Happy First Birthday to Heidi!

Heidi playing with me.

Heidi playing with my Italian Spinone Tia

Heidi the Great Pyrenees Puppy - 10 months

 

It has been a while since I have talked about Heidi, our Pyrenees puppy.  She is about 10 months old now.  It seems like just yesterday she was a tiny puppy and very unsure of the goats.  The dwarf goats dwarfed her.

OMG What ARE these things staring at me???





















Over the spring and summer she spent supervised time with the goats.  I had to watch her so that she did not chase the babies.  The larger goats kept her in line and I also had to make sure the goats did not hurt the puppy.  I taught her that I am the pack and herd leader.  She willing relinquishes food and treats if I ask for them.  One day I noticed that she gently nudged one of the Nigerian babies away from her food bowl.  No growling or snapping, just a simple gesture that said this is my food.

A lesson in respect.

Recently, Heidi's guardian instincts have kicked in and she stays closer to the goats.  Now if the goats go out to browse she goes with them and periodically she patrols the fence line and gives warning barks in her deep "big dog" bark.   She has earned the goats' respect and is now allowed in the barn and on the deck with them.

Heidi standing beside our Mini LaMancha Lulu.



It is easy to remember that she is still just a BIG puppy as evidenced by her puppy antics.  She loves large sticks and there is always a pile of them by the gate in the goat yard.  She collects rocks and string to go with her sticks.  She has managed to dig up every old dog toy buried in the tall grass.  She likes to slide down the hill on her back, preferably with a stick in her mouth.  But late at night when I hear that "big dog" bark off in the distance I know she is on patrol and warning everything to stay away.  And that is what a Pyrenees is all about.

Grow Hiedi Grow!

It has been a while since I have mentioned Heidi.  She is doing well and has stayed a very loving and loyal puppy.  I no longer have her in with the goats in their summer pasture because I have kids in with the adults and I don't feel she is trustworthy with them yet . She spends much of her time at night "at large" and hangs around the house protecting all in her domain, including her little piles of  "things" that she collects from around the yard.

She was spayed in May and has now healed from her surgery and for a week she was the most amazing house dog.  We kept her in the house for only a few days when we first got her at 6 weeks of age.  During her house stay at 6 months she quietly slept in her crate and never once had an indoor accident.  Because were so busy with baby goats during March and April I had neglected her leash training which I worked with intently during the first two months we had her.  I was amazed that when I put her on a leash again she walked calmly and never offered to pull.  The Pyrenees continue to amaze me...  especially how they GROW!   Here is Heidi in pictures over the last 6 months.

6 weeks.

About 4 1/2 months.

Almost 7 months and 70 pounds.

Catching Up!

Whew,  Now I remember why I named this blog the Intermittent Farm Report.  It has been a busy busy time on the farm.  I thought maybe I'd try to catch up a bit. 

Goats:

We had 17 Nigerian Dwarf kids born this spring.  The oldest are now six weeks old and our two new ones were born this week. We had a "doe" year this year so I'm planning on keeping 4 or 5 doe kids from our different bucks to see how our breeding program is doing. Many hours every day have been consumed with feeding the adults, bottle feeding babies, cleaning pens, trimming feet, giving vaccinations, disbudding kids, milking the does, and playing with babies.

One of the new ones" is a  keeper.

Some of the older kids who are now 6 weeks old.

Projects:

We are in the midst of completing two new goat pastures each with a new goat shed and we have both partially completed.  One is located next to the house and will be for the girls.  It has lots of hillside browsing area.  The other one in our front field is for the bucks and wether and will be mostly pasture.

New doe barn with moms and babies helping of course.

Heidi:

Although Heidi is just shy of 5 months old, she is bigger than the goats now.  She looks much more like an adult than a puppy.  She is fine with the adult goats but I only let her mingle with the babies under my supervision.  It is fun to see the babies running and  jumping all around with Heidi seemingly very amused by it all.  So far she has not offered to chase them.  Still, she won't be trustworthy around the babies for another year.  She seems to have great respect for the adults and although Heidi is larger, they still like to give her a chase now and then.  It was interesting to see Heidi react when the same goat that likes to chase her come up to investigate her dog food.  Heidi gently bumped her away with her nose. Apparently Heidi will stand her ground with the goats when it comes to food.  I still remove her bowl every so often and play with her food while she is eating so she doesn't start trying to bump me away with her nose. Heidi will just sit and wait until I tell her "okay".  Good dog!

