When you have livestock, especially smaller ones like goats, you've got to have some protection against predators. While some people use llamas and donkeys, we have found that Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGD's) work well for us.
The only issue we have is finding the right balance in the number of personality types. As with all animals, there are LGD's that are aggressive towards potential threats and others that are more laid-back. To have the perfect LGD team, you must have a balance of leaders and followers to prevent fights and to make sure all the work gets done.
If you have too many dogs (or too many of one personality type) problems start. We recently lost our oldest LGD who was an aggressive worker and really loved guarding the goats. Because she was such a passionate guardian, she would sometimes discourage the other dogs from working so that she could do their job for them. So, while we are sad to have lost such an enthusiastic dog, there has been a big change in the other dogs. The laid-back and lazy dogs have started working harder to make up the gap. While the loss hurt the safety of the herd at first, when the "side-kick" dogs started being productive, the animals actually became safer.
So if your dogs are fighting, roaming, or just slacking off, try trading dogs around until you find the best match for keeping your goats safe.
Be sure to check out our directory of Livestock Guardian Dogs for sale.