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Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian Dogs
If you want to be on our waiting list for
a puppy please contact us. Puppies are $500 and that includes their first shot & dewormings. Payment
will be due upon puppy's being 30 days old, no obligation to be on the contact list. We tend to sell out fast once
they are born so don't wait if you really want one. Puppies need to be picked up or shipped at 8 weeks of age.
Board will be charged on puppies held after that to cover shots and feed, with puppy and payments forfeited on any not
picked up by 10 weeks of age. We can ship them from our local airport with Alaska Airlines/Horizon or Skywest/Delta.
Any health certificate, kennel, and shipping costs the responsibility of the buyer.
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| Lug 2 yo & Suzie 4 1/2 years old |
Welcome to our working dog page. Our guardian
dogs are a huge part of our goat herd maintenance here on the farm, we are not sure we would want to have the goats without
them!
They have successfully kept our predator losses to zero (people, cougar, bear, eagle,
coyote, and dog). Two kiddings we have missed were born in the snow- the dogs had carried the babies into the
barn, stripped their faces down to their shoulders of placental fluids, and allowed only their dam near them.
They have alerted us to a goat in fencing,to other goats kidding (we don't miss many but sometimes a stealth kidder will fake
us out as to timing), to a goat in the early stages of milk fever and more. We have the freedom to sleep
at night and to relax when we're not home knowing our goats are fully guarded and tended to the best of the dogs'
abilities. What a blessing!
We currently (2008) have an 11 year old Sarplaninec (Katie), coming 5 year
old Pyrenees (Suzie) from Sharon McCoy's famous dogs, and a 2 year old badger faced Pyrenees (Lug-he came
to us named by Collete Kemper's kids!). We also now have Peaches, a Nov 1 2007 (or about) model,
also from Sharon McCoy. She is stunningly beautiful and turning into an excellent, caring guardian. All
are excellent with goats of all ages, though the old 'Shar's" hearing is starting to go....we think her nose and eyes compensate
though as she doesn't seem to miss anything...
Many blessings :O)
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In 2006 we had Christmas Day puppies- 7 with 4 females and 3 males. All had badger markings
and their mother was EXCELLENT with them and showed no signs of aggression with us, but was still very attentive to her
pups- just the temperment we are after.
Puppy reservation info: We take $100 nonrefundable deposits-if you back out - with balance due
once your puppy is picked out. We can also airship them from our local Medford, Oregon airport with either Alaska/Horizon
or Delta/Skywest. All expenses for shipping- kennel, vet health certs, etc are the responsibility of the buyer
and all will be prepaid before such expenses are incurred. We had purchasers on the last litter from CA, OR, and WA
so there are sometimes ground transport possibilities for fuel money- do ask. Your ownership & deposit will
be forfeited if puppies are left here to 12 weeks old without prior arrangement & board payment or if your deposit is
not received within 7 days of puppy birth announcment.
| 4 weeks old |
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| Six Weeks Old |
Puppy Care & Training Tips
Food: Puppies are being supplemented 3 x a day with regular dry dog food soaked in goat milk.
They are also getting wet canned dog food with it. Do NOT raise your puppies on any puppy foods- they are
too high in protein for Guardian Dog breeds, encouraging them to grow too fast which can cause permanent joint damage.
When you get your puppy you can adjust them to twice per day, within reason but generally all they can eat, with fresh
water available at all times.
Shots: Please consult your veterinarian for shots needed in your area, some regions do differ.
Puppies are to receive their 3rd shot at 16 weeks of age. Until that 3rd shot at 16 weeks of age our
vet advises us that puppies are susceptible to contracting Parvo. So when you get your puppy do not take them
off of your premises, or expose them to dogs not your own. Do not take them out of your kennel/vehicle at rest
areas/common areas if you are picking them up from the farm. Make sure your other dogs are current on their shots before
you bring your puppy home. Coyotes carry parvo and it can live in the ground for years. Puppies will recieve their
1st shot at 8 weeks, then a suggested schedule is for you to give them additional shots at 12 weeks,
16 weeks.
Deworming: They have been dewormed at 2 1/2 weeks with oral pyrantel pamoate for 2 lb puppies.
10 days following they receive their 2nd dose to catch anything that was not hatched at the time of the first dose.
They will be dewormed again at 8 weeks old- either by us, or by you after the stress of changing homes, after that please
follow the advice of your veterinarian.
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| Love My Goats, 7 1/2 weeks old |
Training suggestions:
Our puppies are handled minimally. Our goal is to have them bond to goats, and not to us first.
