She was born at the end of October, so she's about 4-1/2 months old at this point. Probably weighs around 50lbs or thereabout. She's 75% Great Pyrenees, 25% Sarplaninac.
She doesn't have an official name yet.. We thought she was going to be Natasha, but three-syllable dog names can be a PITA...and we already have a Sasha, so Tasha might be weird. We considered Niko or Nico, too, but it seems to be mostly a boy name. I dunno...she'll get a name eventually.
Her temperament, so far, is different from Ivan. When we set her out in the barnyard, she reacted to the goats like our housedogs react to us when we come home after being away for a while. Ran right over to them, tail wagging, submissive, whining and crying...very, very excited to see her 'friends.'
They, of course, had a much different reaction.
They're used to Ivan, who more or less ignores them, so a dog running at them under full steam, making squealie noises, was a bit of a departure to say the least. As such, they split the herd and left her standing. 
They really wanted nothing to do with her at all..
They stayed out of the barn most of the night, and she laid as close to them as she could get without spooking them. When it started sprinkling, they finally headed to the barn.. She knew if she got too close, they'd freak, so she laid out in the weather all night with her head turned toward the door of the barn.
I went down and finally carried her into the barn, just so she'd know it was OK to be in there. The goats hung around like I knew they would, rather than go out in the rain.. She laid down in front of the stall where their hayfeeder is, and I saw them come to her sorta one by one, investigating.. Each time, she'd wiggle all over and get really super submissive.
When we went down to feed last night, she gobbled her food down and came right back to lay in the barn near the hayfeeder. When we walked back to the house, she followed along whining the whole time. About the time my wife said "I hope she goes back to the barn," she stopped following. When we got to the gate, I said "As soon as we get out of sight, I'm sure she'll go back."
Well...it didn't even take that. As soon as we opened the gate and she saw we were leaving, she turned and sprinted straight back to the barn to be with the goats.
Here's the coolest thing.. The night we got her home, when we went out to feed, one of our border collies was out sniffing around outside the fenceline of the barnyard. We were both in the barn and all of a sudden we hear our GSD barking really loudly, and really closely. She was supposed to be in the house...how'd she get out?
I poked my head out and, lo and behold, it wasn't the GSD barking -- it was the pup! To see such a big noise coming out of such a little body....well, it didn't even look right. She was barking and growling at the BC, but unlike Ivan, she didn't charge the fenceline....she hung back, glancing continually toward the barn.
We're hoping that this one will hang right in with the goats 24/7.. If she does, then we'll have a big, tough boy who's pre-wired to immediately charge a threat, and pretty tough gal who's pre-wired to stay right in with the herd...totaling probably 300lbs of dog.
I don't care what kind of predator you are...that's a formidable combination.
BTW...you might notice that her left eye is a little puffy. Dunno what happened, but she was like that the morning after we got her home. It looked to have gone down a little last night, but I didn't get to check her this morning. Need to grab a few things from the vet's office soon anyway, so I might pick up some antibiotic eye goop.
One more thing...and forgive me, but.....isn't she just absolutely ADORABLE?!?!?
She doesn't have an official name yet.. We thought she was going to be Natasha, but three-syllable dog names can be a PITA...and we already have a Sasha, so Tasha might be weird. We considered Niko or Nico, too, but it seems to be mostly a boy name. I dunno...she'll get a name eventually.
Her temperament, so far, is different from Ivan. When we set her out in the barnyard, she reacted to the goats like our housedogs react to us when we come home after being away for a while. Ran right over to them, tail wagging, submissive, whining and crying...very, very excited to see her 'friends.'
They, of course, had a much different reaction.
They're used to Ivan, who more or less ignores them, so a dog running at them under full steam, making squealie noises, was a bit of a departure to say the least. As such, they split the herd and left her standing. They really wanted nothing to do with her at all..They stayed out of the barn most of the night, and she laid as close to them as she could get without spooking them. When it started sprinkling, they finally headed to the barn.. She knew if she got too close, they'd freak, so she laid out in the weather all night with her head turned toward the door of the barn.
I went down and finally carried her into the barn, just so she'd know it was OK to be in there. The goats hung around like I knew they would, rather than go out in the rain.. She laid down in front of the stall where their hayfeeder is, and I saw them come to her sorta one by one, investigating.. Each time, she'd wiggle all over and get really super submissive.
When we went down to feed last night, she gobbled her food down and came right back to lay in the barn near the hayfeeder. When we walked back to the house, she followed along whining the whole time. About the time my wife said "I hope she goes back to the barn," she stopped following. When we got to the gate, I said "As soon as we get out of sight, I'm sure she'll go back."
Well...it didn't even take that. As soon as we opened the gate and she saw we were leaving, she turned and sprinted straight back to the barn to be with the goats.
Here's the coolest thing.. The night we got her home, when we went out to feed, one of our border collies was out sniffing around outside the fenceline of the barnyard. We were both in the barn and all of a sudden we hear our GSD barking really loudly, and really closely. She was supposed to be in the house...how'd she get out?
I poked my head out and, lo and behold, it wasn't the GSD barking -- it was the pup! To see such a big noise coming out of such a little body....well, it didn't even look right. She was barking and growling at the BC, but unlike Ivan, she didn't charge the fenceline....she hung back, glancing continually toward the barn.
We're hoping that this one will hang right in with the goats 24/7.. If she does, then we'll have a big, tough boy who's pre-wired to immediately charge a threat, and pretty tough gal who's pre-wired to stay right in with the herd...totaling probably 300lbs of dog.
I don't care what kind of predator you are...that's a formidable combination.
BTW...you might notice that her left eye is a little puffy. Dunno what happened, but she was like that the morning after we got her home. It looked to have gone down a little last night, but I didn't get to check her this morning. Need to grab a few things from the vet's office soon anyway, so I might pick up some antibiotic eye goop.
One more thing...and forgive me, but.....isn't she just absolutely ADORABLE?!?!?
