Tag: Great Pyrenees

Small critter and gate training time!

I’ve enticed 2 of my more adventurous male kittens into the main pen with the dogs, on 2 separate occasions. I wiggle a string on the end of a stick just cleverly enough the kittens can’t help themselves. They come pouncing through the open gate, enchanted by the squiggly prey.

On day 1 I stood 2 feet from the open gate, playing with the kittens and watching the pups reaction closely. Each time any pup became too curious to ignore the playful kittens I gave them a firm and sharp “NO”. Occasionally, I stomp my boot closely by them for added effect. Most times the verbal is all any of the pups required for direction.

The older pups of course learned quite quickly. Each of the boys needed only 1 verbal. The girl preferred to watch the others and learn from their scolding. The younger pups took several repeats before they would lose interest in the kittens and return to puppy play instead.

On day 2 I stood about 8′ away from the gate open 2′ wide and with the same playful kitten temptation. The older pups did not approach the kittens, but instead noticed them for a brief moment, then quickly returned to safe puppy play with other puppies. The younger pups required much more follow up from me. This was to be expected. None of them were interested in the open gate.

I always train my pups to only play with each other or other dogs, but not any other sort of animal. It’s too dangerous for the other animals, to allow these large breeds to play with your domestic or farm animals. I also train them NOT to jump on humans.

Briefly open gates should not be a worrisome issue with properly trained LGD’s. With the gate open about 2′ wide, I watched carefully for any curious pups and gave a good verbal direction for that too. They were much more interested in the kittens then the open gate, I will say.

This would be due to the fact that I’ve been doing repeated gate training with them twice per day at each feeding time for weeks now.

A Pup’s Heart

This video is a little sad because it shows the other twin baby goat that was still born. The reason I’m showing this video is to demonstrate how even these young pups understand instinctively that small creatures need protection. This pup does not quite understand that the baby goat is already dead, but he knows it’s sick or hurt and needs to be protected. He keeps the horse, the Billy goat and all the other dogs away from it. Gently licking it and nudging it to try waking it up. He only allows ME to tend to the frail little body. A VERY intelligent dog right here.

Here’s a little snippet of a story…
Momma came up to me a couple weeks ago while I was filling the duck pond with fresh water. She had in her mouth a young deer leg, found in the woods around our place after deer season began. I just happened to be near the kennel with all her 4 week old pups in it.

She came right up to me and looked at me with those big chocolate brown eyes, expectantly. I thought for a moment… What could she be wanting to tell me? I had 1 idea: did she want to show me her trophy find? Nah, that’s not usually her style. Hmmm

Then it popped in my head! She wanted to give it to her pups, who were not within her reach at that moment. She was asking me to open the door for her.

I walked over to the kennel door and before opening it, asked her if she wanted to go in… She changed that look in her eyes from- “do you understand me?”
To- “I’m glad you understand me!”

I opened the door just enough for her to fit in. The pups were napping of course. They had BIG exciting puppy dreams going on! Complete with tail flipping, ear twitching and tiny puppy whimpers. I’m sure they were having the time of their puppy lives in their dreams when all of a sudden…. Here comes MOMMA with something delicious for us to chew on and fight over!!

It was so adorable. Over the course of the next few days other bits of deer wound up in that kennel for her pups to chew on. Each time she brought some other tasty bit to me, there wasn’t a moment lost in the translation between her and I.

I love that dog ?

Momma

This is momma of all current pup litters. She started out her life the runt of a large litter. Her siblings picked on her. Her owners did not want her, could not sell her. She had bite marks and sores on her from trying to get enough food from the bigger pups.

At 8 weeks of age, I drove all the way to southern KY to get her. I believed in her, that with proper care, nourishment and feeling like she was finally with someone who truly WANTED her, that she would be a great dog. I sure was right!

I made a great investment of my extra time, care and patience with her. She is extremely loyal to me. Being a beta personality, her most important job is to make sure I’m happy. She listens to all my commands. She comes along with me while I do morning chores. She has trained all the other dogs from pups, how to properly work on our farm.

Her and I have a very strong bond. She communicates with me and I trust her completely. Later I will share some stories of our adventures together.

Papa & Pups

This is papa of all our pups. He makes a great babysitter for little kittens or baby goats. Ever since he was little, we’ve seen his instinctive ability to comfort ailing, scared or injured critters. When our kittens lost their mother at only 3 weeks old, he pulled them onto his belly, curled his body and tail over them and kept them warm each frigid winter night. Confident, calm and comforting…. That’s his nature.