06/25/2025
Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGD)
Its that time of year where all the animals are having babies. I have seen a lot of post for LGD dogs. This both makes me smile cause of the cute babies but also makes me upset. LGD dogs are not just specific breeds like Great Pryness or Anatolian Shepherds, they are dogs from lines that are raised on farms doing their jobs.
Yes LGD breeds are super smart, protective, and usually a calm breed that makes them amazing guard dogs for livestock, but they do require training to get there. Not every single LGD breed will have perfect dogs there are a lot of them being raised in houses as pets or show dogs (nothing wrong with this if the dogs are happy). Those dogs will kill your livestock, they weren't trained for guarding.
Mixing any breeds are hit and miss on what their temperaments will be. Both parents contribute to the genetics of the puppies. When you have dogs not trained for livestock the results can be fatal to the livestock. LGD breeds are not small dogs they are large so they can do the job of protecting against things like wolves, bears, and coyotes and they are smart they can identify a real threat from a potential one. When you obtain an LGD as a puppy it is recommended that you have an older LGD to train it or that you have to do that yourself it's not a one day boom they trained this is work.
This is why the posts make me so upset selling a Pryness puppy as an LGD (usually they have no training) tells the inexperienced owners these are ready to be with your animals that can be fatal. Selling puppies from non LGD dog breeds because the parents of the pups haven't killed their livestock does not make them LGD's, and the puppies could still kill livestock. Selling mixed breeds as LGD's because one of the breeds is an LGD breed doesn't make those babies ready to go. The LGD breeds in the shelters (which there are a lot of them) are not LGD dogs they were most likely never trained and unfortunately some were also abused. They could be trained (some of them) to become an LGD dog again but sometimes they learn behaviors that can't be unlearned and that can have fatal results on a farm.
We raise Great Pryness and would heavily recommend them for anyone looking for an LGD for their farm, but would highly advise to seek out quality dog breeders and ensure the puppies are coming from the kind of lines you need. We unfortunately had an instance when we purchased our Frejya they lied about her genetics. This is why would also advise not to rule out mixed breed dogs as long as you can put the time in for training them. Our Frejya is half Pyrenees and half Border Collie and it took a bit more work and we have to exercise her way more than our pure Pyrenees but she is just as good at protecting the animals. The biggest point I can make is that it's not only what breed of dog you select but the training and work that goes into them, and stop labeling puppies as LGDs until they have been trained!
