Still the best $100 I may have ever spent

[fowltemptress]

I've never understood why Great Pyrenees never seem to be expensive dogs. Every single one of them is worth their weight in gold. I'd trust them in a maternity ward more than the nurses themselves . . . wonderful dogs!

 

[jacyjones]

Great pics and nice work, dogs!!

 

[Fredster]

Quote:
They're definitely on the barky side. Not all night, but they do like to tell all the critters creeping in the woods that they're on duty.

They're a good 100+ feet from the house, so while we can hear them, it's not a problem except on the rare occasions when they really get going. But, we have raccoons, possums, skunks, and coyotes out the yang here, so I cut the dogs some slack.

 

[Fredster]

Quote:
I think the show dogs are pretty pricy (or pricy to me, anyway). It's the working dogs --- oddly enough, the more valuable ones, in my book --- that are cheap. Strange times and priorities for folks, I guess.

Speaking of cheap Great Pyrs, someone just offered a FREE one on the Huntsville Alabama Craigslist:

http://huntsville.craigslist.org/grd/1059182508.html

(I wouldn't be surprised if it's someone in the city who didn't realize that the Pyr would bark at threats, like leaves and dust)

 

[SarahBeth9394]

There's a gal on our local freecycle that is asking for a GP because she has goats and chickens. Now I've been to her place to pick up something she listed before and it is just too small for a dog the size of a GP. The yard is too small and unless she's done something to the fencing it is too short. Last month she placed an ad looking for something to heighten (is that even a word? lol) her fencing because her boston terrier could bounce over it and it needed repairs to keep the goats in. A GP would jump it in a heart beat. And if it didn't I couldn't imagine it being very happy in such a small yard. This is just not a good dog for her situation. We have the normal nocturnal predators here as well as hawks and coyotes. I would love to suggest another dog to her but it would be hard to do without sounding like a buttinsky. However if I found a suitable dog at a shelter I could email her and say "hey here's a good breed and you could give it a much needed home".

Thank you for listening to my rant of frustration.

 

[animal nut]

Wonderful dogs.... I have one also. He is 8 months old and I am still working with him. He sometimes thinks that the chickens should want to play tag. He never hurts any just tries to play....

 

[Wifezilla]

Good babies!!!

(Give them a hug for me!)

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I want one and have for a while but DH said no more dogs. It hurts him when they grow old and pass away. I told him this is a working dog not a family pet so he isn't supposed to play with it.

I have to learn how they are to be trained then I will get one. I have trained dogs for conformation showing and obedience but not for livestock so I am not sure how to go about it. I really need a dog for protection over all my flocks.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Quote:
They're definitely on the barky side. Not all night, but they do like to tell all the critters creeping in the woods that they're on duty.

They're a good 100+ feet from the house, so while we can hear them, it's not a problem except on the rare occasions when they really get going. But, we have raccoons, possums, skunks, and coyotes out the yang here, so I cut the dogs some slack.

Darn! This is one time when I wish that it was an "old wifes' tale"
or an exaggeration.

What kind of fencing do you have up? Sorry for the questions but we're moving to an unfenced property and I'm looking for info on the many aspects of security. Thanks

 

[Fredster]

Quote:
My fencing is kind of weird, because I didn't know there was a real hawk problem until I moved my chickens out to a big open field. I fenced the whole field (2.5 acres) with 5-foot chicken wire, just to give the chickens a visual barrier.

When we started losing them and decided to get dogs, I ran a strand of electrified wire around the inside. The chicken wire goes along the outer perimeter of the fence posts, and the electrified is on the inside, about 6 inches from the chicken wire. Because I'm paranoid about the dogs escaping, I've upped the single wire to a full 5-strand fence, with wires 1-3-5 being hot, and 2-4 being grounded.

The dogs have gotten popped a couple of times and now stay away from it.