Posts
I have been searching (ideally) for a male/female pair of Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs, #1 since we have alpacas and several packs of coyotes living around us that frequently pass through our woods/creek and #2 since Jon has been traveling so much, I thought I could use a little "back up" or a deterent to anyone that thought they might want to pay us a visit unannounced.
I got an email the other day from a gal that knew I was looking that said she knew of a pair right here in my town! She met me and we went and looked at these two dogs…a male 2 ½ years old and female (they say around 6-8 mos. But I think, and the gal that went with me thinks she’s more like a year old). These dogs were very friendly, very sweet natured and social. We visited for about an hour and the dogs were great. The current owner (a woman around 50+ years old and her mother) have a little barnyard with peacocks, chickens and other fowl. That’s about it. They got the female about a month ago from a farm that has cattle, horses, and other dogs, cats, etc. The male, they just got about a week, maybe two weeks ago. The dogs were obviously too much for them to handle and their yard wasn’t even completely fenced. The dogs roamed the little rural neighborhood guarding everything and their barking was not appreciated by the neighbors. We had to pick them up to put them into my truck and had to literally drag them out. I put them both in one of our horse stalls that we had cleaned out for the evening and the female did great…she just took everything in stride. I put a bucket of water in there for them and the male immediately dumped it over. He jumped all over the stall and whined anytime I walked away from the stall or came around to check on them. I spent quite a bit of time trying to get them used to me in the stall and they were both really good, the male jumped on me a couple of times but I know that can be worked on. I gave them their food in a brand new rubber bowl and he immediately dumped out both bowls, would not eat but swept the food that was spilled all over the place with his NOSE, into a pile in the corner of the stall! I was sure his nose would be raw and bloody the way he was sweeping with it…but it wasn’t. Neither dog ate more than a small handful of spilled morsels. The next morning, there was still a pile of food in the corner.
The next morning, I put a leash on the male with a choke collar and planned to try and work with him a little with walking on a leash. We got outside to potty and the female went about her business and
sniffed around, pottied, sniffed some more, things I expected. The male on the other end of the lead went nuts, bucking, rearing, threw himself on the ground and rolled a couple of times, and then would stand up, only to repeat this process, over and over. After about 5 min. of carrying on like this, he managed to take a leap, tuck his head and got out of the choke chain (obviously, it’s too big!) He didn’t run off…but didn’t come back to me either. Neither of these dogs seem to know their name nor come when called…but they come close…just not close enough for you to get a hold of them. He wandered around with her for some time…finally went potty and wandered some more. He seemed to have picked up on a scent and made a beeline for the neighbor’s fence that crosses a gully that is usually filled with water and under the fence he went onto the neighbor’s property. She followed him.
(I have a fenced in area near my alpaca pastures that I intended to put them in after they went potty but we hadn’t gotten that far yet.) Anyway, of course they would not come when I called…but I called and called...just in case. Realizing this was futile, I drove over to the neighbors house…managed to get a collar on the female and heave her 75 lbs. of flesh, bone and fur into my truck and next, tried to get the male...not a chance. He knew she was in the truck though…when I started to drive down the driveway, he followed me so I drove slow and he followed me back
home.
I got her into the run by the alpacas and after quite some time, he finally decided he wanted to come in where she was. Once they were both in the fence, I felt they were safe so I went to the barn and got what I needed and proceeded to feed my alpacas...at one point, I turned around and caught him digging a hole to get under the fence!!! Needless to say, he went back in the horse stall for the day while I went to work. I did leave the female in the barn with my other two dogs. She seems to be adjusting just fine. I can’t tell you how this male has stressed me out!! My heart rate is up just re-living it all. I don’t know what I’m going to do with him. I can’t have him digging out of the fenced yard and roaming around the neighborhood. I WON'T have it.
Is he digging just because he’s confused and in a strange place once again? He was used to roaming free and maybe a fenced pasture won’t work for him?? I think his disposition is great…but his behavior the other night has me baffled. I'm sure he will eventually get used to the lead…I’m getting a smaller collar for him today before I go home.
