Working Dogs: We use both livestock guard dogs and stock (or herding) dogs

What is a Livestock Guard Dog?
		Our guard dogs are a cross of Great Pyrenees and Anatolian Sheppard. They are known for being very protective of their goats and for keeping stray dogs and predators away from the goats.When we originally started this business, we didn’t have any guard dogs. We thought that between our neighbors and all the activities going on, predators wouldn’t be a problem. But we haven’t lost a single goat to predators. As our herd has grown, we’ve added a few more guard dogs to back her up.
		Duke is ½ Great Pyrenees, ½ Anatolian Sheppard. He was born in 2017. Both parents were goat guardians so he has learned from the best. He like to bark to make his presence known, take a cool-down “dunk” in the water tank, and you will usually find him placed between you and the goats until he deems you “safe”.
What is a Stock Dog?
		Stock dogs are a huge part of our business. Without them, we would be in serious trouble. They herd up the goats when we need them to, and help us to move them everywhere–over to the next pasture or down the road to another job. And if a goat gets out, we depend on our stock dogs to help us to get the stray back on the job.Australian Kelpies are our breed of choice. Kelpies know when to bite a misbehaving goat or nose a baby kid to help it keep up with the rest of the herd.But the biggest reason we chose Kelpies is because of their loyalty and work ethic. They don’t quit until we make them. They’d work from dawn to dusk every day of the week if they had a choice.
		Gypsy. Our “Gypsy Girl” is an all around beautiful red Kelpie. She came to us at 2 years old and had been taught the basics of herding. She also granted us with a litter of 9 pups not one month after her arrival (the ultra-sound only found 6!) We love to watch Gypsy’s mind work when we are moving goats. She is so smart!
		Clyde is a black and tan Kelpie. He like ladies more than men, so he sticks with Kim and works mostly with her when we are moving goats. Here he is bored as Kim is picking up fence and he has no work to do.
		Brock is another red and tan Kelpie from Circle Lazy K Kelpies. We got Brock from Tim and Lynda Linquist (folks who started the business) to work goats with. He is a good all around dog and loves to work goats, but he is getting along in years so these days he has more rest days at home between when he heads out on jobs to work with us.

Want to know if goats are right for you? Want a price quote? Or just want to talk goats? Email us at matt@werentgoats.com.  Or visit the Contact Us section of our site.