Help with LGD

[ameliadanielle]

Update on Luna. She eventually got very very very bored in this house and was always rushing to go out. Since the pig went in the freezer she had nothing to guard in the backyard except the chickens. I guess it clicked in her brain. She's been wonderful since the second the pig was out of the picture. The whole flock of chickens even sleeps with her at night. The muscovies won't, they roost on their own now away from the barking dog and her crazy chickens. She still comes inside at will, especially nights when she and the neighbors dogs get into a barking match. This is more for my sanity and peaceful rest than anything. She now would much rather be outside not bothering chickens than stuck in the house, bored, following rules. She comes to get her daily dose of attention from us and then she's done. She would rather play with the cat, her best friend, than spend much time with us.

 

[ameliadanielle]

The only problem we have now is getting her to leave my husbands deer antlers alone. He had them sitting out to bleach in the sun and she has taken them to be a chew toy. I guess they are much better than all of the bones and rope toys we've bought her. He may have to give up and just have brown antlers. I'm worried she'll break them.

 

[TalkALittle]

Deer, moose, or elk antlers sell for big bucks at pet stores and online. Dogs love them. My dog fractured a pre-molar on one though, so no more antlers for her.

 

[ameliadanielle]

We buy her huge bones. She will eat them down to a tiny piece in an hour and then carry that tiny piece around for forever. She doesn't chew much on the antlers, she just wants to carry them around. We only hunt for meat, so that usually means does and yearlings. This year the first two weekends of the season were bucks only, so my husband finally got himself a trophy. She just thinks it's an awesome toy. Lol. I know if she ever wanted to chew them to pieces they would be gone QUICK.

 

[cluckylady812]

I read thru your posts.... Ive had Pyrs and pyr mixes for 15 years now. Im on my 3rd. Luna needs a job, and a stable strong leader. You must be the pack leader but do not use violent methods, like a shock collar, they respond well if they trust that you know better than they, but they were bred to be independent for weeks at a time. And a dog on a chain will Aways have issues. Keep in mind they do not necessarily have strong gaurdian traits. Did she come from show parents? Working dogs? Mine all came from workers, and i was lucky. I didnt raise my current one around stock, but at 4 yrs he naturally took to it. You have a pet that sounds bored. Pyrs are not followers, and can be tough if you dont research the breed. Personally they are my favorite breed and i hope to always havr one but ive worked very hard to understand them and accomodate those traits. Also, fencing they cannot see over is mandatory for a pet. Their territory is all they can see, a loose pyr is a disappear without a stable flock or herd. Chickens are not enough for them really. I wish you the best of luck, contact a local rescue for more help. Her agression is a disaster waiting to happen and i wouldnt want that for either if you.

 

[ameliadanielle]

We have a 6 foot privacy fence and she did come from working dogs, where she was raised guarding chickens. When we got her we had a pot belly pig in the yard. Then the chickens came later. It was like she was trying to guard the pig from the chickens. It may just be because she is finally older. Or it may be because there are now no pigs. She has taken to guarding the chickens and ducks now, which is great. Because our neighbors have problems with opossums. We have never lost an egg to anything. Even the new chicks we got at about 4-5 weeks old she has done great with. We have lost none. Since her time in the house with us she has improved greatly. She wasn't very happy about potty time like our indoor dog because she just wasn't used to holding it. We never did get a shock collar. I couldn't do it. At the time I was frustrated, especially knowing she was raised guarding chickens. Her mother and grandmother both are excellent dogs, killing any predator that comes around. She stills sees strange dogs as a threat. Which is not necessarily a bad thing as we do have neighbors that let their dogs roam the neighborhood. She is not a dog that we are taking out for walks at the dog park, and she does great with our elderly poodle mix. I think as long as there are no drastic changes and new dogs from here on out she will be fine. I even considered at one point borrowing her mother to retrain her, but she has a job to do of her own elsewhere and would not be used to only a fenced in area. They are free roam on 159 acres and never stray farther than the house and chicken areas. They are kept busy enough at home. Probably on the space of about 5 acres. Luna plays with our daughter more than us. She comes to us to be petted and relax for a little while. She follows the chickens around the yard. She plays with my daughters cat. When our muscovy drake is being a turd she gets between him and the chickens and he wanders off. Off and on she comes in the house to hang out or sleep. She does feel a little walled in while she's inside. She enjoyed the AC in the summer but now she doesn't really want to come in. We have to go outside to be with her. So when we take our indoor out for potty breaks she plays with him and us. We also spend a lot more time outside in the fall and winter with the fire pit than we do in the summer. She doesn't have to be chained while we aren't home anymore. We don't come home to chickens with naked backs now as she has lost her interest for playing with feathers. Before she was only listening to us when she could see us. I think her time inside the house was good for her. She now knows who the bosses are and that she has to do what we want. All we want of her in the backyard is not to touch the chickens. Now she's doing that on her own even when we're not around.

