What is the best animal to protect your pond?

[koifishgirl]

Check out this beauty!!! I want this one, bet she would keep the herons away from my ponds.

[jnorth]

I got enough PM's about this that I felt some folks really wanted to have a discussion on how to protect your pond. Sooooo I've merged the two threads into one. BTW I think a Lab would be a good choice as they are good with kids and will scare away herons.

[aquitori]

HAHAHAHA, I had to put this as a thread...and this I know will get closed, but who cares...The hobby is slow until spring, atleast by then I have regenerated some brain cells to talk koi again....

Anyways, I pick a Rott for my pond protection....doesn't go in the water, scares everything that goes close....whatelse right? HAHAHAHAHAHA....

[Mike T]

Have two Chinese ceramic Devil Fish mounted on the roof of our formal pond... Must work, haven't had a cat, rat or bird problem in two years since they were installed... If a two legged animal comes around, I've got my wife to kick the Cr*p out of um... She's a hapa Nihonjin, who knows Kung Fu, Heh!


Happy New Year! Mike

[maryland_ponder]

My Dad has 2 Chows & they HATE herons so hes ecstatic LOL!

[Chagoi]

The Discover Channel ran a TV story ona koi farm in Florida losing $200 K a year to the birds..which dog do you think they tryed and worked and now the dog has a full-time job and has saved the koi farm a ton of money.

Also, FYI, at Omosako and other breeders..they have one dog, one doghouse and a long chain on that dog to watch certain ponds...works folks.

Let me know what you think...and I'll tell you what dog it was.

[koifishgirl]

Hey you never told us which type? I for one like the Aussies and most dogs can be people friendly if around people all the time. I could away put him up when I have buyers around. It's after Im gone that will be the problem with the birds. Im still small enough that us being so close they wont land.
I lost over 600 small koi to the herons this past spring and I plan to do whatever it takes to stop the birds. I cant afford what one bird done in one day. By the way both the Aussie's I had would bite, if you touched me. As long as you did not put your hands on me they were as playful as any dog. If I was not around you could get them to do somewhat what you wanted them to. But if I was around the only person that had there attention was me.

[PapaBear]

hunting dogs. They are friendly and intelligent, but many of them, especially labs, love to swim . Give a lab a pond and he'll think it is his wading pool, guaranteed.

[junglegeorge12]

Any dog will drink from the ponds. So will cats and other sneaky lil critters.

I like the lab or retreiver choice because they are intelligent, loyal, safe for babies and kids, and not temperamental. Herd dogs and collies of different kids are temperamental and unpredictable. They(labs) are more stable animals. They also won't just chase or bark at a heron, they will stalk and eat it. That means you won't be having a heron attack due to the dog being tied up or inside, cuz it'll be dead after it's first visit or two.....

Which dog was used on a koi farm, hmm, could be so many why don't you just tell us? It could have been- a miniature chow, a pit bull, a german shepherd, and alaskan huskie, a lab, a french poodle, a hot dog, a pinscher, a greyhound, a dalmation, a collie, a big ol Beethoven lookin dog, a moving statue, a stuffed Barney moving in the breeze, who knows.

We don't have heron here, so all I have to worry about are stray dogs and cats.

[luke frisbee]

ok are we talking about backyard ponds or breeder ponds.
A backyard pond can be protected by yorky with balls...or a boston terrier without balls.
KFG has a good choice for a breeder's ponds , although Aussies are not really self-motivated, nor hyper.
A sheltie from a performance line would be great...fast, self-motivated, and Hyperactive.
I have poodles, and they are trained to keep the squirrels out of the mangos (they bark "treed" and I let them fetch the squirrels a few times after I've negated the influence of a squirrel on my mangos), and the herons out of the pond ( there it just took me telling them their was a squirrel outside and turning them loose. When they saw the bird, they went right to it....One hot dog later I had Heron Dawgs.).