Eli is beautiful! I had forgotten how cute puppies
are! Especially clean ones! My guys always found a mud puddle, but
I also found the kitchen sink for as long as they could fit. Please fill
us all in on your training methods with all the critters on the farm.
Whenever I only had one dog, s/he slept in a crate next to my
bed and were quiet until they needed the middle of the night walk. When
there are two or three, they seem to be fine when the crates are lined up
together, each dog in his/her own crate, sometimes each leaning on the sides to
touch each other. My pug was crate trained in minutes because he watched
the big dogs get into their crates and settle down so he walked right into his
and slept for the whole night.
Charlie climbed over every child gate in the house if I was on
the other side. I worried about the drop from the top or catching a paw and
tried hard to stop him. A loose towel that falls off when climbing slowed
him down, and became a play toy. Sweetie learned to open them –
she was nine months old when she arrived – by pushing upward with her
mouth until they released. I have seen people install a
second gate above the first to keep climbing kids contained, could work for
dogs too.
Amy with Sweetie, Charlie and Harry Pugger
From:
owner-pyrnet-l@pyrnet.org [mailto:owner-pyrnet-l@pyrnet.org] On Behalf Of Linda
Anderson
Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 5:03 PM
To: pyrnet-l@pyrnet.org; Livestock Guardian Dog List; Great Pyrenees
Discussion List
Cc: linda.nightsky@gmail.com; Kerry Kern Woods
Subject: [pyrnet] CHAT; STOCKGUARD,BEHAVIOR: Puppy breath has arrived at
Nightsky!
As it always is, the loss of 5 year old Sampson
in January (bone cancer) broke our hearts, and his buddy Molly's. And, as
it often happens, a different place in one's heart is cleared to make way for
yet one more love.
He has arrived. His intended name didn't take, he almost instantly let me
know (somehow) that it needed to be Elijah and Jon and I agreed. He
trotted into our hearts with a confidence that was amazing, tail wagging and
wanting to always be with the humans. He DOES NOT like crate or kennel and
yelled most of the night. The very first thing he did, was SCALE the
child gate (none of our other Pyr puppies ever did that) and land in a heap on
the floor! Yikes. No question, he is going to be a handful!
Eli is from Mike Floyd's kennel : Kaskadian. He is 9 weeks old and
beautiful. Molly was absolutely amazing with him (as you will see in the
pics) - she is the most wonderful dog. He instantly loved her. Elmo
the goat (who thinks he is a Pyrenees) also visited quite a bit while I had Eli
in the field for a time. So many people have asked on the list, about
training dogs for working with poultry and so on, I thought I would make an
effort to regularly post our methods and progress. Eli will be part of
Nightsky Farm - very much what we refer to as the "family farm
dog." And boy, does Nightsky qualify: lots of pets: 25
chickens, 2 donkeys, 2 goats, 3 ducks, 2 geese, 2 cats, and possible a couple
of pigs late spring. and EVERYONE lives together.
So, even though I'll crate him in the house at night and in a kennel in our
garage during the day when he needs to be shut in, he will also immediately
begin having some times out in the kennel you see in the photos - in the middle
of the pasture, where he can see all of them and they can get used to him!
Elmo the goat, (who thinks he is a Pyrenees) spent quite a bit of time visiting
with Eli.
Well, not much sleep on the horizon for us for some days, but that's ok.
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m397/elmochloe/RElijah9weeks.jpg
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m397/elmochloe/RMollynewbuddy.jpg
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m397/elmochloe/RMollytiredpuppy.jpg
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m397/elmochloe/RFirstvisit.jpg
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m397/elmochloe/RElmoElijah2.jpg
--
Linda Anderson
Nightsky Farm
Stanwood, Wash.
