# new pup issues.



## mimi_in_mo (May 1, 2012)

My boyfriend and I live on his parent's 180 acres farm and are trying to get it back up and running. We have a layer flock of 15, raise 200 meat birds a year, have 5 Belted Galloway cattle, 2 horses and a donkey. We bought a Great Pyr to help with the chickens. We got Maxie at 8 wks old and she is now 12 weeks old. We kept her in the chicken yard at night and during feedings, with the gate to the coop closed so she was never in with the chickens. She has to go on a walk, sit before she goes in the pen, and sit once she is in the pen, before she gets her breakfast or dinner. I have recently moved her into her own pen, just outside of the yard she was in. 

Here are my issues:

1-She likes to go up to the farmhouse and hang out and be with the other dogs. My in-laws have 3 chihuahuas that are inside/outside dogs, 2 beagles and a mutt that are in a pen most of the day and allowed to run a few hours each afternoon/evening. Maxie tries to play with all the dogs, but they ignore her-which I don't mind. My in-laws are fine with her being around or being ill mannered, because she is so cute. I, on the other hand, know that when she is an adult and is trying to jump on them, or find a cool patch of dirt, that will all change. So I try to keep her away from the house as much as possible. I have been thinking about putting in an invisible fence to keep her on her side of the barnyard. Would this even work with a Great Pyr? We are planning on putting up a fence to keep our animals away from the house, but that won't be for another few months at least. 

2--She does "play" with the chickens. When she goes at the chickens to play, I say no and roll her and growl in her face. It almost seems as if she wants me to do this so that I am playing with her. I hate having her penned up most of the day, so unless she is eating, we are away, or at night, she is out. Our layers are let out in the morning to roam as they like and locked back up at night. Another problem seems to be that our roster has become emasculated by a broken foot and will not put Maxie in her place. It's nice to not worry about him spurring me, but I think if he put her in her place, that would help with the chasing. Is there something else I should be doing? Should I give her "play" sessions to get it out of her system? We have 2 Guineas that pick on the other birds---mainly the smaller leghorns. I wonder if seeing them chase the birds is encouraging her to chase them. 

3--I want a worker, not a pet, and have been toying with the idea of moving her pen into our electric netting with the meat birds, and having her in there most of the day and at night. We lost 2 birds last night. I know she can't be with them alone, but would having her there in a pen deter any predators? She can't get into the tractor, so if we lock the birds in, and let her stay in the netting, would that work better? 

4--my in-laws live in the farmhouse, and we live up the woods about 1/4 mile on the same property. Maxie has only been up there a few times, but once when we let her nap in the feed shed, she ended up following us up to our place. And another time when she couldn't find us, she went running up our path. It would be fine, except there are no animals to protect up there, and we are afraid she will go up there to hang with us at night instead of working. Any way to make sure she stays with her animals later when she is allowed to roam? The layers are pretty secure at night. It's the meat birds that are in the pasture we worry about. 

Maxie is young, and I know it is a lot of patience and time to get her where she needs to be. I also know that bad habits learned early are hard to break. That is what I want to avoid. Oh, and I have only heard her bark when trying to play with the other dogs. Even when we come around at night and she can't see us, no barking. Normal?

Ok, now to sing Maxie's praises a bit...she is getting very good at "come" and knows the feeding drill with when to sit and does it almost with no command now. We started "stay" the other day and she is getting the hang of that as well. A few steps on the back paw, and she no longer jumps up. She does not beg for food or try to get in the house. When we are working with the cows or horses, she keeps her distance, but watches everything. I was out cleaning fence and my cousin-in-law came up out of the woods and Maxie did not bark, but she stayed right by me and took an alert posture and did not move until he left. I told her "it's ok". After he left, she went to sniff where he was standing. 

Ok, if you are this far....thank you for reading all of this. I really appreciate it. I have trained Akitas, but Pyrs are nothing like them. Except for maybe being too ---- smart. I am totally on board with the Alpha dog type of relationship. My Akita growled at me once when I tried to get him out from under my stairs after an escape. One good growl from me and he dropped his tail and came out. Never again did he do that. I do have a hard time convincing others that maintaining that status is necessary and that puppy/dog "play" is more than that. I want a well-mannered and good protection dog. ANY suggestions will be greatly appreciated.


