To answer you'r question not every LGD will wander all the time, but it is not something that you can predict either. A dog that has never in it's life may decide to wander at say 5 years old. We don't know why or what inspires it. And the dog may only very occasionally wander, or like Brenda said it may chase something very far. It is something that needs to be addressed before you get the dog, and it is always safer for everyone if the dog has a boundary.
In situations were the neighbors are like 50 miles away or more it may not be an issue, but you are much closer to you'r neighbor's is my guess. When we lived on the farm we had 180 acres. But still some of our more bold males would be seen at our neighbors guarding his cows and he was easily 200 acres away.Thankfully he did not mind, and his dog's stayed at his house, he did not have LGD's since cow's were not usually a target in that area all he had were cow's. But I suspect our dog's did save some calves. But if his dog's did approach his cow's our dog's would have defended the cow's with out a doubt. We had a good working relationship with our neighbor's, we would often share grazing area's for part's of the year when the river was up high. And he liked our dog's. But I am sure if our dog's had gone as far as his house and hurt or threatened his own house dog's that would have changed quickly.
My point is you will not be able to predict if you'r pup will wander or not,no matter which breed you choose. So it is safer to cover you'r bases you do not have enough space to not fence.

Yep, you absolutely need a fence. Before I got my Akbash Dog, despite the former owner begging me to take him sooner (he was cooped up in a small duplex in the city), I had to finish the perimeter fencing. We used 6 foot woven wire horse fencing. I would not go with anything shorter. Whaley can easily clear 4 feet, and even 5 feet if he's motivated. If you don't fence your property, your LGD is sure to roam, and you can't chain or kennel an LGD--it's pointless and will make the dog very unhappy.

As to other dogs, I agree with the others--if these are mature adult dogs which are untrained and unruly, you are sure to have issues. I have two female German Shepherds on my farm, but they are trained housedogs, and use a separate area of the yard from Whaley. They do get to socialize a bit, but do not run together. The GSDs are energetic and active and the younger one can get on Whaley's nerves. I can't imagine if three big, playful, unruly dogs were harassing him. And yes, bringing a young pup into the mix could definitely be a bad influence on the pup--if they chase the cats or livestock, the pup will probably be inclined to do so as well.

If you are serious about getting an LGD, the first thing you need to do after fencing, is create separate areas for the dogs. They can socialize with each other, but shouldn't be allowed to run together unsupervised. Unless you have a purpose for these three adult dogs, I would remhome one or two of them before bringing home an LGD. Or at the very least, get some training on them. It will be a tough road.

I have decided to try to build a fence myself, with the help of my dad. Because it was my birthday a few days ago, I got a huge amount of money and already had some saved up, so I now have about $230 dollars saved up. I also will have more money because my friend is going to to help me by selling apples and such from the trees in her backyar when I go to her house. I don't have much money, so I can't fence the whole property, but I could fence a good-sized area, including the chicken coop/some of the garden.
And I have talked to my mom, and we are going to go to some dog training classes for our three pet dogs.
Sorry it took me so long to reply, we finally got moved to the new house and it doesn't have wifi, so I couldn't get online any sooner.

Well I really have to commend your perseverance it is admirable in someone so young. Fencing can be hard work, I am glad you are willing to heed all the advice from everyone and take this seriously, I have a feeling that one day you will be a very responsible dog owner.

Responsible LGD ownership means having everyone on board. I hope your parents come around. I turn down a lot of potential homes to Spanish Mastiffs mostly those who want one as a pet. I know there are other breeders in this country promoting them as such. I don't. SM's can be surely, stubborn, and are extremely powerful dogs. I notice in my Abelgas girls, the temperaments are hard, very set, and in the one pup in particular, take repeated correction and reprimands at times, to get points across. My other SM's vary in temperament; Ibra is a pushover, a lush and a friendly sort. Pia would take anyone's throat out who walked into my house while she is there. Patron is indifferent, detached, easy going but very independent. Xanto trusts no one but me and is not afraid to show it. His half sisters can turn from sleeping beauties to roaring lions (or should I say tigers since they are striped lol). In short: ANY of these types of dogs, will be a handful for an inexperienced dog person to handle. I am already hearing about SM pups showing up in rescues in this country. What does that tell you? I know of one that was re-homed and is being crossed on Pyrenees someplace. Bottom line: did the breeders do them any favors trying to push these dogs as big easy going gentle giants anyone can handle and own with a postage stamp backyard? No, don't think so. They need a mission, a job, a firm hand, they need to look up to an alpha (me) and respect them or all hell can break loose. I digressed somewhat on another thread about what Zaca (my red brindle SM female) did to my alpha pyrenees bitch. It was not pretty. Yes, I have turned down a lot of potential SM homes for reasons ranging from inexperience, flaky-ness, to no fences, too many other pet dogs, no livestock, etc. I think someday you might be ready for one but until things line out more, it is best you wait. Get your parents on board with you. If they do not support this it won't be good for you or the dog...especially the dog. Best of luck.

Also, later, I'll digress a bit on the disasters that can happen running Non LGD's with LGD's. Granted I do know and respect the fact some on this board pull it off in grand manner (Berger04 comes to mind) but then they are experienced dog men. I'm talking about the average Joe out there with three Yorkies a Corgi cross a Samoyed and a Pit Bull who want to add LGD's to the mix and make it work. I have a sad story to tell on this topic, of what can happen when it goes wrong...and will add later tonight when I get done working. We finally have a day without wind and I'm trying to take advantage of it!!!!

I'm sorry it took me so long to post this, I haven't had internet access until now.
I have talked with my parents about your guys opinions........ and we have decided not to get an LGD (for now). We just don't have the right situation...... but we are still going to get somekind of guard dog that will hopefully protect the property. I am still going to stay active on this website because I would definently like to own an LGD in the future, maybe in a few years when we have the property fence.
Thank you all so much for helping me realize that we can't really get an LGD until we can handle one. I really would have hated to get one and then have the situation itself be a total failure, and have the dog be miserable.

What do you need protection from? If it's protecting your animals, having a safe area to lock them up at night would be the best option until you can fence. If you get a none LGD, it could turn out to be a worse predator to your animals than any problem you are already having. Trust me. I have Doberman. I know!

If you're looking for protection for yourselves from thieves, etc, you could very well have the same problem of having the dog out wandering around and leaving you and your home unprotected. An underground or invisible fence might be an option.

I just went back and re-read your original post. You want protection for your birds. A non-LGD would be a BAD idea! Even LGD can be bad with birds. You have no guarantee your guard dog won't cause more problems.

The easier thing would be to build a safe coop for your birds to be locked up in at night. It doesn't have to be expensive. Look at hoop coops or pallet coops. Cover open areas with hardware cloth so coons can't reach through and grab anything. Extend wire out longer than you need by at least a foot and bury that extra with dirt and/or rocks so things can't dig under.

We do already have a somewhat safe coop, except that the top of it is only partially covered with some kind of wire-stuff, but we are trying to fix it soon. And we already found out that some dogs are bad with chickens..... One of our three dogs, Dakota, killed one of our original six chickens we got, about four years ago. That was when she was about one. Now she is mostly fine with the chickens, though she does sometimes chase them or nip at them, almost like a Border Collie would.
And We actually have probably found where we are going to get our new dog: the neighbors female German Shepherd is preganat right now with purebred puppies, due in 6 days. I am going to introduce the pup to the chickens when it is very young, so it will be used to them and friendly with them.