As Vashon’s predators have increased in recent years, some island livestock owners have turned to guardian dogs to keep their animals safe. The dogs provide valuable protection, many owners say, but they add the dogs come with a learning curve — for owners and community members alike.

Livestock guardian dogs have been used for centuries in Europe and Asia to keep ranging animals safe. Typically, the dogs are raised with animals from the time they are just a few weeks old and live outdoors among the herd or flock throughout their working lives. The dogs protect the animals in a number of ways including barking, marking their territory and fighting off predators. Common breeds in the United States include the Akbash, Anatolian

Shepherd, Great Pyrenees and Maremma Sheepdog; some of those breeds can be found working in Vashon and Maury island fields, surrounded by livestock.

Owners of the dogs say it is important that islanders who encounter working dogs understand they are just that: working dogs. Several owners have shared their insights on how to best get along with the dogs: When walking by a flock of sheep protected by a livestock guardian dog, don’t put a hand through the fence to give the sheep a friendly pat. Don’t try to make friends with — or yell at — a guardian dog barking at a fence line. Don’t let your own dog attempt to sniff noses with the guardian dog on the other side. Collin Medeiros of Burton Hill Farm says the best advice for encountering one of the dogs is simple: “Ignore it.”

Additionally, livestock guardian dog owner Maggi McClure said islanders should not think that a guardian dog living outside is neglected.

“Their heart wants to be with the sheep and not in someone’s living room,” she said. “They are much happier out in the fields than in a living room waiting for you to get home from work.”

At McClure’s home off Point Robinson Road, border collies run in a fenced field, while sheep graze nearby in a field of their own, protected by two Maremmas. McClure was one of the first islanders to experience losses to coyotes, but said she suffered her worst loss when two domestic dogs killed nine of her sheep in one night.

She adopted her first guardian dog last fall — 7-year-old Zorro — after coyotes killed another sheep despite the presence of her llama. After Zorro arrived, the cougar killed another one of her sheep; Zorro chased the cougar away, but was not able to prevent the attack. Soon after, she brought on Eddie, who was 7 months old at the time. Since then, she has not lost any animals to predators — and she credits the dogs.

“There are nights I know they are busy,” she said.

McClure, who keeps 25 to 30 sheep at her home and more at a nearby field, knows the dogs are busy from their barking, which initially made her hesitant to try them.

“I like quiet. I hate barking dogs,” she said.

Her property is surrounded by woods, she noted, but she is conscious of her neighbors. So far, McClure said, with goats of their own, her neighbors have indicated they appreciate having the dogs nearby.

As McClure talked about her dogs, workers were tending to chores on her property. She had contained the dogs and sheep behind a buffer zone so the dogs would not be anxious about the men’s presence near the sheep — and make their displeasure known.

A short drive away at Pink Tractor farm, however, the situation was different. One of that farm’s two Maremmas greeted a guest with a quiet, calm sniff. Owner Dave Hatfield said he has intentionally socialized the dogs because people come and go frequently at the farm stand. He and his family have had one of their guardian dogs since they opened four years ago. They raise a variety of animals, cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks and geese — a couple hundred animals in all. They do not have barns — Hatfield believes animals are happier ranging outside — and they all graze and rotate among the farm’s 5 acres and 5 acres on neighboring fields. The dogs are critical to protecting the animals at night, he said, especially because fencing that much land is not an option.

“The reality is you cannot do it to all this acreage,” he added. “You cannot turn it into a penitentiary for animals.”

He noted that his farm has good fencing, but it does not keep predators out.

“Raccoons, coyotes, owls, ravens and eagles — there is no end to the predators that affect your financial success on the farm,” he said.

The cougar attacked animals all around his farm, he added, but left his animals alone. Still, this is the first year the farm has lost animals to coyotes, and the losses have been high: four sheep, three geese and 30 chickens.

“Our numbers of losses would be exponentially higher without (the dogs) guarding at night,” he stated.

Facing an increasing coyote population, Hatfield said livestock guardian dogs are the most sustainable solution. Referencing recent suggestions to keep livestock safe by containing them at night, he said dogs are more affordable than building a $20,000 barn or installing $10,000 worth of fencing.

“I am sorry. Farmers do not make a lot of money. It’s not going to happen,” he said.

At Burton Hill Farm, Medeiros benefits from the work of his two dogs, a Maremma and a Great Pyrenees. He acquired his first dog when his family began building their goat farm in 2008. A sheep farmer from Montana warned him that his worst losses would come from domestic dogs — and he wanted to spare himself and his dog-owning neighbors that experience. He has not lost a single goat to predation. However, when he added five sheep and put them in a neighboring field without dogs, he lost two on the same night within the first week.

About a year ago, he acquired the Great Pyrenees, but it has not been a smooth transition.

“She has been nothing but trouble,” he said. “She digs.”

While the Maremma likes to stay with the goats, the Great Pyrenees patrols the boundaries — and pushes them.

“She has got to have a way in and out of every place on the farm,” he said. “My Maremma follows her, and they go for long walks.”

Like McClure, Medeiros elaborated on the dogs’ barking.

“They will bark at a leaf all night long. Or a plastic bag on a fence post,” he said.

Despite the challenges, Medeiros is a fan of the dogs.

“We have a farm we are actually trying to make money with. It would be devastating to lose a bunch of goats,” he said. “There has been a lot of hassle, but I am not pondering giving them away. I need to work with them and figure this out.”

While most of Vashon’s livestock guardian dogs do their work in island fields, one of them is working in downtown Seattle: Brutus, an Akbash-Komondor mix. He belongs to Tammy Dunakin, who owns Rent-a-Ruminant. She has had him since the spring of 2016, when she was preparing for a job on Indian Island, which has cougars. On Vashon, he stays with her working herd of about 120 goats at a pasture near K2. The cougar’s last predation was nearby, and there are many coyotes in the area, but her goats have been fine.

“I have never had an issue, and it is totally because of him,” she said, noting that he ran the cougar off from her home in Frog Holler. “He is an awesome guardian dog.”

In the city, her goats are clearing land not far from Harborview Medical Center. The first day, he barked for two hours straight, she said, but has grown more accustomed to city life since then.

Dunakin added an Anatolian Shepherd that protects goats at her home — and she knows the dogs will be part of her future.

“I will always have guardian dogs, regardless of whether there is a cougar or not. I think they are the best deterrent, for bear included,” she said.

Dunakin and the other livestock guardian dog owners also have advice for those who might be considering getting one or more of the animals: Make sure it comes from someone with a good reputation, who raises genetically sound animals as working dogs.

“You do not want a dog that is going to take someone out; that is not a good thing,” Dunakin said. “Make sure you do not get a loose cannon.”

She also said potential owners need to be prepared to socialize the dogs to people and animals and raise them to be part of a herd.

McClure agreed that training is essential and to be prepared for a learning curve. One of her dogs was too attentive to some her lambs last year, and three died. The other dog has eaten some of her free-ranging chickens.

“I am a couple chickens short and a few lambs short in the learning process,” she added.

And several owners stress that quality fencing is essential, as the dogs can easily jump fences, or, as Medeiros attested, dig out.

“It is very important to have good fencing and to train the dog to respect the fence,” McClure stressed.

It is unclear what the future holds for livestock guardian dogs on Vashon. For some people, they would not be desirable or possible. But for others wanting to farm on an island with a growing predator population, the dogs may be part of the answer. Medeiros believes that is the case.

“I think they are something we are going to have to accept and get used to if we are to have any agricultural activity on the island in any form,” he said. “We have to figure out how to use them in our environment.”