[pyrnet] Intro and question

[southerncharmgang@juno.com]

Hello everyone.  I am from central Mississippi and have a small flock of
sheep mainly for herding with my dogs.  I train and trial with my Bouvier
des Flandres, Casey.  I also have an 11 year old Wheaten Terrier mix and
an almost 9 year old Australian Shepherd, both of whom were rescued from
near death at shelters.  The Wheaten LOVES herding and earned her AHBA
HCT on sheep after having been on sheep just three times.  You can add to
that, her VERY green handler (me).  *grin*

A couple of months ago, a neighbor's dogs got in and killed one of our
ewes.  These sheep are also like family, so this was very tough.  They
came back a second time, and thank goodness we were home.  I went
straight to the neighbor's and saw the exact dogs out of their fenced
yard.  I finally had the proof I needed, so I proceeded with charges.  To
make a long story short, they are really nice people, did not believe
their dogs could have done that, but were convinced this time.  They have
made wonderful efforts to make sure this never happens again, but we all
know it could.

I began researching livestock guardian dogs, but was not sure if this was
for us.  I talked to lots of sheep/goat people and listened carefully to
what they had to say.  I read books and read many good web sites.

Into the picture comes Mags and my reason for being here.  *smile*  I got
a call from someone who knew of our troubles and let me know that a 9 1/2
month old female Great Pyr had been turned in to animal control.  I
contacted the owners for her story and found she had never had a shot,
was not spayed and was not on heartworm prevention (here in the south
that is a monthly must).  I was also able to contact the breeders and my
worst fears were confirmed; no hip x-rays and not CERF tests on the
parents.  They were good country folks who were simply raising some Great
Pyr's to control their goat flocks and were not into it for selling
puppies.  I took a moment to educate a little, but I am not sure how much
it helped.  They are apparently not going to have any more litters as
they are trying to place the last two females; a female littermate to
this pup and the mother of these pups.

We went to look at her and I was surprised at how nice she looked.  She
appeared to have decent conformation, had a WONDERFUL temperament and
looked healthy.  She had never been on a leash, so I worked with that
while we were looking at her.  Although I went ahead and made an
appointment with my vet for the following Monday afternoon and an
appointment for her to be spayed the next day, we took the weekend to
think it over.  We already had 3 large dogs, all house dogs.  This would
mean an outside dog and I never thought I would have one.  I did a lot of
research and found some great information on the internet.

I called them Monday and told them I would pick her up that afternoon. 
She was SO happy to see me, almost jumped into the truck.  She was
walking much better on lead, but still had some work ahead of her.  She
was very uneasy with doorways, but with a little coaxing she was fine.  I
had her tested for heartworms and parasites, and MUCH to our surprise,
she was clean as a whistle!  I had her eyes checked real well and her
hips x-rayed.  Again, MUCH to our surprise, her hips looked good.  I will
probably have her x-rayed again when she is around 2 or a little over to
make sure.

When I picked her up on Wednesday, she was walking on lead as if she had
been for months.  She even was comfortable with the doorways.  This
little girl is smarl.  I have not measured her height yet, but she is
about 9-10 months old (still waiting on breeders to give me her
birthdate) and weighs 78 pounds.  She is in excellent shape and this is a
good weight for her.  She is now known as Magnolia of Three Dog Farm and
we call her Mags or Maggie.  The first time I called her Mags, she jumped
and RAN to me, with the MOST happy look on her sweet face.

We started Wednesday by walking her around the permiter she will be
guarding and she marked once.  We did this again the next afternoon and
she marked 7 times.  We have done this every day since this past
Wednesday.  She now knows the path we are going to take.  My questions
are about training.  She gets very excited about the sheep (or our ducks,
herding ducks, penned) making fast movements and I have given her stern
correction, then praised once she stops.  In just a few days, I can see a
noticable change in her.  Right now, she just wants to play with them. 
She is giving them the play bow now and is much more calm and soft about
her approach.  Of course, all of this has been with her on a long line.

I understand from my research that they need to be approximately 18
months before they are ready to guard.  One web site says if they are not
guarding by 14 months, they will never guard, but I find that hard to
believe.  The one thing I cannot find is something that will tell me what
I need to be doing with her now in order to help her understand what her
job is.  I have been told about penning her with sheep around her, and we
will do that once she has recovered from her spay and the stitches are
out (next weekend).

Also, could someone recommend some good Great Pyr books to buy?  I would
like at least one on the breed as a whole and if there are any on
training, that would be great, too.

Thanks guys and thanks for making this list possible.


Suzanne and the Southern Charm Gang
Herd-N-K9s - Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier mix, Aussie, and Bouvier des
Flandres
http://www.bigfoot.com/~threedogfarm     threedogfarm@bigfoot.com
Save Lives!  Please Spay and Neuter Your Pets!!!!

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