How Camp Glen Brook Uses SpotOn to Keep a Livestock Guardian Dog With the Flock
On 250 acres of pasture, farmland, forest, and water in Marlborough, New Hampshire, keeping animals where they need to be is anything but a small job.
At Camp Glen Brook, Farmer Sam manages sheep, cows, goats, pigs, chickens, gardens, and the many day-to-day demands of a working farm. He is also helping students understand what it really means to care for animals and steward the land.
For Camp Glen Brook, farming is an important part of a much larger mission. Since 1946, the camp has focused on self-discovery, community, and connection to nature through summer and winter camps, family programs, school programs, and Gap semester experiences. The farm gives students a chance to participate directly in that philosophy.
"When students come here, we include them in stewardship projects," explains Julia, Camp Glen Brook’s Assistant Director. "We help them learn how to take care of the land to give them the experience of really being on the farm and being hands on."
"One of my main constraints is always a balance between time and labor, and there’s so much to do and there’s never enough time to get it all done."
- Farmer Sam, Camp Glen Brook Farm Manager
Moving Beyond Physical Livestock Fencing
A few years ago, Sam began using virtual fencing collars for Camp Glen Brook’s livestock.
The change helped reduce the work associated with installing and moving traditional farm fences, like temporary electric net fencing. It also made it easier to shift animals between paddocks and manage grazing across a large, varied property.
But removing physical fencing introduced another problem. Without those barriers, the flock was more exposed to predators, including the coyotes that live throughout the surrounding New Hampshire landscape.
The farm needed a livestock guardian dog.
That led Camp Glen Brook to Mishka, a livestock guardian dog brought onto the farm to remain with the animals and help protect them. Yet Mishka introduced a new containment challenge of her own: How do you keep a young guardian dog with a flock that itself is no longer surrounded by a conventional fence?
For Sam, returning to electric fencing would have meant giving up some of the efficiencies the farm had already gained.
"My hope was to not have to go back to electric fences."
Instead, he began looking for a way to give Mishka her own virtual boundary.
Creating a GPS Fence Around the Flock
Sam ultimately found SpotOn GPS Fence.
The concept fit naturally with the system Camp Glen Brook was already using for its livestock. Sam could create SpotOn boundaries for Mishka that corresponded with the virtual paddocks used for the sheep, allowing the livestock and their guardian to move together around the farm.
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"We’ve been able now to have Mishka use her SpotOn collar and sync that up with our sheep’s collars with overlapping pastures."
As the flock moves from one grazing area to another, Mishka can move with it while maintaining her own SpotOn GPS boundary.
The result supports more than containment. It also complements the rotational grazing practices Sam uses to manage the land.
As he describes it, the animals can remain within their designated areas while the farm shifts them between paddocks to encourage healthy grazing practices. At the same time, Mishka can stay where her role requires her to be: alongside the livestock.
That makes Camp Glen Brook an unusually compelling example of GPS dog fence technology in practice. This is not simply a dog staying within a residential yard. It is a working livestock guardian dog moving among changing pastures on an active 250-acre farm.
Training a Livestock Guardian Dog to Understand Her Boundary
The technology was only part of the equation. Mishka still needed to learn what her new boundaries meant.
Livestock guardian dogs are bred to work independently, remain attentive to their surroundings, and make decisions while protecting the animals in their care. Sam therefore paid close attention to Mishka’s boundary training.
SpotOn’s in-app training experience helped him introduce the system progressively.
"The app really walks you through it, and she moved along through that training program and protocol really smoothly."
According to Sam, Mishka learned how to respond to the collar’s boundary alerts: when she reaches the boundary and hears the alert tone, she turns back.
"She now hits the boundary, hears the sound, and immediately comes back,” he says. “She’s done a great job."
For a working dog whose job requires freedom to patrol, that distinction matters. The goal is not to keep Mishka close to a farmhouse or confined to a small run. She needs room to move with the flock while still understanding where that freedom ends.
Putting GPS to Work in the New Hampshire Forest
Camp Glen Brook also presents a demanding environment for any GPS-based system.
New Hampshire is one of the most heavily forested states in the country, and Camp Glen Brook’s property includes dense woods alongside open pasture, farmland, and a private lake. Heavy tree cover can create difficult conditions for satellite-based devices because foliage and surrounding terrain may interfere with satellite signals.
That gives Sam a particularly useful perspective on SpotOn. He is not testing the system in a controlled environment. He is using it as part of the daily operation of a working farm, across varied terrain, while managing a dog whose whereabouts directly affect the livestock she is there to protect.
SpotOn Nova was designed for precisely these kinds of real-world conditions, using dual-band GPS technology to improve positioning performance in environments where GPS signals can be more difficult to maintain.
There is also a local connection to the story. Camp Glen Brook and SpotOn are both rooted in New Hampshire. SpotOn collars are designed, supported, and hand-assembled in the state, making Mishka’s experience an especially fitting example of the technology being put to work close to home.
Less Time Managing Fences. More Time Managing the Farm.
For Sam, the most meaningful measure of success is not the technology itself. It is what the technology allows him to accomplish.
Mishka can remain with the animals. The flock can continue moving between grazing areas. Camp Glen Brook has not had to abandon virtual livestock fencing simply to accommodate its guardian dog.
And through Mishka’s first summer on the job, the farm has experienced zero livestock losses to predators.
"Everyone is staying where they’re supposed to stay. We haven’t had any predation losses, so that has saved me tons of time and labor and cost associated with all of that—and then also a lot of peace of mind."
That outcome gets to the heart of why technology has a place at Camp Glen Brook.
The camp is deeply invested in giving young people authentic experiences with animals, agriculture, and the natural world. But embracing that philosophy does not mean rejecting technology. As Sam explains, Camp Glen Brook is open to technologies that support its people, animals, and processes rather than getting in the way of them. SpotOn is helping the farm do exactly that.
Instead of rebuilding physical fences around the flock, Sam can spend more of his limited time caring for animals, managing the land, and teaching students. The sheep can continue moving through rotational grazing areas. Mishka has the freedom she needs to patrol alongside them while learning where she should stay.
For a 250-acre New Hampshire farm balancing education, livestock management, predator pressure, challenging terrain, and an ever-growing list of daily responsibilities, that makes SpotOn more than another piece of farm technology.
It helps Camp Glen Brook preserve the freedom and flexibility of its modern farming system while keeping its newest—and perhaps most enthusiastic—farmhand right where she is needed.
Helping Farm Dogs Do Their Jobs
Want to see how SpotOn can help give your dog more freedom across your property? Explore SpotOn GPS Fence and learn how customizable GPS boundaries can work across fields, woods, farms, and more.