Well as some of you may remember, I've spent the last month moving to and beginning our new little farm. Because we live out in the boonies it's taken a while to get internet set up. We STILL probably won't have it for another few days, right now I'm visiting my parents and I thought I'd pop in and update.
So...I don't even know where to begin. Our place is AWESOME. I don't have any pictures yet, since my camera is probably still stuffed in a box somewhere, but I'll try to get some soon.
So...first week, Ogre went completely nuts. At our old house, he was trained to leave chickens, cats, and other small animals alone. He was always in close proximity to them and we worked to teach him to leave them be. He did, he was fine. The second we got here, all of that training went out the window and he's pretty much lost it. So far, in the past month, he has killed 4 chickens (including Benvolio, a rooster I raised from a day old chick who was formerly very good friends with Ogre), a feral cat, a rabbit, and has gotten into a violent, horrible, surprised-it-wasn't-deadly-fight with Culley. This post would be a million miles long if I went into detail with everything he's killed and how it happened, so just suffice it to say we're doing everything we can to control him right now. We have almost 8 acres, but theres an acre fenced around the house that is our actual yard. After he climbed the fence and killed chickens the second we got there, we put up an electric fence inside the chain link fence. No animals other than the dogs are allowed inside the yard, for their safety. This works as long as nothing comes in the yard- but feral cats still climb the wire fence and jump over the electric one, which is how this particular cat got killed...and chickens can fly right over it. They've learned to stay away from the yard, for the most part, but their still sometimes forget...and for that reason, Ogre now has to wear a basket muzzle whenever he's outside. [
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The fight with Culley was my fault- we had put up the electric fence that day to contain Ogre, and were completely exhausted. We decided to go into town (about 30 minutes away) to get some dinner and as exhausted as I was, I forgot to crate up the dogs and they were left alone together. Ogre and Culley disliked each other from day one, and I accept full responsibility for their fight- I was negligent in forgetting to seperate them. We got home and they were fine, but as we were coming through the gate, Ogre jumped on Culley- completely unprovoked- and grabbed him by his face. He picked him up by his face, and began swinging him around like a ragdoll. Culley was so surprised he didn't have the slightest chance to defend himself.
Very long story short, it took us a good 3 minutes or so to seperate them and it was the most horrible fight I've ever seen. In the end they were both okay- just flesh wounds that bled alot and looked much worse than they were. They were both sore for a few days, but that was about it. Ogre and Culley though are now no longer allowed to even SEE each other, much less interact- and I'll never forget to seperate my dogs again when I'm gone.
So yes, without going into pages of detail, Ogre has become a huge problem. We've only been here a month, so I'm hoping that it's all just due to the stress of change and moving to a completely new environment and that hopefuly he'll settle down....but I don't know. So far I've only lost chickens and a rabbit to him... one day it could be my goats or a cow or a horse. I'm hoping we get this worked out before that becomes an issue. If I don't figure out how to get him to leave my animals alone soon, I'll have to call a behaviorist to help.
There were several chickens- 15 or so- already here when we moved in, left by the former owners with our permission. We added our chickens, a couple of ducks, and some guineas to the flock. So far we have lost 2 chickens, both the ducks, and both the guineas to coyotes- and the guineas were inside our shed, so I'm still not even sure how it happened. Either way, I have since seen the coyotes responsible a few times and while they haven't taken anything in about a week, I see them prowling around alot and it's become a pretty huge problem. I keep my poultry contained, but it seems that coyotes can get into just about anything. [&o]
So, I started tossing around the idea of a LGD. I researched it for a couple of weeks and had pretty much made up my mind to get one. Then, Ogre managed to tear off his muzzle, get through a fence, to spend the day tormenting my rabbits. They were a couple of acres away from the house, in the barn, in secure wire cages. He spent a few hours nipping their feet through the bars, tormenting them, and eventually causing one to die from shock before I caught him. I am STILL furious with him about it...and I decided right then that I was GOING to get a dog to guard my livestock- from coyotes, and from Ogre, should he escape again.
I started looking online, but long story short, learned from talking to the owner of the feed store I shop at that a lady about 45 minutes away from me had Pyr puppies for sale, and that the parents were working dogs. I won't pretend that this person was an amazing breeder, but she wasn't terrible. The parents weren't registered, but they WERE good working dogs- both the sire and dam guarded their cattle and goats and from what I could see, they took that job very seriously. I had researched pyrs a bit beforehand and they seemed to have very correct temperaments- at least the temperament I personally would want in an LGD. The breeder DID at least have OFA's done on the parents and that was alot more than I'd expected. It wasn't a perfect breeder by any means, I admit that...but the puppies were out of good working dogs, and that was what I needed. The puppies had already been exposed to goats, which was great- they were letting them go way too early though. I asked if they'd be willing to hold the puppy I wanted until he was 8 weeks, and they wouldn't. He's barely 6 weeks now- but he's a great guy. He was the boldest and most independant puppy, which is what I specifically wanted. We brought him home yesterday, and I've got my fingers crossed that he'll be the answer to our predator problem...and our Ogre problem...once he's grown and trained. For the next few weeks, he's going to just be following me around when we do our farm chores, so that he can get aquainted with our poultry, rabbits, and 2 goats. After doing that for a while, I'll begin kenneling him with my 3 month old goat kid, so that he can bond with the goats. I'm keeping his contact with the other dogs to a minimum, since I don't want to socialize him too much to the other dogs. I understand that I could have gone to a well known, reputable breeder- but the truth is, I have a problem with predators *now,* and I count myself lucky that I found a decent puppy out of working parents as quickly as I did. I honestly didn't have time to go through someone's adoption process, sit on their waiting list for a year, and then spend the next year or two training my puppy. As it is, I'll probably lose a good many more animals to predators before this puppy is grown and trained- so I count myself very, very lucky. I feel that I got a great pup, from good working parents, even if he didn't come from an excellent breeder. I'm sure most will disagree, but there it is.
But yeah- that's the gist of what's gone on so far. A crazy Ogre, some new animals (2 nanny goats, some more chickens, and my starter herd of meat rabbits) and a brand new Pyr puppy. Our house is fantastic...I absolutely love it out there in the middle of nowhere with no one to bother me. Soon we're hoping to add some more goats (a billy, so I can breed my older nanny and have her kid in spring) a Jersey calf (if I can find a good one) a few pigs, and a horse or two. Despite the trouble we've had, I absolutely love all of this. I'll try to update with pictures of the puppy in a little bit (since I'm at my parents, I can use their camera) and pictures of our little farm when I can get them.
Anyway, just wanted to pop in and update. Hopefully I'll be back full time in a few days. [
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