Getting a Great Pyrenees

[Mike CHS]

We haven't had a storm since we got her. We tested her for gun fear when we first brought her home because there is hunting all around us. We have shot around her with no reaction but this is the first time she saw the animal we were shooting at. She started jumping up on the fence in what appeared to be I want to get it mode. The same way she reacted the first time we saw her go after a squirrel that got too cocky.

 

[Southern by choice]

 

[Baymule]

Maisy is a smart girl. Fortunately for her, she has a loving family who will work things out with her. I'm glad that she came back home. Haha, ya'll are going on the ride of your life-trying to stay a step ahead of a Pyrenees!

 

[Mike CHS]

At least I got the satisfaction of brushing all of the cockle burrs out of her coat for about 20 minutes but I swear I could see her smiling (like this is a small price to pay).

 

[Baymule]

My husband didn't latch the front gate when he went to town. Trip pushed it open and was gone when he came back. I was in Dallas at a baby shower when I got a call from my husband, almost in tears, he was driving up and down the roads looking for Trip. His tone went from worried to delighted when he saw Trip prancing down the road, over a mile from home, coming back from wherever he'd been. He was coated in red mud, but my husband didn't care, he loaded Trip up in the back seat of his truck and brought him home. He was so relieved to find Trip that he didn't even mind scrubbing red mud off his leather seats.

 

[Bruce]

At least I got the satisfaction of brushing all of the cockle burrs out of her coat for about 20 minutes but I swear I could see her smiling (like this is a small price to pay).

Yep smart dog:

1. Escape the fence, spend time with Dad while he works on the fence
2. Escape the fence, have fun playing in the cockle burrs, get brushed
   
3. Escape the fence, TBD

Loving my new life at Shepherds Hill Farm!

 

[Mike CHS]

I have a question about handling/too much handling of this girl so I'm just going to ramble about what I have been doing. She hasn't tried to climb out for several days now but there is 15k volts pulsing over the top of the fence and I have reason to believe she has hit it at least once. I know from personal contact that it HURTS (but only once so far). She has become part of the family and she enjoys being loved on but we don't over do it. She comes when called unless she is alert on something, in which case we won't call her. She accepts our herding dogs but everything done so far is under controlled conditions. I had the Aussie in the pen today holding the sheep while I checked hooves since it has been so wet and Maisey just lay on her bed of straw. I haven't let the Border Collie into the pen since he can hold them just by staring at them. When he is there they stay on me which is the idea.

Finally getting to what I'm wondering about. Much of our property is in various stages of being fenced and since I can't let her go out on her own yet, I have been walking our entire place with her on a leash. She seems to be content doing this since she is getting to patrol and it's almost like she enjoys having me along for the event. The biggest thing is I'm trying to show her OUR borders so she will stick around. When we get back to the sheep she is ready to go back in and I let her off leash before opening the door to let her know I trust her and she seems to know what is expected.

I have a tendency to overthink things but I'm trying to keep things as normal for her as I can for this big white bundle of love without messing her up. She accepts me as the Alpha since the rooster event (she found out she wasn't stronger than I am) and she got an involuntary ride on my lap on the golf cart going home.

 

[Bruce]

@Southern by choice will have good advice on this but as I understand it, you can walk your unfenced perimeter all you like but she will not think of it as a boundary she should not cross. But that might be a generalization and there might be some dogs that will understand and accept the invisible boundary.

 

[Mike CHS]

We will have a fence there in the next couple of weeks so that works. I'm more wondering about the other things

 

[Southern by choice]

She is not a farm-dog she is a LGD.
Truly, I warn LGD owners to NOT walk their dogs.
There are few exceptions to this.

This is starting a very bad precedent for her. Especially because she has escaped and gone on walkabout.

Socialize with her and love on her when you are in the field, go about your business.

Walking those boundaries with her will do nothing in the long run of any real benefit.