I have an opportunity to get a purebred 1 year old Newfie.... for free. Does anybody have any experience with how they interact with goats? She's gentle with other dogs and children, but I never checked into this breed for use as an LGD. Free or not, I can't compromise my goaties if they'll end up as a sneaky snack. Thanks in advance for your opinions/recommendations.
we have a newfoundland, theyre so gentle! --great animal / gurad dog. but make sure the dogs had all rabies etc...just in case, but ours is wonderful with the goats.
Thanks so much for the reply. Now to get my DH on board.... I'm having the lady that currently owns her bring her by the farm tomorrow night to see how she reacts to the goats, horses & other dogs. I'm hoping once my hubby sees her.... he'll say yes. ray: ray: ray: I have to practice up on my begging skills.
I really think the most important thing is the age of the animal and how its disposion is. I have Mastiff / pyrenese crosses - both breeds are considered gentle giants and awesome with livestock. HOWEVER, Luna (who is socialized and I have had since a she was 5 weeks) does pretty well and she was 7 months when introduced to the livestock. Paris (her littermate) we got 2 months ago and she was not very well socialized and chases the livestock BAD! She doesn't so much do it when we are around, but when we are gone - she has litteraly run one of my babies to death. She never hurt them, they weren't torn apart - just full of slober and dead. I suspect she did this to another also that I found dead but I am not positive - So PLEASE, PLEASE be careful. Allison
good piont, all dogs are idfferent, but i have had good luck with, pyrenees, maremma, newfoundland, and Alaskan mountain dog.
We considered Newfoundlands at first too. They seem like wonderful dogs! We ended up getting a German Shepherd. He never bothers the goats, probably because when he was a pup Rosie rammed him many times.
I don't know much about newfies, but I do know that one year of age is that funny stage for dogs, they are almost adults but act like bratty little puppies. They don't think before they do things(not that dogs think but older dogs have reasoning) and tend to not listen. If she is good with the animals and doesn't chase them, she should ok. When our pyr was that age(we had him since he was a puppy, he's crossed with anatolian though) he went through the chicken and goat chasing stage. If I caught him chasing goats or chickens, I'd grab him by the ruff and tackle him to the ground and just yell in his face and spit on him, it took a couple times but he finally figured out that if he chased the goats he'd have to deal with me afterwards. :shades:
thank you for all the helpful info. Hopefully the lady will bring her by as planned this evening to see how she reacts/interacts with the goaties. If all works well, I'll have to start the serious begging and pleading w/the hubby. I wouldn't bring her back to the farm until Friday when I'll have a 4 day weekend to supervise them constantly. She's 1 year old, so we'll see. My Great Pyr is 6 months old and despite being much bigger than the goaties already, she's still scared of them. My "kids" will ram her if she gets too close to them. At least the barn cat, Louie, has accepted Athena as part of the herd.
