Anatolian Shepherds Jump Into Action to Defend Baby Goats Like the Best Boys

Livestock guardians dog have one job: to guard the livestock. While doing other things and befriending the other animals on the farm are a plus, they're not necessary: if they're keeping everyone safe, friendly or not, they're getting the job done.

Before the days of social media, we rarely got to see that: most of us don't have farms, nor do we frequent them. If you'd have told me two years ago that farms even had livestock guardians, I probably wouldn't have understood. On Monday, August 19th, one farm took to TikTok to show the world exactly how important LGDs are and how brave they can be:

Crab Orchard Creek's livestock guardians can brawl with the best of them, that's for sure. These boys aren't letting anything slip past them!

Related: ‘Grumpy’ Anatolian Shepherd Doesn’t Stand a Chance Against New Border Collie Pup’s Funny Hops

Crab Orchard Creek is a farm based in Kentucky that mostly produces dairy: they have goats , cows, and a few other animals. In addition to all of those animals, they have three livestock guardian dogs. The ones that jump into action immediately are Kaan and Kedi, with Leroy (their oldest boy) in the wings.

Interestingly, whatever is lurking outside the pen seems to get the goats' attention first: you can see them stop and stare. The dogs pick up on it pretty quickly, though, and are up and barking before anything gets too close. We're not sure what/if anything was actually lurking, but we do know that no one was hurt, and we have these pups to thank for that!

What Triggers Livestock Guardian Dogs?

Simply getting a livestock guardian dog doesn't mean they'll be able to defend your animals, just like herding dogs don't know exactly how to to herd, even if the instincts are there. Typically, there are a few things that a livestock guardian dog is trained to notice:

1. Animals stopping suddenly.
2. Changes in environment (like a loud, buzzing night suddenly going quiet).
3. Rustling leaves.
4. Snapping twigs.
5. Loud yelps.

Livestock guardian dogs are trained to go after anything they think might be an issue, whether it actually turns out to be an issue or not. At the end of the day, the worst that happens if they're wrong and it's nothing is that they wake up an animal or two with their barking - that's much preferred to losing lives!

The animals on the farm really help out, too: if those goats hadn't alerted the boys, it could've taken them a moment to notice. That moment makes all the difference, and it's what makes livestock guardians so important to everyday farm life. Good job, guys!