 

[cluckylady812]

Thats fantastic news!!!! So glad its working out. Tget really are just the best breed on earth i think.

 

[ameliadanielle]

She really is a sweetheart. She is amazing with our daughter. That's why we considered rehoming her and just couldn't do it. We love her so much. I was willing to totally clog all our vacuum cleaners with pyr hair and make her an indoor dog if that's what it took. She's sort of like a cat. She loves attention and will ask for it when she wants it but most of the time she is rather independent. She always plays with our daughter no matter what. My daughter is 4, so she will run and Luna will "chase" her, not fast and never quite catches up. Then my daughter will turn around and chase her, she lets her catch her. Our daughter is just an animal person. She also has a cat that absolutely loves her and sleeps with her, and a hamster that only she can hold and pet. She is the reason we have chickens, she picked out Luna when Luna was a baby. That's why we waited until Luna was a lot older before we brought her home because I was hoping she would get to learn from her mom. Hopefully the chicken plucking was just a hiccup and she will continue to do great. If not, she knows the inside the house rules now. Lol. No bathroom inside, no tumping over trash cans, no stealing food from the table, and no chewing on our daughters toys.

 

[Mims]

I know this is an older thread, but may I suggest joining the FB page Livestock Guardian Dogs? There is a lot of misinformation here. LGDs are not completely trustworthy around livestock until at least 2 years old. They should be exposed to the flock they will be guarding, but without access. Keep them in a completely enclosed pen that is in the livestock's enclosure,and only let them out with them on a leash at first,and when they show correct submissive behavior, supervised off leash. Correct any bad behavior immediately. Do not give them an opportunity to harm or kill the animals. That is just setting them up to fail. Training takes a lot of time and effort, but it is so rewarding when the lightbulb finally clicks in their head. Chickens are harder to train to, because they are living squeeky toys. Shock collars and muzzles are a lazy way of avoiding the work needed to be put in to training a good LGD.

You should never,ever shave a pyr. They need to be brushed out on a regular basis, especially in spring, when they are blowing their winter coats. The air will circulate under the longer remaining
coat and act as a coolant to them. Shaving them exposes them to sunburn, and no way to keep the heat off them.

I apologize for any weird spacing, my keyboard is suddenly having issues.

 

[ameliadanielle]

She's actually doing great. We don't shave her, we just brush her. She's been outside with chickens and ducks in the backyard for months with zero issues. The only thing is she eats eggs, so we have to watch her. Lol. We get so many eggs we can't eat them all either... so I'm not complaining too much. She guards our chickens and she doesn't touch them. She has even broken up fights between our roosters. She gets in between them and shoos them in opposite directions. Other than that, she stays away from them. The chickens will even pile up on top of her and nap during the day, because she sleeps practically all day. She's been doing a great. She still comes in the house with us every once in a while but she prefers to be outside. We try to make her come in before the sun comes up and then not let her back out until the chickens finish laying, so we get to collect eggs. Otherwise she will literally eat eggs as soon as they are laid. My dad told me her mom would hunt the yard for eggs the free rangers had laid and bring them to her puppies. So that's a habit she's had a LONG time and I doubt I'll be able to stop her from doing that. We're cutting down our egg laying flock and they'll be going in a pen so she can't eat their eggs.