Being pyrenees they have a natural tendency to enjoy human companionship, so we encourage goat bonding first.
They are handled enough by us to ascertain their health, and to have them not be afraid of people.
At 4 weeks old our puppies and our bitch get moved from their in the barn kennel where they grow up listening
to barn noises, to a goat stall in the barn that includes an outdoor run. The puppies will be able to interact
with and amuse themselves with the goats along the fencelines between two goat lounging areas. Once
their dam relaxes with the puppies having goat contact, and the puppies are mobile enough to avoid getting scrunched by the
goats, then they are placed in an actual goat pen.
We DO like to pet and handle puppies while they are eating as they grow up. We do not tolerate any
growling or signs of aggression towards us while they are eating. This allows us to handle any and all food of
our adult dogs even while they are eating with no danger to us. If a puppy does growl, we don't scruff them
pre 8 weeks, but we do pick them up place them on their back (tummy face up), look at them sternly and say a stern
NO. They are learning that the human is the dominant one in this pack that way.
Scruffing: This is something we do with LGD's to correct them. As your puppy
grows it will go through stages, we call them the teenage puppy stages. There are times that they will want to
play with a goat as they would another dog, and they have to be taught that behavior like that is not acceptable.
Things like chasing a goat (not trotting with or behind, but actually chasing), chewing on goat ears or legs,
rearing up and pushing a goat with it's front feet (when it is not trying to move the goat away from a perceived threat,
but just playing)...
Please note when you correct your dog you NEED to catch them in the act and deal with it right then.
If you grab them a bit later then they think they are being punished for being good and they will be confused.
To scruff, we grab the dog by the face cheek hair, we then flip the dog on it's back,
STARE sternly in it's eyes, tell it a very loud and mean NO, and hold them there to process the info for a bit- perhaps
20 or 30 seconds. You are communicating to your dog that you are the boss and that this is unacceptable.
Sometimes during the teenage years you will be correcting your dog several times in a week off and on, and some wonderful
dogs, like Lug, have been scruffed less than 10 times- at this writing he is almost 16 months old and hasn't been
scruffed for months. Good Lug!
You will begin to notice normal guardian activity often before your puppy is 6 months old. They
will find a high spot and 'post' to watch your herd. They may lay down with your herd and watch. If
everyone is in the barn or loafing area they may lay down at the gate opening or stall opening- keeping themselves between
the outside word and their beloved goats. They will lick the goats- front end and back end- this is
good for bonding. They will place themselves between any percieved risk and the herd. Sometimes they
will literally shove goats if they perceive the threat is big and the goats don't move away fast enough for them- our
Katie literally took her paw, and threw two doelings away from the fence with her 'arm' when a dog approached our fence.
Amazing. Guardians do stay up all night to guard, and they do bark at movement. Ours are
not nuisance barkers (barking for no reason), but they do bark at movement. They have become accustomed
to neighborhood stock and only get upset with those when they approach a fenceline that a goat is near to. They ALWAYS
get upset with neighbor dogs near the fence. Always. You will find your guardian sleeping off and
on during the day when they feel the herd is safe, as they don't sleep at night.
Commands: We use only a very few. Guardians are independent thinkers-
they have to be as they make protection decisions on their own without a human right there to guide them in an emergency.
So pick just a few that are important for you.
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| Mine, All Mine... (2 pups in picture) |
One of your best friends working with your guardian dogs will be dog biscuits. They will make
your training progress faster! Your dog will not care what SIZE biscuits you buy, they will be just thrilled that
they get one for their treat or reward. So we recommend you buy the small dog size so you have more treats per
bag. You'll go through them!
These are the commands we teach. You may choose others to work for you, these are what work
for us.
Sit: This is the first one we teach. Make sure you have you pockets full of dog biscuits
before you start! Standing next to your puppy in a place where it won't be distracted, clearly tell
your puppy "Sit" WHILE gently supporting under his jaw with one hand and pushing his rump down with the other hand.
As soon as he sits tell him 'good dog'! and give a dog treat. Repeat many times and be sure to give the treat
each time. If you can do this several times a day a few times each they will learn much faster than one or two
lessons per day. Once he has this down move onto Come....
Bone: Every time we feed our dogs a treat (other than training to come, sit or ready) or give them
their food we tell them "bone". This is our bait word to get them to come to use even when they are
far in the field. :O). It works quite nicely. BE SURE you do have a dog treat for them though when
you use this word, otherwise they will learn you really don't have something for them and they may choose to ignore
you. Not good.
