can’t say enough good things about their guard dogs.
“I used to have about 350 ewes, but the coyotes discovered them and were eating me out of house and home. They’d kill 50 to 60 lambs a summer,” said Linda Simington of Hazenmore, Sask.
“But the dogs have almost eliminated the problem. Last summer I had 90 lambs alone on pasture and, thanks to two guardian dogs and a puppy, I didn’t lose one. This is coyote heaven so, to me, that’s an incredible feat.”
Fred Brettell of Lloydminster has had Komondor dogs since he started raising sheep in 1988.
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“To our knowledge, we’ve never lost an animal to a predator,” he said.
Both agree on the nature of the guard dogs.
“They’re generally not killers. A good guard dog will leave other creatures – deer, rabbits – alone if they don’t threaten the sheep. The only time they will kill a coyote is if it won’t leave. Why kill coyotes? More just come in. The dogs train the local coyotes,” said Brettell.
“They push the predators back. You could say they have a live-and-let-live policy,” said Simington.
Brettell said dogs are intelligent and possess a natural instinct to learn what is needed to protect their sheep. They don’t need to be trained, just monitored, Simington said. Bonding with the sheep from an early age is the major requirement.
A Saskatchewan Agriculture factsheet called Livestock Guardian Dogs outlines aspects of this form of predator control, including breed characteristics, potential problems and bonding. It says guard dog pups should be no older than two months when bonding with sheep begins.
The Livestock Guardian Dogs factsheet may be obtained from Kathy Martin, a Saskatchewan Agriculture beef and sheep development specialist at 306-787-4692, or from the Saskatchewan Sheep Development Board at 306-933-5200.
The SSDB can provide prospective owners with a list of Saskatchewan breeders of guardian dogs. It also administers funds committed by Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management to be used to offset the cost of buying guardian dogs.
“SERM has made $5,000 per year available for this purpose for three years,” said SSDB executive director Alesa Verreault. “Any Saskatchewan producer with a history of livestock depredation may apply to the SSDB for a $100 reimbursement on their original invoice. Only those dog breeds that have a proven ability to reduce depredation losses will qualify. Guard dogs are not the solution to predator problems but they certainly are part of it,” said Verreault.
For more information, contact Fred Brettell, Box 1039 Lloydminster, Sask., S9V 1E9, 306-825-2640 or Alesa Verreault, executive director Saskatchewan Sheep Development Board, 2910 – 11th Street West, Saskatoon, S7K 2H6.
