Help with LGD

[centrarchid]

Amelia,

To have a LGD bond with livestock, they need to be raised with the animals they are to guard when the dog is a young puppy. 6 months is too old. This type of dog should not be chained and I agree with the previous poster that a muzzle will not necessarily protect the chickens. If you are able to separate the chickens and Pyr, that is the only way to attempt to retrain her, which might not be possible.
If she is unreliable around new people or animals, do consult with a behaviorist for advice. Being around your poodle is not the same as socializing a dog. At 2, the dog is still a teenager and needs a strong leader, lots of exercise, daily training. Rehoming a potentially aggressive dog is not a good idea. Do contact an experienced Pyr breeder who can hopefully give you some support and advice. All breed clubs have rescue organizations and a reputable breeder should advise you or take the dog back. Not sure if you know who the original breeder is, but I would attempt to find out.

The dog need not bond to chickens, rather is must not cause them harm which should be trainable especially once the dog is pushing two years of age. The OP may not be well suited for that.

 

[beginnergirl]

A molosser breed (pyr) dog might be able to be trained not to kill chickens after they have killed birds. But this is a breed that works independently so they do not have the same desire to please as some other dogs. They make their own decisions and can shut down with some methods of training. Which doesn't mean they can't be trained. It can be more challenging. But the way to raise a LGD to guard livestock is to raise them with livestock as young puppies and train them. She already mentioned her dog does not guard the pig. Change is always possible. But it can take a lot of time. We are the ones who need training

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[centrarchid]

Making independent decisions is far from unique to molossers. The emphasis with poultry and any tightly confined stock needs to be on defending the location. Defending herd which molossers were developed for provides no advantages in a backyard setting. OP decidedly backyard with a tractor (dog) much too big for garden to be plowed.














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[cackle2]

I have a friend with an inside dog Great Pyrenees. LOL. Have white carpet! But honestly, I would keep Luna as a family inside dog. I just know a lot about dog behavior and I am not sure you will ever be able to retrain her. For some reason she does not put the chickens in the realm of who she needs to 'protect'...instead for some reason she thinks they don't belong. Just love her for who she is. She will be a great protection for your family.

 

[baah]

Agree with much of what has been said here regarding this poor dog & your post is very telling. You mention that the dog is bonded to you, your poodle, the 1st pot bellied pig, etc. That should tell you that all those 'original cast members' are who she has bonded to & she will protect those beings from anything else that intrudes: chickens, other dogs, other people, etc. After raising LGDs for a decade & reading voraciously on the topic, I can tell you that the bonding of an LGD with its intended social group (those whom it will protect & serve) occurs primarily at 2-4 mos old, trailing off at 5-6 mos. Then that learning window pretty much closes. Also, the maturity of an LGD is very slow in relation to its lifespan....it takes 18 mos-2yrs for a dog to fully mature & most only live about 10 years. So your girl is just coming out of puppyhood when behavioral mistakes are common because energy is high (& supervision should be equally as high). I think it would be a crime to muzzle & tie up this dog, to punish her for simply doing what she has been conditioned and allowed to do: she is protecting the ones that she bonded to first & she has a lot of energy to spend (even tied up) so she catches whatever she can (a chicken in this case) to play with & pass the time.
Respectfully, you do not have an LGD. You really didn't have one when you brought her home at over 6 mos old & put her in the backyard. You have a large family pet that you should immediately take through a basic obedience training course so that you can keep her future behavior in check. She should also receive lots of exercise outside the backyard to give her an outlet for her youthful energy. You should not expect her to guard anything other than your family & your poodle. Remove the chickens from your yard or you will slowly lose them all to her. Not out of malice. Just because she doesn't view them as something to protect. ALL of these changes will make her a happier dog & you will be a happier dog owner in the long run.
With regard to a previous posting, most any dog can NOT be trained to do most anything. I have a border collie that will never be able to do the job my LGD does & vice versa, even as smart as she is. Great Pyrs have guarding in their genetics but the deck was stacked against you when you got yours at over 6 mos old because she was already too old to do the best job of bonding with any livestock. Once you primarily bond an LGD to people, they won't really care about or want to go out with livestock. My LGDs never see the inside of my house. They never leave the pastures that are home to the flocks they guard. The vet comes here to vaccinate them in the fields. They eat, sleep, play & live among the herds & flocks that are theirs to guard. They love my family members b/c we come out to feed, pet & play with them daily. They are loving animals to us but they know where their place is and most of them won't even come out the gate when called. They guard their animals ferociously against anything that trespasses into their territory.
I would advise to enjoy your Great Pyr pet & love her for what she CAN do for you, not punish her for what she can't.
Good luck.

