Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Ok people I am new to Miami county KS but not new to coyote barking! I heard a very strange scream the other night behind my property in a wooded area. It did not sound like any animal I have ever heard! I researched the known animals in this area and can't place this sound. Anyone have any idea what would make a loud screaming sound? Sorry about the sound description but it really sounded like a scream but way to loud to be human. My daughter and I both heard it and ran inside. Lol scared the heck out of me.
P

I don't know about in your area but we also have bobcats here & I have heard the sound they make on someone trailcam footage, it's a sort of scream too, so don't discount that either.

Had to add a picture of some of my nest boxes just for fun.

That's a cute pic of the momma & her kittens in the nest box! Isn't that what it's for she says?

 

[Trish44]

@Patriciaallison I have two GPs & one is really friendly & is an attention hog, that one I have to give attention & then ignore her or she will keep bugging me. The other one is much more standoffish & always has been. She's not trusting of strangers until she knows they can be trusted. She does like attention at times but she is very serious about her job. I agree with the others, just give your pup time to get to know you & feel comfortable. GPs & LGD breeds in general are totally different than other pet breeds of dogs. I had not had any till I got my two almost 5 years ago & it was a learning experience. You will be glad you got them though after they get through the puppy stage. Those big dogs are puppies till 18 months old.

 

[HEChicken]

I totally agree with what Danz said. Historically LGDs were out on remote mountainsides with very little human interaction so they had to be independent and think for themselves - therefore they were largely hands off with humans. Nowadays most people who have them are on much smaller properties, with a huge number living on small homesteads of 20 acres or less. The same principles that work when the territory is measured in square miles doesn't work as well on these smaller properties, yet some breeders persist with the idea that LGDs shouldn't be handled too much and that bonding with humans will negatively impact their ability to work and guard the animals. I believe you can have both: a dog you can love and that enjoys people contact and handling, but will still bond to its stock and be a great guardian.

As Danz said, there are times you need to handle them. My dogs both just got their rabies shot this morning. It was uneventful but would have been highly stressful if they weren't used to human contact. They will get sick or injured, when shedding their hair will get mats. You really need to be able to handle them in order to help them when they need it.

The treats are a good idea - I didn't think of that. While sitting out ignoring him, you could place a treat some distance from you, but closer than he likes to get. Once he gets the courage to come close enough to get the treat, the next time move it just a little closer and so on, until the treat is on your leg and he has to actually touch you to get it. You may have to try a few things to find a treat he considers high value enough to be worth the risk of approaching. Some dogs will do anything for a hot dog. Mine love chicken feet (I keep a store of them in the freezer from when I've butchered birds.) I'm sure others will be able to think of other treats that their dogs will do just about anything for.

 

[Patriciaallison]

About the chicken feet? Won't this make your dog want to eat the chickens?

On a sad note I think I jinxed myself all my big talk of how great my dogs are and I had a chicken death today I'm not upset about the bird so much as I am about the fact that one of my dogs did this. This was my first day really free ranging my birds in the yard. My daughter walked out and the new pup was holding it down with her foot. It's neck was broken. Only two dogs could have done it the pug or the new girl pup. It was a pretty big rooster so not sure the pig got it. I penned them both up held the chicken to them and really laid into then verbally. Not screaming but very firm NOs my pry mix acted very ashamed the pug ran out and went after a Guinea. I'm gonna have to pen her up every time I put my birds out. She has never done this before. It's like she thinks she had back up with the bigger dogs.

How should I have handled this?

P

 

[sharol]

About the chicken feet? Won't this make your dog want to eat the chickens?

On a sad note I think I jinxed myself all my big talk of how great my dogs are and I had a chicken death today

I'm not upset about the bird so much as I am about the fact that one of my dogs did this. This was my first day really free ranging my birds in the yard. My daughter walked out and the new pup was holding it down with her foot. It's neck was broken. Only two dogs could have done it the pug or the new girl pup. It was a pretty big rooster so not sure the pig got it. I penned them both up held the chicken to them and really laid into then verbally. Not screaming but very firm NOs my pry mix acted very ashamed the pug ran out and went after a Guinea. I'm gonna have to pen her up every time I put my birds out. She has never done this before. It's like she thinks she had back up with the bigger dogs.

How should I have handled this?

P

I sympathize. I have a dog that started out as a foster a couple of years ago. He has caught and hurt 2 chickens and actually killed one that I left out accidentally when I left for a couple of hours. Most days he will lay in the middle of the yard with the chickens all around him. The two he caught were squawking and running around and he thought they would be fun to play with. Both recovered completely and aren't in the slightest afraid of him. fortunately that was all at least a year and a half ago. Since then he has pretty much ignored the birds.

I will say that he made no move to eat the one he killed. He just looked really guilty and slunk off. He is an Australian Cattle dog/ Am. Staff terrier/boxer cross according to the wisdom panel dna test.

 

[Patriciaallison]

How did you handle it when he went after them?
P

 

[sharol]

How did you handle it when he went after them?
P

I'm embarrassed to say that the first time I hit him over the head with a plastic bucket I was carrying (I was right there when he did it). The second time my husband found him with the dead bird. He confined him in his kennel and disposed of the bird and all the feathers (and there were lots of feathers). The last time I caught it early and grabbed his collar and called him a BAD DOG and repeated NO and BAD DOG as I dragged him to his kennel and left him there for an hour or so.