Until next time...
I got an email the other day from a gal that knew I was looking that said she knew of a pair right here in my town! She met me and we went and looked at these two dogs…a male 2 ½ years old and female (they say around 6-8 mos. But I think, and the gal that went with me thinks she’s more like a year old). These dogs were very friendly, very sweet natured and social. We visited for about an hour and the dogs were great. The current owner (a woman around 50+ years old and her mother) have a little barnyard with peacocks, chickens and other fowl. That’s about it. They got the female about a month ago from a farm that has cattle, horses, and other dogs, cats, etc. The male, they just got about a week, maybe two weeks ago. The dogs were obviously too much for them to handle and their yard wasn’t even completely fenced. The dogs roamed the little rural neighborhood guarding everything and their barking was not appreciated by the neighbors. We had to pick them up to put them into my truck and had to literally drag them out. I put them both in one of our horse stalls that we had cleaned out for the evening and the female did great…she just took everything in stride. I put a bucket of water in there for them and the male immediately dumped it over. He jumped all over the stall and whined anytime I walked away from the stall or came around to check on them. I spent quite a bit of time trying to get them used to me in the stall and they were both really good, the male jumped on me a couple of times but I know that can be worked on. I gave them their food in a brand new rubber bowl and he immediately dumped out both bowls, would not eat but swept the food that was spilled all over the place with his NOSE, into a pile in the corner of the stall! I was sure his nose would be raw and bloody the way he was sweeping with it…but it wasn’t. Neither dog ate more than a small handful of spilled morsels. The next morning, there was still a pile of food in the corner.
The next morning, I put a leash on the male with a choke collar and planned to try and work with him a little with walking on a leash. We got outside to potty and the female went about her business and
sniffed around, pottied, sniffed some more, things I expected. The male on the other end of the lead went nuts, bucking, rearing, threw himself on the ground and rolled a couple of times, and then would stand up, only to repeat this process, over and over. After about 5 min. of carrying on like this, he managed to take a leap, tuck his head and got out of the choke chain (obviously, it’s too big!) He didn’t run off…but didn’t come back to me either. Neither of these dogs seem to know their name nor come when called…but they come close…just not close enough for you to get a hold of them. He wandered around with her for some time…finally went potty and wandered some more. He seemed to have picked up on a scent and made a beeline for the neighbor’s fence that crosses a gully that is usually filled with water and under the fence he went onto the neighbor’s property. She followed him.(I have a fenced in area near my alpaca pastures that I intended to put them in after they went potty but we hadn’t gotten that far yet.) Anyway, of course they would not come when I called…but I called and called...just in case. Realizing this was futile, I drove over to the neighbors house…managed to get a collar on the female and heave her 75 lbs. of flesh, bone and fur into my truck and next, tried to get the male...not a chance. He knew she was in the truck though…when I started to drive down the driveway, he followed me so I drove slow and he followed me back
home.I got her into the run by the alpacas and after quite some time, he finally decided he wanted to come in where she was. Once they were both in the fence, I felt they were safe so I went to the barn and got what I needed and proceeded to feed my alpacas...at one point, I turned around and caught him digging a hole to get under the fence!!! Needless to say, he went back in the horse stall for the day while I went to work. I did leave the female in the barn with my other two dogs. She seems to be adjusting just fine. I can’t tell you how this male has stressed me out!! My heart rate is up just re-living it all. I don’t know what I’m going to do with him. I can’t have him digging out of the fenced yard and roaming around the neighborhood. I WON'T have it.
Is he digging just because he’s confused and in a strange place once again? He was used to roaming free and maybe a fenced pasture won’t work for him?? I think his disposition is great…but his behavior the other night has me baffled. I'm sure he will eventually get used to the lead…I’m getting a smaller collar for him today before I go home.
Until next time...
2 comments:
This is great info to know.
I hope you stayed to read the progression of these sweet dogs...they are doing SO much better and do an excellent job of guarding and keeping coyotes away from our property.
Post a Comment