The Caucasian Shepherd Dog as a Livestock Guardian
Using CO's as LGD's is best suited for people who have to worry about both the two legged and four legged predators, people who do have a well fenced property (I explained here why proper fencing is so important with this breed: link )
As I mentioned elsewhere on this website, please do not waste your time or money on a CO until the property is properly fenced.
Owning a CO on a property that's not fenced adequately is a huge liability and is just asking for trouble.
If you have a lot of visitors coming to your farm every day and if your only problem are just animal predators preying on your livestock/poultry, then this probably wouldn't be the right breed for you.
You should look instead into other LGD breeds that aren't as protective towards strangers.
Nowadays unfortunately in many countries the agriculture is in the decline, so there are not as many people who still use CO's as LGD's.
And during the Soviet era this breed was used more as a border/prison camp guardian dog.
However, there are still plenty of modern CO's (and by modern I mean CO's from cultivated breeding with a FCI/RKF pedigree) out there who successfully work as (full time) LGD's, in North America as well.
For people looking to get a CO as LGD, there are a few things they need to keep in mind.
If possible, look for a breeder that uses his/her CO's as LGD's and raises the puppies around livestock/poultry.
And thus selects his/her breeding stock for LGD traits. Someone who wants to preserve the working ability in this breed.
Even if your future CO puppy doesn't comes from working parents, with correct rearing it can still make a good LGD.
The LGD instincts are still very much present in this breed.
But regardless, you have to make sure you are getting a well bred puppy. From a breeder that puts correct temperament and structure first, someone who breeds for functionality.
If that CO isn't structurally sound and/or has joint issues, it will be completely useless to you. The same thing goes for incorrect temperament.
While LGD breeds have been selected and bred for centuries for desired traits around livestock, you can't expect them to just automatically know what to do and what not to do around livestock and/or poultry.
LGD's have the right predisposition, but they're not robots.
Most important is to prevent bad habits from developing. Playing with livestock/poultry mustn't be allowed; a puppy trying to play with its charges can quickly turn into the animals being harassed, hurt or even worse by the puppy.
The key is to catch any unwanted behavior early and correct the puppy.
But also, you must set the puppy up for success.
In other words: supervise, supervise, supervise.
Puppies should never be left alone with livestock/poultry unsupervised until they're at least about 18 months old and have shown that they can be trusted unsupervised.
Until then, whenever you can't be there to directly oversee the puppy, the puppy must be separated from the stock.
And if the puppy is supposed to be a full time LGD, then it's best to retire it in a pen in/or directly next to the livestock/poultry at night or when not supervised.
It also greatly helps if there's already an older LGD present, from whom the puppy can learn the ropes.
For more great tips on how to raise an LGD, please visit: http://www.lgd.org/library/Myths%20about%20using%20LGDs.html
CO's are very, very protective and a well bred Caucasian shepherd will not allow anything or anyone near whatever they are supposed to guard.
I noticed (and I've heard the same thing from other CO fanciers as well) that this breed bonds firstly and fore mostly to their humans and their territory (which is also true for some other LGD breeds as well).
CO's don't do well in settings with limited human interaction.
They seem to do much, much better if they are on a farm guarding animals where they also get to see and interact with their humans on a daily basis.
CO's typically have a somewhat higher prey drive than a number of other LGD breeds (this also goes for some other LGD breeds, so it's not something unique to just CO's).
On one hand that does means that it makes it even more difficult to teach them not to chase poultry (which is the most difficult thing to teach an LGD in general anyway), but on the other hand it also means they make excellent vermin control.
Last, but certainly not least, here is a really interesting documentary on CO's being used as LGD's in Georgia (Caucasus).
The CO's in this video are from modern lines, imported into Georgia from Russian kennels. Thanks to the right selection by the shepherds and the Georgian Kennel Club, these CO's are successfully performing the job of their ancestors:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3acrPzOGNjM&feature=youtu.be