# LGD eating new born lambs



## bricned (Jul 3, 2006)

In January of this year I purchased an Anatiolian Shepherd puppy. My vet. who
is from Turkey and speaks broken English hardly every comes to the front of the
clinic and talk directly with the public. He has and assistant that does that for
him. When I brought her in to the clinic he came out front to try and tell me
just how good these dog were with guarding livestock. 
She is a very good dog with her charge except she will eat the new born. I have removed her from the sheep. I was wondering if anyone has had any success in breaking a dog of this. If so what did you do.


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## DaniR1968 (May 24, 2008)

Are you certain they are born alive? Often LGDs will eat stillborns. That or he is cleaning them to death then eating.


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## Judy in IN (Nov 28, 2003)

It has been my experience that Anatolians are either really, really good, or really bad. In Turkey, they do away with a dog with prey drive. 

I had a female that was very playful as a puppy. I could not break her from killing poultry and she finally killed a ewe lamb while wearing a drag. 

Her full brother is wonderful, and would interfere with her if she started to chase sheep. The sheep trust him completely, but did not like her at all. I should have listened to my sheep sooner. 

I had her put down, rather than foist my problem onto someone else. 

I have since learned to pick the SHYEST puppy of the litter. Those will be the pups with the least play and prey drive. 

My male dog cleans up the ewe and the afterbirth. He then hangs out a couple of yards from the new mother and babies. The lambs don't imprint on him that way. 

Do your ewes head-butt your female? Do they run from her, or will they lay down against her when she is in the pasture? Watch your sheep.


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## Goatress (Feb 4, 2011)

There are a ton of things I am going to want to know before I could even answer this.

Who did you buy the pup from and how old was it when you got it. 
Was the pup started on sheep.
Were both parents guarding stock or do you even know.

How old is the pup now.
Is it alone in the stock or are there other older LGD's.
When did you put it in sheep.
Did you monitor it.

Are you absolutely sure it is getting enough dog food to eat. Don't laugh. There are more people out there who 'swear' their dog gets enough to eat meanwhile the birds, mice, goats, etc. are eating all the dog's food and it is starving.

How long was the pup in the stock before this happened. How many lambs?

What is your previous experience with LGD's.

And as another poster said, are you sure the lamb wasn't already dead.

Do you have predators around, do you even know? 

Are your fences tight? 

Are you certain a coyote or something else didn't get in?

I'd have to know these things before I'd even pipe up on this because there could be a multitude of factors going on here.


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