We got several things accomplished today. One of our Granddaughters spent the night with us last night, so she kept me hopping all day while my poor DH was at work. We spent most of the day yesterday in a Lawyer's office, so I am not completely over that yet. The hardest thing on my back is sitting for long periods of time, so all I wanted to do today was recline and rest but my Granddaughter had other ideas.
When my husband got home from work, we had someone come to look at horses, then after they left, we started the milking and feeding. We moved Calico with the new babies out of the barn stall and into the goat lot with the others. Jasper was being a little too buckish and wanting to fight the new babies, so we banded him. That is, we wethered him, he is a buck no more. I usually like to wait until they are three months old to do this but Jasper is way to mature for his age in more ways than one. Needless to say that took some of the fight out of him.
Jasper also knocked one of his caps off, that is the remains of his burnt horns. They usually fall off on their own after a couple of weeks, I was beginning to think that Onyx and Jasper's were never going to come off. He knocked his first one off fighting with Calico. Onyx still has both of hers.
Tomorrow is our 34th anniversary and my Husband is trying to be nice but he is having a hard time of it. You see, Angel chewed his hose in two again. I don't know why she wants to get me in so much trouble. I offered to buy him a new hose but that didn't seem to help matters at all. I think he wants Angel's head on a platter. She really is doing much better and we are getting close to being out of the puppy stage but I am not sure I can keep covering for her.
Showing posts with label puppy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label puppy. Show all posts
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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.
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.
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