Our Guard Llamas

The Guardians of our herd of goats work very hard
every day to make sure our flock is safe from
predators.
Llamas are well known for their instinct to guard and
protect their charges. When brought to a herd when
young, llamas will bond with their herd mates and live
and sleep in the same area and shelters. If danger
threatens, be it a pack of coyotes or the neighbours
dog, the llamas are well equipt to deal with most
situations. They have been known to stare down and
chase off several coyotes, even kill some of the pack
members and run down the neighbours Poodle.
We had an incident here at the Stables not long ago,
when a lone coyote showed up in the pasture and all
we saw was Lloyd the llama in hot pursuit of this
animal. They are well organized in their protection
skills and communicate with grunts, calls and twitters.
Of course, a llama would be no match for a full grown
cougar or wolf but we don't have to deal with large
predators at the Stables. Our largest predator is a
coyote but coyotes often run in packs and can be a
formidable opponent for the likes of a llama. That is
the reason we have decided to purchase some
Livestock Guardian Dogs.
Lloyd was recently injured in, what we think , may
have been an attempt to protect his herd. While we
didn't see anything, we have to assume if he was
sleeping all night he would not have been injured when
I went down to the barn in the morning. So...I think he
may have been off chasing an intruder.

Our new additions to our sercurity team are Shadow and
Ghost. Two Great Pyrenees puppies recently purchased from
Glenda McGibbon, a very reliable breeder and good friend.
Great Pyrenees dogs are highly intelligent and are easily
'trained' to be Livestock Guardian Dogs. Though one doesn't
really 'train' a Livestock Guardian Dog. Instinct to guard and
protect those the dog has bonded to is so strong that little or
no guard training is necessary. Socialization and appropriate
behaviour training is needed and there are special techniques
for doing this as we are now learning. It will be a long road to
the day we can completely trust our herd to these two fuzz
balls but that day will come and we will sleep better for it.

July 6 11-A quick update: Our herd has been intrusted to our
little 'fuzzballs' since we brought them home. They had some
training from the does and wethers and a little help from
Lloyd, the Llama and now, as of about April 15th, the puppies
are in with the herd by themselves. Lloyd has been transferred
to the buck pen and is no longer in the pen with the dogs to
'keep an eye' on them. They don't need it. I am completely
impressed and very happy with these two dogs. They guard
and protect their charges and never lay a paw on them. And
they are still only puppies!!

Thank you, Glenda, for such great dogs!