Welcome Jan! I have just recently brought 2 Anatolian Shepherd pups (11 months and 19 weeks) to our new farm and am so pleased at how wonderful dogs they are and how easy they are to teach. In my research I've had mixed reports on how much and what to train LGD dogs and am a little confused. I've had some LGD training websites say they should not be trained at all, that they are supposed to be on their own to protect not to sit and come. Then I've had others that have said you need to spend a lot of time training them, socializing them, and I was wondering what your thought were on training LGD's. Right now I'm " "training" or familiarizing my pups with the chickens by putting the chickens in an enclosed area inside the dogs fenced area. Sometimes they will pounce at the chicken fence when the chickens get a little close, but I think it's cause they want to play. When would be a good time (how old the pups should be) or a good cue/ way to introduce the chickens to the pups when they are ready? Also, do you have some tips on how to introduce sheep or larger livestock to the dogs? Would they need to be fenced off for a period of time as well?
I'm really excited to have the opportunity to ask you questions and see if you have training topics in your book too. There aren't any LGD trainers in our area, so it's been a little bit self research. Thanks again for joining the discussion.
Alicia
