LGDs can be one of several breeds of dog, including Anatolian Shepherds, Great Pyranees, Collies, etc. Most famously and perhaps most widely used is the Great Pyranees. They are a large dog, pure white or white with "badger" facial markings. These dogs can be anywhere from $100 - $5,000 depending on the area and the breeding. What sets the Pyranees apart in terms of LGDs is it's ability to bond with it's charges and it's independent nature. It can be stubborn and strong willed.
I knew this and still wanted one.
I looked online and in our local agricultural paper. There were several ads for pups and I called on each one only to find they were sold. Placing an ad on Craigslist got me in contact with a man three hours from the farm that had an 8month old he was willing to part with. A great pup he said. No trouble, no barking, just playing too rough with the baby goats. We negotiated a price and set up a time to pick him up. His name is Goliath.
On Saturday we loaded up in the truck and drove south. I fell in love with the big, playful pup immediately, though was concerned with his complete lack of training. He had been out with goats since the age of 12 weeks and had had no lessons in obedience AT ALL. Still, he was reasonably well behaved for a wild heathen! :-)
We put him in a harness and my husband managed to load him into the truck. He did very well and mostly just laid in the back seat and looked around. Once home we took him for a walk around his intended areas and because we wanted to make sure he stuck around we tied him on a 25' line.
Thus began the longest night of barking I have ever endured.
He quieted down about 2am, mostly due to the fact that he had gotten off of his line and was running loose in the poultry yard. The alarm calling of our seven year old llama, Prince, woke me and alerted me to the trouble. I went out and caught him, putting him back on the line.
He was quiet until I made it back to bed. And then, the barking began again.
By Sunday morning the husband and I were both more than a little tired and cranky. My husband went out and let him off him cable and within 10 minutes, and in true Pyranees fashion, he managed to figure out how to push up the cattle panel gate and escape. He came straight to the house and onto the deck. My husband put him back and we tied the gate shut. 5 minutes later he had found another hole and was loose again. Needless to say, back on the tie out he went.
And thus began the barking.... again.
He quieted down around noon. Of course, as we later found out, that was because he was methodically chewing off his brand new harness. Around 1pm my husband noticed that he was just wondering around the poultry yard. I came outside and watched him until he decided to go for a long walk, under the barb wire and onto the neighbors property!!
Now, remember when I mentioned that Pyranees are stubborn and independent? Well, at this point Goliath really drove this point home for me. He absolutely REFUSED to come to use. In fact, no amount of hollering at him would even make him look our direction! My husband went through the fence and drug him back literally by the scruff of his neck.
Hastily we built a pen for him using cattle panels and some fence posts, and that is where he has been since Sunday.
He made us pay for it Sunday night. He barked all night. I wondered how it was he even still had a voice.
Monday I started working on clearing the fence line so that I could put up a new fence and got a good portion of the trees cleared out. That night he did much better and barely barked at all.
Tuesday night my husband pulled out the chainsaw and cut the one tree that was in the way for the new fence. I sent an email to the guy we bought him from and mentioned the trouble. He wasn't surprised. Apparently any time he was moved away from his goat herd he went through fences and barked constantly. He did tell me that they really wished they hadn't sold him, and if he didn't work out that we could work out a trade for some goats or something.
Umm, that would have been nice to know.... in the beginning!
The coyotes were out howling last night and my sweet puppy barked off and on for most the night.
Today the weather is cool and I'm hoping to get some work on his fence done. When he is not in his pen he is really pretty cool and calm, and I understand he doesn't like to be in such a small area.
Maybe he'll be better soon. We've wanted goats for awhile, so if nothing else I may just invest in a pair of goats and see if that doesn't make him a bit happier.
Maybe.
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