Nothing very advanced or sensible, but I was flying by the seat of my pants. We just don't let him out with the birds when we aren't in the vicinity. The other day he was laying on the patio with about 20 birds around him and he didn't blink an eye when the rooster mounted a hen rather noisily. One day at a time.

 

[HEChicken]

About the chicken feet? Won't this make your dog want to eat the chickens?

... my pry mix acted very ashamed....

Dogs really do not feel shame. They will act like they do because they are upset that you are mad. It doesn't matter if they were the one who did the deed or not - they are still upset that you are mad, so will avoid eye contact and act submissive, in hopes you will stop being mad. That behavior is absolutely no indicator that the dog actually committed any crime.

Well, I am really tired tonight. I had a sad incident with my mother turkey this morning. Yesterday I noticed that the poults were "roosting" on anything they could find - the waterer or an empty tub that is in their pen. So I thought they'd enjoy an actual roost and moved a free-standing roost in there. Minutes later I saw one of the babies and mom up on the roost so I patted myself on the back for making them happy. This morning I was talking to my neighbor and noticed Mama Turkey pacing the front of the hoop coop. I figured she wanted out to go and lay her egg so after awhile I excused myself and went to let her out. As I approached, she stopped pacing and walked over to something on the ground, then back to the front, then back to the object. She seemed to be trying to get my attention, so I ran over there and found that the roost had been knocked over and pinned one of her poults to the ground. Basically the corner of a 2x4 was over its neck. She had tried to help it and in doing so had scratched up its back so it was bloody. I hastily lifted the roost and it got into a sitting position but then just sat there looking stunned, with its eyes closed. I felt awful that I hadn't anticipated that Mom jumping off the roost might knock it over. I have no idea how long it was laying there but felt sure it was a goner. I decided the best thing for it was to stay with mom and siblings since removing it would only stress it more.

I am happy to say that by the end of the day it was looking a lot better. It is still moving slowly and seems tired but is walking and staying with mom. I didn't let the poults out today so it didn't have to cover great distances to keep up and I'll evaluate tomorrow whether they stay locked in for another day. Fingers crossed it is still doing okay tomorrow morning. The roost has of course been removed from the pen again.

The rest of the day was the usual stuff - milking, making cheese, gardening and animal care. Three of my dogs and one of my cats got their rabies shots, the goats got their hooves trimmed, I weighed all the goats using the tape measure method (measure their girth then compare it to a chart to get a fairly accurate reading of their weight) and then dewormed the ones that appeared to need it by a visual examination of their eyelids. I moved the sheep into the chicken yard to graze it down some and they were thrilled with that idea.

Two of my tomatoes turned red practically overnight! I started them inside on Feb 1 so it took exactly 4 months for them to grow large enough to bear ripe fruit. I'll wait another day or two to pick them but am already salivating at the thought of freshly picked tomatoes! Meanwhile I planted a bunch more stuff from seed today. I still have to plant okra and some beans but I'm getting there.

 

[Trish44]

@Patriciaallison Great Pyrenees normally don't like being scolded, mine sure don't. I don't know about the shepherd part of them, how that plays in. You have to be firm though right now about the birds & let them know in no uncertain terms that touching the birds is NO. I have been known in the past to pick up the dead bird & beat the dog with it. That did seem to make an impression on Lily since she was the one who had killed the bird. I don't think she touched another one after that & hasn't since. One thing to keep in mind is that the GPs are very food aggressive, so don't feed them together or near any birds or other animals. They don't play nice when it's their food in question.

Congrats HEChicken on the tomatoes! Wow you're going to get some early. I planted mine late because it was raining so much I couldn't get the area ready for them so I'll probably be lucky to get any before first frost, sigh.

 

[HEChicken]

How did you handle it when he went after them?

I found my dogs with a chicken that was still alive but they were playing it to death. I picked it up, sat down on a stump cradling it in my arms and cried and cried. It was the performance of a lifetime

I wasn't particularly upset about the bird (and she made a full recovery) but I wanted to impress on the dogs that the birds are mine and it will upset me if anything happens to them. So I kept moaning and crying loudly, and acting like this was the worst thing that had happened all day. The dogs hung around watching and looking really sad. That was a month or more ago and they haven't had one like that since. I'm not willing to say they never will because they are just at the adolescent age where anything is possible. But at least for the time being that seems to have made an impression on them.

Congrats HEChicken on the tomatoes! Wow you're going to get some early. I planted mine late because it was raining so much I couldn't get the area ready for them so I'll probably be lucky to get any before first frost, sigh.

Thanks! Normally I have only planted out 6" tall seedlings around the beginning of May but this year I gave them a jumpstart with a grow light and that made a huge difference. I actually had to repot some of them because they'd outgrown their original starter pots and I finally wound up planting some seedlings out in the garden in mid-April because they had grown so tall they were needing support that I couldn't give them inside. I was concerned about a late frost but luckily this year that didn't happen. Once they were in the garden they really took off and the plant the red ones are on is already about 5' tall and has 30 or more on it.