Come: Have your puppy sit. Reward him for his sit. Back off a few steps
and tell him "come" in a joyful voice. You can even bait your pup with a dog treat - display it once you
tell him come. Reward any movement towards you! He may not make it all the way to you the first few times,
but as soon as he learns there is a treat for coming it won't take long that he'll learn come. Eventually don't show
a treat when you ask him to come. But always give him a reward when he does.
Come/Sit: What is this???!!!! After my dog learns come consistently,
I will ask for a sit as soon as he gets to my feet and reward AFTER the sit. The reason I do this is that
these grow up to be BIG dogs. And sometimes big wiggly dogs if they are happy to see you. An accident a few
years ago leaves me with not the best balance at all times and I can get knocked over. Not to mention those lovely muddy
paws at certain times of the year. So my dogs are REQUIRED to sit before I will touch them or reward them with
a treat. You will see that my dogs automatically sit without me asking after they approach me.
Occassionally a dog not yet mature (about 2 years old) will forget and I remind him by squishing a toe with my foot and telling
them Sit. I always reward that sit- and when they are older they are just as excited to get an ear scratch
as they are a treat. If I asked them to come I still try to have that treat for them.
Ready: We teach this every time they go through a gate or stall door with us. It
works slick if you have to move dogs from pasture to pasture or stall to stall. They follow you to the next
place they need to be and sit. Then we open the gate and tell them READY, and that means it's time to bolt
through that gate before goats try to escape. Of course there is always a dog biscuit reward after they are in
that pen and gate is relocked.
That is about all we teach. Remember these dogs are independent thinkers so if you can get a few commands
in you will be doing VERY WELL!
Leash Training: Although you will have a pasture dog, getting them used to leading on a leash
while they are puppies sure makes a trip to the vet or where ever a LOT easier if one needs to be made. We blew
it on training Lug as a pup, and had to carry him into the trailor to move him when we moved to Oregon. Needless
to say since then we have leash trained him! He's not a light dog!
Bringing your puppy home
The ride home: We will fast your puppy on food starting the night before. They will get
honey water instead. Many guardian dogs do NOT travel well. Any age may whine or cry (especially puppies),
they may puke, they may salivate a lot, they may get bad diarrhea from the stress of the move. Have
LOTS of straw bedding- more than you think you need. Bring plastic bags and a plastic garbage bags. You
might need the smaller bags as a 'glove' to pull out refuse or puke and straw with it and place it in the larger bag and seal.
This way your dog can travel a bit 'drier'. This is why we fast them- to give them less to move out both ends
if they do that. If we take a dog to the vet we try to use our stock trailor and take a couple goats for
company for the dog. They travel MUCH better that way.
Again remember bio-security when taking your puppy home. Until it has had it's last shot at 16 weeks
old it is susceptible to parvo- they can pick it off from the ground. You can not take it out at rest stops or
any other area dogs or coyotes may have been. When we move puppies they do not come out AT ALL until we have them
HOME. And then it's straight to their pen...
Housing set up: Before your puppy comes home it will need a place to stay :O). Our
puppies are able to get under our goat hay feeders- safe from any goat that may pick on them. They need this safe
place to hide while they are young. They will spend much of their time out after they have adjusted to their new
home, but remember your goats will be adjusting to the new puppy too so may get rough with your puppy from time to time.
That is normal. If a goat is particularily rough where your puppy could get injured, you might want to move that
goat to another pen for awhile. It is normal for them to get soft head butts though- soft ones.
In Twisp we used to build a cattle panel or panel pen that the puppy could crawl through to get in but the goats could not.
This doubled as the puppy feeding area. As their confidence builds they will seek out their retreat less
and less.
Feeding: Once you get your puppy home go ahead and offer it a feeding. 1/4 big can
of wet dog food, dry dog food soaked in goat milk. Twice a day and give them all they can clean up that twice
per day. The first feeding you might go a bit light if your puppy was car sick.. Remember this is a
good time to pet and talk to your puppy. You want to be able to have that dog allow you to move food or remove
food if needed once it's an adult. So it needs to learn now that it is ok for you to handle it when
it is eating. Once in awhile with older puppies we'll even pull the food just to see if it will then be aggressive or
growl. We describe above how to discliple your dog through that so that you can safely move food later when your
dog is mature. At one year old you can go to once per day feeding.
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| Pup Safety Zone from Goats |
firmeadow@ccountry.net
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