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## thaiblue12 (Feb 14, 2007)

She is a baby so she needs time and one of these days you will be posting how her barking is driving you nuts  

I would not alpha roll her and growl at her she clearly is not reponding to it. 
I taught mine "Babies" which are "mine" and they would get corrected if they touched them. They did however as 4 or so month olds kill some adolescent chickens. My LGD are not the same age but both did it aruond the same growing up period and to the same age group of chickens. They left chicks and adults alone but something about that mid-size group set them off. They are older now and had been smacked or pecked by the chickens and left them alone. I never did that gross tie a dead chicken around there neck thing, I do not feel it works. I did leave the dead one in the middle of the yard and if they even went near it I told them " Baby! Mine!" and " Leave it" while I was out doing chores and they eventually learned. 

She is young and wants to play why can't she interact with the other dogs?
Mine know my house dogs, they play with them and I avoid any attack vet bills. They do know the difference between my personal dogs and strays. A stray showed up this week and my older one chased him off barking, growling and at one point he hit him, the dog yelped and was knocked to the ground. As soon as it was past our property line my dog came back. 

She is too young and small to deter predators, at around 5 months old will be big enough that her size and bark will make them pause and re-think that getting food from your place is easy. She is too young to be left with chickens 24/7 right now. 
My goats hit the dogs  and they trained them about personal space pretty quick. So it was a quicker process in leaving them together then with chickens who may be viewed by some dogs as fluffy squeak toys who also provide a snack. 

She might be a working dog but she is still a puppy and needs toys, play time, learn commands and etc. It takes time and you have to put up with the teen puppy stage like any other dog and wait for her to mature.


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## Cheryl aka JM (Aug 7, 2007)

We just got our fourth LGD a few weeks ago. Cute Anatolian pup. As soon as I got him home my husband and sister started laying bets about how old he will be before I pronounce him ruined and start threatening to shoot him.

They all go through a stage where they are hard on the livestock especially chickens. Chickens are too much fun to chase and catch. But if you provide other distractions, work at it constantly and only threaten to shoot the dog without actually abusing the dog....at somewhere around or just over 18 months old you suddenly realize you have a great dog and can't remember why you swore you would never spend another penny on a another useless chicken killing dog!

Don't make the mistake of turning the dog out and ignoring it. People who do that always ask me how I have such great dogs. By remembering (eventually) that they are dogs and their greatest joy in life comes from making me happy. So when I play with them and smile and laugh at them....they want to work for me. And when I growl and frown and shout about how I should shoot the stupid dog they learn not to kill my chickens.


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## mimi_in_mo (May 1, 2012)

The other dogs...well, I know I sound like the mom who thinks every other kid is a bad influence on their kid, however, they are not well behaved. They all beg for food, jump on you and up on outside chairs/tables, one is a car chaser, and the beagles are only interested in hunting rabbits. I do not want Maxie to do any of these things. The chihuahuas chase the chickens out of their yard area (which I do not like because Maxie sees this and may want to join in, but it's my in-laws yard), but the other 3 bigger dogs have no interest at all in the chickens. We have everything we need to put up a fence to separate the chickens and Maxie from the farmhouse, so now we just need the time to do it. 

Maxie barking at a predator won't bother me as much as ALL the other ones who bark at NOTHING!!! Makes me nuts. I am sure they hear or smell something, but once one starts, they all join in, looking at whomever started it like "what are we barking at again?" And the car chaser barks if you even get close to a car or tractor, and goes bonkers if you actually start it up. DO NOT want Maxie to start doing that!

She has taken a bit of a turn since I first posted. She is napping under the creamery and in the feed shed more. We have been feeding her in her pen, but leaving the door cracked so she can get out when she is done and she has not followed us to our place. I am still hesitant to leave her out all night. Her heading up to us, out to the road, or into the electric netting concerns me. She is doing well with walking her territory with me twice a day, so we may give it a try in a month or so. When the sun starts to go down a bit and she gets the crazies, I take her on a walk and she tends to calm down a bit. She is still going after the chickens, but not as often. Her brother comes to visit every other week, so she gets some serious "play" time with him. By the end of the day, I literally have to drag her into the pen and she will hardly eat, she is so exhausted. 

Thanks for your support and sharing your experiences. It REALLY helped.:happy2:


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