New Goat-less Great Pyrenees Puppies

[Pat Layton]

Greetings all--I am new here and was recommended to join by a long time member--

Here is my question--

I purchased 2 GP puppies to start a new Hobby Farm, mostly goats. The pups just turned 4 months old. They were born in a barn with goats.

The goats (Mamma and her baby buck) I started with had to be re homed for a few reasons, one was she was beating up on my new puppies.

So NOW, I have 2 amazing GP puppies and no goats.

I would like to wait for some does from a fiend that will not be ready to come home with me until at least May.

Do you recommend that I find other goats to join us before that in order to keep these puppies goat friendly or will they be OK to have found does join us in a few months?

We only have bunnies. The puppies are sleeping outside on the dirt next to the bunny cage in spit of having a nice doggy house to sleep in.

THANK YOU for your advise!

Pat Layton
Acworth, Ga

 

[Alaskan]

@Mini Horses @Baymule

Who all has LGD with goats or sheep?

 

[bethh]

Hey Pat,
Glad you posted. Everyone will jump in and help you out. These are awesome people. @Mike CHS @Senile_Texas_Aggie @Baymule @B&B Happy goats
Pat needs some suggestions more than I can offer. If I haven't thought of someone, please add them.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Hello Pat, welcome to BYH, The only LGD I have had here was already around goats and was a adult.....others will be along shortly and will have better advice than I can give you ...best of luck with your puppies and you new goats ...bet it will be fun ....we love pictures ( hint hint)

 

[Mini Horses]

So, I have a lot of goats -- no dogs at this time. BUT my first thought is that you may have been a little quick to re-home the goats. Not sure how all were housed but, they may have been put together too soon. Possibly fence line pens until both goats & pups were accustomed to each other. Then supervision while introduced nose to nose over a few days....proceeding as actions dictated. My goats would certainly go after a dog if new kid by side, if they didn't know there was no danger, to protect the kid.

Don't know how you had handled this intro, etc. Just my first thought as to what could create a situation like I read. Simply input, not any challenge to what your handling was or may have been.....don't even know what it was.

Even bringing in more goats, you will need to intro all. The pups no longer have working parents to train them. You have taken this on. They are pups, need training. Lot of good advice will come from those with experience but, your not going to be able to just put everyone together and walk. Get ready for fun. Properly introduced, I feel the pups and goats will be fine if not held off too long. Until then, work on behavior and basic commands with the dogs, their association with food, gates, and their interaction with other animals on the farm, etc.

 

[Pat Layton]

So, I have a lot of goats -- no dogs at this time. BUT my first thought is that you may have been a little quick to re-home the goats. Not sure how all were housed but, they may have been put together too soon. Possibly fence line pens until both goats & pups were accustomed to each other. Then supervision while introduced nose to nose over a few days....proceeding as actions dictated. My goats would certainly go after a dog if new kid by side, if they didn't know there was no danger, to protect the kid.

Don't know how you had handled this intro, etc. Just my first thought as to what could create a situation like I read. Simply input, not any challenge to what your handling was or may have been.....don't even know what it was.

Even bringing in more goats, you will need to intro all. The pups no longer have working parents to train them. You have taken this on. They are pups, need training. Lot of good advice will come from those with experience but, your not going to be able to just put everyone together and walk. Get ready for fun. Properly introduced, I feel the pups and goats will be fine if not held off too long. Until then, work on behavior and basic commands with the dogs, their association with food, gates, and their interaction with other animals on the farm, etc.

YEP!! I acted too soon! My vet told me the Billy had to be fixed asap and Mom seemed aggressive so I decided to start over. Should have lived and learned more first--Now I can't find Does to keep the pups learning. They were not at all aggressive towards the goats though. Thank you for the thoughts for sure!! I am a sponge!

 

[Baymule]

Raising two puppies at the same time is double the work. You would have been better to get one puppy and add another a year later. But this is where we are, so go forward from here. I had GPS before I had sheep and did everything backwards LOL. When you get goats again, have separate pens, next to each other. Take puppies in under supervision and start training. Some dogs take to guarding immediately but most don’t and need training to bring out their best. Set them up for success and praise them. I’ll be back later and post links to my dogs threads. I have a year old Anatolian and a 2 year old Anatolian I need to go check on. They are doing great but I’ve had to call down the 1 year old for doing a halfway chase twice. LOL Those lambs going boing, boing, boing, are just too tempting. Haha

 

[Pat Layton]

Yes--that you--I know I have done all thsi wrong but hopefully will all work out. I got some goats today. They are in critter shed and puppies are outside. They are looking at them but calm as can be. I will leave things this way for a few days then sit with them for short skirts to train-trusting it all to work out!!! Thank you--

 

[Baymule]

I am the Queen of Bassackwards. I know all about the wrong way to do things. LOL

Here are my dog threads. I suggest you start one for your dogs, it is rewarding to go read them and see where you started and where your dogs are now. I have made all kinds of mistakes, by the Grace of God and the wonderful people here, we made it. Read, enjoy, apply what works for you, laugh at the rest. There are lots of good posts on the LGD forum. Go through them, read and get ideas on how to train your dogs.

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[Pat Layton]

Update--FIRST--THANK YOU for your help.

We got 3 young does on Monday from a large free range farm in our area. NOT a place I would want to get breeding goats as all 60 goats were living in a lovely 22 acre open field.
All healthy and beautiful but all mixed up and had NO LGD!! It was a bit risky but felt right.
The precious 80 year old lifetime goat farmer had no idea who was Nanny? Billy? Birthdays LOL---
They were ALL beautiful and healthy!
We choose and paid $400 for 3 who were clearly NOT still on Mamma. That was a multi hour adventure.
I have definitely discovered that goat herding has a LARGE VARIETY of methods and ideas!
We brought them home and placed into critter shed with a gate so the pups and goats could all see one another. The pups were instantly enamored and the goats stood at the gate near them--curious but not afraid.
I let the goats out into the yard with the puppies yesterday after 2 days and all was GREAT!
The ONLY challenge I am having is the need to separate the goats and pups with any goat treats or grain (I know about grain limitations )
I do not want puppy/food aggression.
Overall it has been a HUGE success.
Great Pyrenees puppies are truly amazing farm animals!
My overall plan is to trade out these 3 pygmy goats for a papered herd after training the puppies.
Thank you all for your help.
Still open to all thoughts and ideas.
Pat