Post by tabitha on Jun 4, 2008 6:53:38 GMT -5
we are getting a great pyrenees pup next week or so. i have been looking forward to this for awhile, but as the time approaches i am nervous. i have read a ton of internet info on LGDs and the pyrenees, but no one seems to agree on much of anything about them.
i need to have a dog that is not a nuisance. this means no running off (we have good fences), and barking for a reason, not just to be loud and annoying. alot of articles about he GP are sort of mean-spirited about barking, just saying if it bothers you dont get one of these dogs. well, i am not bothered by barking at predators, approaching people, etc (this is why i want a dog!) but i cannot have a dog that barks endlessly at dogs in the distance and other useless behavior which i have seen i neighbor's animals.
i want an LGD for many good reasons. stray/ wild dog packs are a big problem here- my dad had 3 full grown hogs killed by them a year ago, and our chickens are plagued by them. we raised broilers in mobile pens and i worry about such dogs hasseling and digging and killing our birds. we have had to kill neighbor's dogs that were running in a pack in our fields.
we also have foxes & the whole gamut of normal enemies in the woods.
then there is the creep factor: i have had dealings with creepy people here when i was selling milk and there are people who neighbor us that i wouldnt want to be in the same room with for an hour, let alone neighbors with. a large dog seems prudent to me.
we dont want a pet, and it will be a working dog. the kids know this and know it wont be in the yard at all. i wish, though i could have some advice on training. i am home all day every day and while i do the farm chores morning and night i need to know how to train the puppy, teach it to hear me as master without making it into a pet and without spoiling its instinctual performance. any advice? any books? i want to approach this as a farm investment, as valuable as the cows or the bees or the chickens. part of the reason our last dog did not work out was she was easy to ignore and we didnt spend the time training her (she was a rescue pup, to, and had been abused).
thanks so much! fwiw, we are getting a female weaned pup, brand new.
i need to have a dog that is not a nuisance. this means no running off (we have good fences), and barking for a reason, not just to be loud and annoying. alot of articles about he GP are sort of mean-spirited about barking, just saying if it bothers you dont get one of these dogs. well, i am not bothered by barking at predators, approaching people, etc (this is why i want a dog!) but i cannot have a dog that barks endlessly at dogs in the distance and other useless behavior which i have seen i neighbor's animals.
i want an LGD for many good reasons. stray/ wild dog packs are a big problem here- my dad had 3 full grown hogs killed by them a year ago, and our chickens are plagued by them. we raised broilers in mobile pens and i worry about such dogs hasseling and digging and killing our birds. we have had to kill neighbor's dogs that were running in a pack in our fields.
we also have foxes & the whole gamut of normal enemies in the woods.
then there is the creep factor: i have had dealings with creepy people here when i was selling milk and there are people who neighbor us that i wouldnt want to be in the same room with for an hour, let alone neighbors with. a large dog seems prudent to me.
we dont want a pet, and it will be a working dog. the kids know this and know it wont be in the yard at all. i wish, though i could have some advice on training. i am home all day every day and while i do the farm chores morning and night i need to know how to train the puppy, teach it to hear me as master without making it into a pet and without spoiling its instinctual performance. any advice? any books? i want to approach this as a farm investment, as valuable as the cows or the bees or the chickens. part of the reason our last dog did not work out was she was easy to ignore and we didnt spend the time training her (she was a rescue pup, to, and had been abused).
thanks so much! fwiw, we are getting a female weaned pup, brand new.