Koda is doing much better with her training now) :D

[Bear Foot Farm]

Here's the thing... Any LGD worth its salt should be somewhat resistant to training because they've been selectively bred for their ability to make decisions independently for literally thousands of years.

I think he is much smarter than he lets on

It's nice to see others who actually UNDERSTAND that real LGD's are NOT your "normal " dogs, and cannot be treated as such​

 

[babalubird]

Depending on how serious your coyote problem is, are you sure you want just one LGD?

We plan to get two on our very small 16 acres because we don't believe it's fair to expect only one dog, even a big one, to face a pack of coyotes alone. Coyotes are the Bloods and the Crypts of the natural world. Street-smart, determined gang-bangers and inscrupulous!

Connie

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
While I understand your fear for the dog, if the OP is having so much trouble with this puppy, they definately don't need a second or third one, no matter how bad the coyote problem. Unless a good reliable fence is put into place, I would be more worried about cars than coyotes.

-Kim

 

[Tala]

Recall is not the same thing as staying on your property. The best thing that I know of is electric fencing, but that doesn't keep anything else out so you probably need a real physical fence. My dog understands the boundary of the porch stairs, but she can't resist bigger open spaces. My grandma's dog knew exactly where home and his property was, but he still liked to go wanderin and muddin for fun. Just because your dog comes on command and knows where home is does not mean that they are gonna stay there. Running around is FUN and wild dogs are travelers by nature they walk and travel a lot.

I will tell you how I trained MY dog to recall. Mind you she's a pet, not a LGD, but take it or leave it.

Me and DH would go out in the fenced back yard (safe if she didn't recall) and play puppy ping pong. Works even better if you have 3 people (an older kid?). Everybody gets small high value treats, such as cat food kibbles, nibbles of cheese, a tennis ball, or whatever your dog craves. Call the doggy despense on treat and lay on the praise when she gets there, wait for it to be chewed/swallowed. Then another person calls the dog. Eventually the dog figured out and started running back to DH before he called, so that's when you gotta mix it up and the dog only gets a treat for coming when it's CALLED. Also if you had 3 people it would be easier to keep the dog guessing. Anyway, this is how Dusti learned what was expected of her when we called her.

NOW that she understands what we want.

Then I would let her out in the back yard for a while, and when she'd be out sniffing the back fence line I would go out the side door, call her and step back inside out of sight to wait with VELVEETA which was the holy grail of treats (at least until we used it to hide abx pills in!). Or let her out in the dark, and when I called her in we would go for a walk on leash - a walk is probably her highest value reward now.

Once the dog figures out what you want, he may decide that what he wants to do is better. Either you or the treat that you're offering MUST be higher value than whatever else the dog wants to do. This is the point where some people have to go to electric collars to make disobeying less fun than obeying. Why go back to mom for a meesly treat when I can go splash in the woods???

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Why go back to mom for a meesly treat when I can go splash in the woods???

True LGD's dont think that way.

They think, "Why would I leave my flock just because that human thinks I should go over there?"
A flock guardian that's begging for treats is NOT protecting your animals

I think the best solution to this problem is to either fence the yard, or rehome the dog to a farm where it can do what it was bred to do.

Keeping an LGD tied up all the time will ruin it ( If it isnt already too late)
They are highly intelligent dogs that need space to run around, and a job to keep them occupied.

Most Maremma breeders wont even sell you a dog if you dont have livestock and at least 3 acres of pasture​

 

[cmjust0]

Quote:
I wish that were true...then they could just kill each other!

 

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

Well she loves watching her flock. I put 2 hens and a pullet out in a cage yesterday for about 2 hours and she hung around close to them. When a hawk flew overhead looking for meal she barked at it and the hawk flew off quickly. She is good with the chickens. I let her loose yesterday and today and she hasn't gone across the road once!! I saw her in the field behind my house and I called her to come. She looked up and came running to me as fast as she could run. A HUGE improvement from last week.

 

[DAFox]

I have had dogs all my life. Faithful, obedient, wonderful dogs that learned to do anything I asked of them. Then, we moved here and inherited a 2 year old Great Pyrenees who is 7 now. He never had a herd of anything to protect. Early on, I practiced basic commands with treats and felt ok about his obedience. He would not stand a leash, however. I discovered exactly how sensitive he was to any reprimand, also. So, I continue to avoid both the leash and reprimands. I continue to praise the good no matter how long it takes for him to do it. I have no need to reprimand him...

A few months after we moved in, we decided to clean up a fence line that bordered our neighbor's horse pasture. Gus wiggled under and through the fence and stayed between us and the horses. Nothing we said or did got his attention. We were smart enough to leave the area and he followed after a minute. All he was doing was his job as he saw it, protecting us from the horses.

GP's are bred to be independent thinkers, as was mentioned before. Work with your LGD's nature, not against it. Read about their personality and behaviors.

The surest way for me to get my dog to come is to walk away from him....

Good luck,
Dale-Ann

 

[Whispering Winds]

Quote:
A person who has had Pyrs for a long time with her Alpacas told me that she had one of her girls get loose one time, and she was gone for three days, but in their brain allegedly, they have a "three mile radius" and that is their territory they are suppose to "guard." Maybe this is what she is thinking. I love them, they are the best big dogs you can have on the farm.

 

[cmjust0]

Quote:
That seems to be another common theme with LGD breeds for anyone who's interested...they're extremely sensitive, and seem to have their feelings hurt very, very, very easily.

Personally, I think that's also part of their genetics. Fear-aggression is part of the total LGD package, and in order to have fear-aggression, they must be considerably fearful. For instance...if they don't fear a coyote, they won't attack it. So while perhaps not looking the part, my experience has been that most LGDs are -- in a nutshell -- gigantic 'fraidy cats who run toward that which they fear, barking and bearing teeth at it instead of tucking tail and going the other way like most dogs would.

That said, when you assume alpha status over an LGD, you have to be extremely watchful of your tone. Yelling and becoming angry scares almost any dog, and LGDs -- despite their intimidating appearance -- are certainly no different. In the moment when you lose your temper and yell or even strike out at an LGD, they literally don't know how to react. They have no coping mechanism for that particular scenario. You're their alpha, so they won't growl or bare teeth at you as if you were a threat, but they literally don't know to move away when they become frightened.

With our LGD, this dilemma usually translates to him going stone still and taking on this absolutely heartbreaking look of complete and utter vulnerability. To see him do that because I've gotten snappy over some minor infraction is just...ugh. Makes me feel just terrible, but as the owner of other less sensitive breeds that require the occasional snappy correction...it's very easy to do.

I'm tellin ya, folks... If you've never owned an LGD, they really are just a whole different ball of wax.