We get a lot of predators around here; bears, foxes, you name it. We couldn’t have livestock without our livestock guardian dogs Roxy, Cupid, and Mona. Roxy was a 13 1/2 year old German Rottweiler who had been with us since she was 6 months old. Her first tour of duty was at our urban aquaponics farm in Ashland, Oregon. She enjoyed watching over the fish and dispatching any rodents.
Later, we began raising chickens and she took to it like a fish to water. She would lay in front of the brooder and watch them for hours. After we moved them outside, she figured out how to get into the pen. We would find her standing or laying there watching and looking after them. She proved to be adept at herding the chickens if they escaped the pen or needed to be put in the coop at the end of the day. She could effortlessly and calmly move the entire flock. Later, she prefered to babysit the brooder and watch the younger dogs do the hard the work. Roxy passed on May 17th, 2024.
Mona and Cupid joined us in July, 2023 at four months olds. They are litter mates who came from a ranch in Siskiyou county, California where they lived among a variety of livestock including goats, cattle, and chickens. Their mother was Sarplaninac and their father was Great Pyrenees/Akbash. They are solid LGDs and, as you can see, real characters.
