How My Dogs Sleep Outdoors in Winter

so yes I'm a dog owner but I'm also a dog owner whose dogs live outside 24/7 365 days a year my dogs stay outside in order to protect my farm we have coyotes we have Bobcats we have bear and we also have a heck of a lot of ducks geese and chickens and because my livestock Guardian dogs are here protecting the farm they keep all of those birds safe but a lot of people who watch our videos still don't quite understand how I do it and why I do it and why it's okay for the dogs like how am I able to live here in Frosty cold Northern Vermont and let two animals live outside and meanwhile profess to love them how is that even possible what are you doing you here Kobe you were looking so dirty what were you up to last night I mean usually his fur is whiter than aby's fur but he looks filthy today it actually has me wondering what the heck happened here on the farm last night and I guess the good news is I'm not going to have to wonder too much because I did a little experiment over the evening and I set up these cameras to watch and monitor the dogs just to sort of check in and see how they're doing and see what their night was going to be [Music] like [Music] you know I covered this in a recent video but there's a Coyote Den on our Farm's property it's a little bit of a ways away from where the dogs are really guarding but I could definitely see overnight that the dogs were interacting with those coyotes barking back and forth really declaring that this yard guard that their inside is their territory and really encouraging the coyotes to stay away the coyotes are unlikely to come and try to like confront the dogs because it presents a lot of injury risk for them and for wild animals if you get hurt it's game over and my dogs are significantly larger than the coyotes that we have around the farm and you could see Toby dog and Abby dog working as a team going back and forth really looking around they have various places that they do their rounds and really watch like for example there's the gate up at the front but then there's also the areas in the back and they would just circle around all night really active all evening okay Toby dog you ready to go greet our Birds Abby I want you on good behavior sweetie okay all right good morning good morning Birds how's everybody doing are you trying to eat my feet so in the winter months I keep my birds living inside this giant poop house we've got a about 60 Birds living on the farm right now but in the months of Summer it can Peak well over a hundred and so when I say that it's the job of the dogs to protect the birds these are the birds that I speak of and they don't even necessarily need to be inside the bird house to protect the birds either because the role of a livestock Guardian dog isn't to like fight or chase Predators it really is to try to Mark and maintain a territory that indicates that they are the apex predator of that area and these two adorable flute balls are the apex predator here on AR looks like somebody HD an egg in here for me I usually prefer when they leave them in the nesting box but you can't sometimes control that release the [Music] quacken it's time to turn on the water for the birds this morning hey Pablo Barn cat how's it going buddy [Laughter] [Music] so Toby dog is an experienced Pro with working with these birds Abby dog's still kind of new to it she's about 2 years old and she's getting a lot better but she still has a tendency to be interested in trying to play with chickens yes I know sweetie if they flap and flop it's your job not to react you got to be calm chaotic good chaotic good chaotic good [Music] wait a minute Toby dog is this why you got so muddy last night you liked your little hole so you're sleeping in the dirt hole well I guess you can do whatever you want but you did have better options so yes my livestock Guardian dogs while I say that they sleep outside they actually have two shelters to choose from and both of them are pretty large first off they have this house right here this actually used to be where my ducks would live but since the Ducks now live in the hoop cop I retrofitted it with a doggy door and so this is actually where the dogs spend a lot of their time like you can actually even see it the two dogs have made their own respective like bed down areas like so there's this one side here hey Abby dog and then there's another side right there and so both dogs are prone to coming inside here and sleeping and so that right there is is probably enough shelter for them but they also always have access to this space as well this was actually my original original duck house then it turned into the goose house then it turned into like Toby's house when he was a puppy and then I've kept Abby in here as well some point I'll probably actually tear it down or change it into something else like maybe cattle housing but I still like to let the dogs use it because apparently they really enjoy sleeping inside of here as well you know one thing that folks often don't know about livestock Guardian dogs is that they