Leonidas' Story

[Margali]

And... this afternoon he blew it. Came back from laundromat and sheep were making distressed bleets. Also some snarl yelps from Hera like she was getting knocked into.

Leo was dashing back and forth thru flock. He had Oreo, Socks, and Aria separated off. Socks was limping a little on left hind and obviously slobbered on. Leo went towards her again as I got in range. A very loud AHNT and come here! He came and was frog marched back to solitary confinement. I found no obvious damage and Socks was back to walking normally after about 10minutes.

Standard teenage stupid I guess. I found out his birthday was April 27 so he's just over a year old. His neuter appointment is set for July 3rd. That's at my vet for sheep as well, they were booked 3months out when I called end of February!

 

[Baymule]

LGDs are just like our own children. Just when you think they’ve got it, they do something stupid.

Leo will “get it” someday and you’ll be thinking someone stole your dog and left this perfect specimen in his place.

 

[Ridgetop]

Leonidas is hitting his Terrible Teenager time. We had a terrible time with Angel at 12-18 months. She wanted to be with her BFFs and "play" with them. I wrote about how she bit their legs "Playing" doggy style. As soon as we found one with bite marks and put it in the barn for treatment, she moved on to the next favorite, until all our lambs were confined to the jugs for treatment. 6 lambs, aged 6-8 months old, were in the barn being doctored for infected bite wounds for a month. Two were wethers that we were growing out for the freezer. She did not bother the adult ewes, but the lambs were her "Dear Friends". It took us several months working with her and putting her with the rams (who are serious and seriously don't play) when we couldn't watch her with the sheep. The following lambing season we were on edge and very watchful, but we had worked with her on the chasing and had no problem. She has been a perfect guardian ever since. Leonidas will eventually grow up.

 

[Margali]

Leo was good all day then got edgy at sunset. Don't know if it was predators or the Memorial Day chaos. Nice big fireworks in the distance, small explosions, and gun fire closer.

Neither LGD ate dinner or let me pen them at 9pm evening chores. 10:30pm, I got a call from neighbor on Dove Creek Road. Hera had stopped in his yard while Leo kept trucking. Hera loaded nicely with a little assistance. Then I followed Leo's tracker to nearest road and called him. He came then we had 5minute standoff trying to get him into the Highlander. At home they walked calmly into night pen and let me lock them in. Fireworks, etc seemed to be over by that point.

 

[Ridgetop]

Fireworks and explosions are not a familiar part of their surroundings. In many ways these dogs are slightly OCD! They don't like change. Look at how they try to put the sheep back in their pen when you try to change them around. When traveling with them they often won't eat, drink, pee or poop until you arrive home.

Our Pyrs would not stop barking one night, becoming more and more frantic. They had woken us up because the timbre of their bark was so different. Thinking they might have a cougar on the prowl, I got up and looked out where they were barking. They were stationed on our field running nervously back and forth. Across the way on another hill a house was on fire. They were stationing themselves between the fire and us. It was something different and threatening. Our Anatolians don't mind the big bangs from fireworks in CA because where we live you can hear the gunshots from the firing range where the police officers practice.

 

[Baymule]

At least you have a good neighbor that calls you.

 

[Margali]

Leo is maintaining his mostly good status. He's taking advantage of the soppy ground and bad fencing to make one daily patrol of neighborhood then returning to guard sheep. Not great but could be much worse. The fence section he's going thru is about 3" deep standing water while massive holes eroded under fence.

 

[SageHill]

Wonder what's over there that he's checking out.

 

[Margali]

We 've also had a breakthrough on trust and grooming front. He let me use my tiny cuticle scissors to cut out mats in his groin area without a complete freakout. It helps scissors are so tiny they were effectively hidden in my hand.

Hubby held him after treating Hera and I gave his pantaloons a quick brushing session. So much hair came out. I also got about half of his bushy tail trimmed to ~3" with a small set of scissors. That gets rid of worst matted length that he will not stand touching with a brush.

 

[Margali]

@SageHill Multiple houses with dogs and I'm guessing accessible food bowls...