 

[slingshotandLAR]

Agree with much of what has been said here regarding this poor dog & your post is very telling.  You mention that the dog is bonded to you, your poodle, the 1st pot bellied pig, etc.  That should tell you that all those 'original cast members' are who she has bonded to & she will protect those beings from anything else that intrudes:  chickens, other dogs, other people, etc.  After raising LGDs for a decade & reading voraciously on the topic, I can tell you that the bonding of an LGD with its intended social group (those whom it will protect & serve) occurs primarily at 2-4 mos old, trailing off at 5-6 mos.  Then that learning window pretty much closes.  Also, the maturity of an LGD is very slow in relation to its lifespan....it takes 18 mos-2yrs for a dog to fully mature & most only live about 10 years.  So your girl is just coming out of puppyhood when behavioral mistakes are common because energy is high (& supervision should be equally as high).  I think it would be a crime to muzzle & tie up this dog, to punish her for simply doing what she has been conditioned and allowed to do:  she is protecting the ones that she bonded to first & she has a lot of energy to spend (even tied up) so she catches whatever she can (a chicken in this case) to play with & pass the time.   
Respectfully, you do not have an LGD.  You really didn't have one when you brought her home at over 6 mos old & put her in the backyard.  You have a large family pet that you should immediately take through a basic obedience training course so that you can keep her future behavior in check.  She should also receive lots of exercise outside the backyard to give her an outlet for her youthful energy.  You should not expect her to guard anything other than your family & your poodle.  Remove the chickens from your yard or you will slowly lose them all to her. Not out of malice.  Just because she doesn't view them as something to protect.  ALL of these changes will make her a happier dog & you will be a happier dog owner in the long run. 
With regard to a previous posting, most any dog can NOT be trained to do most anything.  I have a border collie that will never be able to do the job my LGD does & vice versa, even as smart as she is.  Great Pyrs have guarding in their genetics but the deck was stacked against you when you got yours  at over 6 mos old because she was already too old to do the best job of bonding with any livestock.  Once you primarily bond an LGD to people, they won't really care about or want to go out with livestock.  My LGDs never see the inside of my house.  They never leave the pastures that are home to the flocks they guard. The vet comes here to vaccinate them in the fields.  They eat, sleep, play & live among the herds & flocks that are theirs to guard.  They love my family members b/c we come out to feed, pet & play with them daily.  They are loving animals to us but they know where their place is and most of them won't even come out the gate when called.  They guard their animals ferociously against anything that trespasses into their territory. 
I would advise to enjoy your Great Pyr pet & love her for what she CAN do for you, not punish her for what she can't.
Good luck.

That's why I said most any dog and not any dog.... But I digress

 

[ameliadanielle]

She was raised around dogs, cats, and chickens. It was easy to get her to get along with the pig when she was young. Then she was nearly a year old before we got chickens of our own. I'm thinking we should have gotten the chickens first and then brought her home. She doesn't spend all her time on the leash outside. Only when we are at work. When we are home we are with her all the time. I only worried about the carpet since she has to go out at 5am to use the bathroom otherwise she will go in the house ans our house sitter is not an early riser.

She does listen to us when we tell her to stop. That goes out the window if she knows we are not watching. She has zero interest in toys. We've tried occupying her with toys and she discards them. When she was younger she would hoard them in a pile of "her" stuff, but didn't really play with them. Now she doesn't even do that.

I think I am going to try a shock collar. The chickens hang out with her sometimes during the day and she is fine most of the time. I have no idea what is causing her to sometimes just decide they don't need feathers. She's not injuring them really, just plucking them. She has zero interest in chew toys, rope toys, or chew bones. Those giant pig bones keep her occupied for about 20 minutes then she's done with them. It's not an every day thing. She normally sleeps all day and is up in the afternoon and at night. I don't go to bed usually until 3am so I'm up with her most of the night.

She did well when we were on vacation. Except she did destroy our pool cover which she has had access to and shown no interest in all summer. I think it was probably because we were gone. We were worried and cut our vacation short and came home on day 4.

I'm going to stay home from work for a few more weeks and try starting over again. We'll keep her indoors for a week or so and rearrange the whole back yard and then start over bringing her outside and see if it helps. If nothing else we'll just lock the chickens up and let her patrol the yard at night and keep her indoors during the day. She doesn't have an issue with other people as long as we are around her so we may just take her to work with us for the day and keep her behind the counter with us, then lock the chickens up when we get home and turn her out into the yard. As she is not going to encounter animals in our video game store. I don't even know if there is anyone close to us that can work with a LGD except my dad, and I would really hate to ask him to take her back and put his free range flocks at risk.

 

[ameliadanielle]

Right now she's laying in the shade with 5 chickens. No problem. But I can't leave the window and stop watching her because I just never know when she's going to decide she wants to play with feathers.

 

[ameliadanielle]

She's only been inside constantly except for bathroom breaks outside for the last 24 hours. I don't think she'll ever be an outside dog again. She's enjoying the AC way too much. It's been a struggle to her to go outside to potty. She just wants to lay around under the AC vent and eat the cats food. Lol. She has also found a new threat. She came to get me and had me follow her to the window on the kitchen door. The mailman was putting our mail in the box and this greatly concerned her. So it appears we have another much larger and louder doorbell. I guess it was time. Our poodle mix is 10 years old and his hearing isn't so great anymore, he was missing out on alerting us to people knocking on the door or pulling up into the yard. Luna is now more than happy to take over his cushy job. Now I'm just dreading our future of vacuum cleaners clogged with pyr hair.

 

[centrarchid]

Look into giving dog a shave.