are mostly nocturnal animals you know watching the trail cameras from the night before it was clear to see why Toby dog and Abby dog would be a little bit sleepy and finding a nice patch of sunshine inside their Hut is definitely where they like to go in the winter months in the summer months they'll often do a similar Behavior but often looking for nice cool holes or shaded areas where they can nap in the winter months when it's a little chillier they will often try to find Patches of sunshine to sleep in like even here you can tell that they're both sleeping in the sunniest spots of their shelter because it's just nice and relaxing and warm you know sometimes they will separate and sleep in different areas like for example Abby dog might be sleeping in the duck house and Toby dog might be sleeping in this shelter but it just so happens that this afternoon they were sleeping together we're going to have to brush you today buddy you don't need to be brushed you're relatively clean girl Abby you're being a little too bossy we're going to have to go somewhere else so you don't get interfering I no buddy you're going to get brushed hang on I'm still working on breaking Abby of her habit of needing to be the center of all attention come on buddy you go NOP you stay right there now what you're going to see is Toby dog's going to mark his territory this isn't a territory marking Expedition come on come come come here my bull Macho Man's probably going to get a little drills that Toby's getting the brushing attention Toby deserves the brushing attention yeah I'm just trying to get you clean there kid once his fur dries he'll get nice and clean but I'm just doing this to make sure nothing gets caked in nothing gets matted cuz you deserve good things my friend just because you're a working farm dog doesn't mean you also don't deserve love yeah love you buddy naby dog there's no reason for you to be jelly you can come out now too all right kobby in Abby out come good girl don't even like to get brushed hobby loves getting brushed you kind of only tolerate it good lady aington yeah see you got your Abby [Music] attention [Music] hey Toby H hey ABS how's it going hi good to see you too by the way Toby dog of gold sha Farm still available if you haven't read it yet it's the wonderful story of Mr Toby dog and when he first came to the farm yes Abby eventually you're going to have your own book but right now we're working on the book about Lil barnat are you guys having afternoon nap times huh yeah a big stretch there sweetie you're a good girl I've been actually working inside most of the afternoon here just decided to come out and check on everybody gosh it is really slushy and Mucky down here what do you say to that Abby it's been very warm the last couple of days you know you know we got a good deal of snow I think about 8 in or so the other day lately it's just been all melting down but over the last 24 hours or so it's been in the 30s and 40s like I think it's uh 38° Fahrenheit right now and so stuff is starting to melt all down come on Toby dog let's go Abby dog you're come with me too we're going to go visit the birds here we go come on pal you too [Applause] what you doing here Carmen I was just checking for some eggs apparently there aren't any hey how's it going bet you doing good Abby dog remember we behave around bet isn't that right bet is the chillest of all the chickens there is no doubt about [Music] it [Laughter] [Music] what you doing Abby what you got under there well doesn't look like I even have to say all ducks go to bed because all the Ducks Toby have gone to bed so we got this crew roosting up here and we got this crew roosting over here those are mostly the younger chickens this is mostly the older chickens and then for some reason bet always goes into here like she never ever knows how to put herself to bed it kind of makes her my favorite weird chicken there you go inside you go sweetie good night good night ducks good night geese come on let's go guys all right now it's time for dinner for the dogs hey hey hey get out of there get out of there you're not allowed to have that this is dog food not cat food back away you scavengers I'm going to have to punt you out of here if you're not careful and just a little extra special treat on top all right Abby dog you can enjoy [Music] that okay Mr Toby dog Here Comes Your Food too enjoy well it's been another good day here on the farm now we can only see what night [Music] brings

Channel: Gold Shaw Farm

Views: 340,500

Keywords: gold shaw farm, duck farm, goose farm, vermont farm, toby dog, maremma, livestock guardian dog, working dogs, farm vlog, livestock guardian dogs, homestead vlog, livestock guardian dog breeds, livestock guard dog, maremma puppy, maremma dog, farm dog, livestock guardian dog ducks, livestock guardian dogs in action, predator control, maremma sheepdog, livestock guardian dog training, livestock guardian dog chickens, working dogs breeds, day in the life

Id: Y_ZhDUCv8N8

Length: 12min 53sec (773 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 11 2023