Adopting Dogs, Cancer Research, Global Warming

In continuation of yesterday's post, my mind seems to be stuck in reverse. I was thinking back to a time when I actually OWNED a dog. Now I am just a dog care giver, parent, foster parent, adoptive parent, servant and manager. It is now impossible to buy the pet of your choice. You must ADOPT a pet. Animals rights organizations and the government have put a stop to most dog breeding.

You can't adopt a dog from a rescue because their standards are higher than they are for adopting a child. Plus every animal you already care for must be spayed or neutered. You must live in an impenetrable fort and sign away your life and privacy. The rescue adoption fees are higher than you would pay to a good breeder for an excellent bred pup.

So here is what I see happening in the pet world. It is already happening with designer pets. They are mixed breeds without registration. Goodbye AKC! Goodbye purebred dogs! So what is the long term effect. No more breeders, no more rescues, no more humane society and no more animal control officers, this is great news. No more surplus animals.

Dogs will sell at a premium on the black market because they have become an endangered species. In the mean time look at all the lost jobs and incomes. What will all of the rescue, humane society, animal rights and dog registry people do with their time? Why do these people want to put themselves out of a job?

Talking about putting yourself out of a job. A friend of ours has cancer and as she struggles through her treatments, she has raised some good points. Why would cancer researchers want to cure cancer? Look at all of the people that it would destroy as opposed to all of the people it would save. Look at all of the Hospitals that it would put out of business. These researchers have put tons of money and effort into their educations to do what? Put themselves out of a job. Even if someone would make a huge breakthrough, I am afraid that they would be quieted. I hope this isn't true but when you think about it, it is disturbing.

This also brings to mind Global Warming and Climate Change, the very people who are suppose to be working for solutions to the situation are the ones who are making big money because of it. Why would they want to be upfront about the true situation? We should be jumping for joy that this has all been a scam but they are trying hard to say that it isn't a scam. Look at all of the people who will lose their fame and fortune.

LGD is an OCD

At first I thought that Angel was a pack rat but now I am leaning more towards my Livestock Guardian Dog or LGD, having an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD, which would make her an Obsessive Compulsive Dog which also would be an OCD. Are you following me here?

I wondered why all of our feed pans and dishes where all ending up in the same spot, right outside of the goat lot. I thought my husband was doing it and it was beginning to annoy me. I would feed my chickens in a big rubber feed pan under the horse trailer, so that it was out of the weather and then he would come along and spread the chicken feed out on the ground and put the feed pan in the pile with the others.

Then I began noticing that there were other things in the pile as well, aluminum cans, an oil funnel and a feed sack. Finally my brain kicked in and I asked my husband if this was his pile, to which he answered, "no".

My poor dog isn't collecting, she is organizing, putting her world in order. She also likes to keep all of the chickens in the goat/chicken/OCD shed, she can guard them better if they aren't doing this free ranging thing. She was trying to put them back in the shed after they had left it, by herding them but there were too many of them and they don't herd well.

She decided that it would be easier to keep them in the shed, so she lays in the only doorway in the mornings and lets no one pass, the only problem is that she has to take potty breaks and chickens aren't as stupid as you may think, they make a break for it as soon as the door clears. Once they escape, it is so hard to get them gathered back up and nicely put away. So she tries harder the next morning.

LGD Puppy Love

I know people love pups, so do I. There is nothing cuter than a puppy. But my Livestock Guardian Dog, Angel, is just about to drive us crazy. I have talked to other LGD owners and they have had the same problem that I am having with my Great Pyrenees pup.

She is a kleptomaniac, a pack rat, a thief and a part-time chewer. She is making off with everything that she can carry in her mouth. My husband changed the brakes on the car and we ran to town to get something, when we came home the brake pads and some of his tools were gone. At first we thought someone must have stolen them, we couldn't figure out why anyone would have taken the pads except as a joke, but then we started finding everything in the goat lot.

If I put a cover on the swimming pool filter, she takes it off and carries it away. She doesn't necessarily chew everything up, she just carries it off to her area.

My husband was really upset the other night because he laid his hoof pick down for just a minute and it disappeared. Water hose ends, sprayers, cardboard boxes, feed and water dishes, sticks, ropes, she just steals whatever she finds. So far, she is just stealing our stuff and not the neighbor's stuff.

We can never catch her in the act and we cannot even catch her with the goods. She will be sleeping somewhere with the stolen items yards and yards away from her. I didn't know how to discipline her or stop her.

So I consulted an expert on a message board that I frequent, she raises and trains Great Pyrs. She had already recommended a BB gun to keep her in the goat lot since the electric fence doesn't affect her because of her thick winter coat. But then she said that these dogs are smart and you can usually correct them with just a couple of scoldings.

Sure enough, if we find stuff in the lot, we scold her and she never bothers that item again. Of course, sometimes it is already ruined and chewed up, unless it is hard rubber or metal.

The problem lies in figuring out what item she will steal next in the dark of night and telling her, "NO", before the crime is committed.

Keeping her in the lot is the real answer but that isn't easy either. The Crossman Pumpmaster BB Rifle is very nice and my husband has hit her with a BB a couple of times and she has yelped but for some reason I just can't hit her. I find it hard to pump up and can only pump 3 to 4 times, he does 7 and I think it is more accurate at 7, the limit is 10.

We only shoot her if she is not looking at us, to make sure we don't hit an eye. It hasn't taken her long to tune in to the sound of that gun being pumped, so she is usually running for the hills by the time we pull the trigger anyway.

So, it isn't that I don't think puppies are adorable, I just wish that this one would grow up. My husband keeps telling me that she needs to grow up and my LGD friends keep telling me to bear with her because she will eventually get past this stage.

She also barks a lot but I knew before I got her that was a characteristic of a Great Pyrenees, that is all a part of the guarding and protecting, which makes sense because most predators and not going to go into a pen with a barking dog, she sure doesn't sound like a puppy, she was born with an adult voice.

My LGD Angel

Angel is my LGD (Livestock Guardian Dog), she is a Great Pyrenees. Angel was born on the 30th of July, so she is still a pup. She is very playful and loves her goats. She was born in a goat pen and has always been in a goat pen. Great Pyrenees have a natural desire to stay with a herd and be a protector but they still require a certain amount of training.

One of the hardest parts of her training has been not to give her much attention, so that she will bond only with her caprine (goat) herd and not to a human herd. She longs to be petted and that makes it very difficult. We do pet her and play with her inside the pen when we feed her but if she comes outside the pen, she is scolded and chased back into it. As she grows, she should get too big to be able to leave the pen at all.

We are also trying to teach her not to jump up on us, she will eventually be a very large dog and with my back problems, I don't think that I could handle her jumping on me. She is timid around us and doesn't come into our space unless she is invited but when we call her over and pet her she gets a little excited and wants to put her feet on us. She gets a stern "No!" and is pushed away. I hate being so cold to her but I got her to do a job and this is all a part of her training.

I did teach her to lead, which she hated but I got that job done in just two days, working with her for around 30 minutes per day. She has been spayed and that process was pretty stressful for her because she had to be separated from her herd for around 4 days. She was supposed to be kept up for 7 days but it just wasn't working, she was so unhappy that I finally went ahead and put her back in the pen. She healed up nicely with no problems.

I know that you should have two LGD's and not just one but my husband would barely let me have this one because of the cost of dog food.