My "big dog" face.

My "puppy" side.

My "sweet" face.

Garden:

We finally had enough dry weather to start working seriously in the veggie garden.  The broccoli is planted and mountains of goat poop have been incorporated into parts of the garden to compost over the spring.  Young plants in the greenhouse are waiting to be planted.  We have been enjoying cherry tomatoes on our salads from last year's plants that Don "suckered" and replanted in the greenhouse.

Tomatoes after transplanting to larger containers.

Great addition to late winter / early spring salads.

Every once in a while I take a break and relax.  I usually am in a position similar to the one in the photo below.

Me and Tinkerbelle.

The two faces of Heidi

Heidi is at the age now where she is beginning to take her job seriously.

Or maybe not.

Heidi, The Great Pyrenees Puppy (Feb. 25 update)

Heidi is 14 weeks old today.  I skipped a week because I didn't really have anything new to offer.  Updates may now come at more intermittent intervals, partly due to the heavy demands on my time as goat babies begin arriving and partly because Heidi is at a stage where weekly changes aren't as dramatic.

 I am happy to say that she seems content to stay in with the goats and has grown enough that she can no longer walk through the fence.  It is definitely difficult for novice LGD owners like me to figure out exactly how to manage this puppy.  So far she seems to be forgiving of my inexperience.  And she seems to like our cat.

We continue to practice our manners and our "who's alpha" training.  I feed Heidi in the goat pen but I always feed the goats first.  She has learned to sit in her feeding area and wait patiently for her food.  I make her "wait" once I set the bowl down and she watches me for her "okay" signal.  This is a big improvement over pawing at the goats while I'm feeding them.  I occasionally remove her bowl while she is eating so that she knows she gets food at my discretion.  She is also slowly learning that goat-pen cleaning time is not her play time.

I spend 15 to 30 minutes daily walking her on leash.  During this time we walk the new pasture fence boundaries. I will be moving goats to this new area once vegetation begins growing so I want her familiar with this larger enclosure. Sometimes we walk out to visit the bucks in the back field.  It accomplishes leash training as well as teaching her boundaries.  She is learning leash-walking cues such as watching for my left foot to move as her signal to begin walking.  She also automatically sits when I stop.  Having had experience training large dogs before, I am so thankful that she is catching on to these things before she weighs 80+ pounds.  I'm sure during her adolescent phase she will challenge everything I try to do as she exerts her independence that the breed is known for.  I am also sure that all she learned during these early lessons will return to her as she settles into her role and accepts her humans as alpha.


By this time next week, some of Heidi's does will begin kidding.  The puppy will no longer have free access to these goats but will continue to live with the three does who will kid in April.  Because the goat kids will only weigh 2 or 3 pounds and Heidi will weighs 30+ pounds, she will only be allowed supervised visitation.  A playful pup may accidently hurt a small kid and there is also risk to the puppy from protective goat mothers.  I do want Heidi to learn to act appropriately around the babies so it is important that she be able to interact as guardian of the herd while I'm there to supervise.

A young livestock guard dog (LGD), however, is not trustworthy with  young stock until they are mature and can demonstrate appropriate behavior.  Until then, Heidi will have to settle for being a LGD-in-training.

Heidi, The Great Pyrenees Puppy - Week 5

The biggest news this week is that Heidi is continuing to grow at an unbelievable pace.  Every time I look at her she seems bigger.  She no longer fits in my lap without hanging over onto the ground when we have our brief cuddle in the barn.   She is looking less like a puppy and more like a dog.  Her personality is really beginning to shine.

She had another play date with her sister Dixie who lives down the road.  This time the activity level was much higher. We let them romp in our back field (neutral territory) and they chased and rolled each other in the mud.  At the end of the session we had wet brown pups.  No one remembered to bring a camera :-(

She is also continued to demonstrate her Houdini trait which seems to involve squeezing through the fence.  When I watch her she cannot get through but in the morning she is standing outside the fence.  As a result of this behavior, she is back in the smaller, but more secure pen with the three younger goats.  So far there have been no escapes.  This is the pen with the cozy "Heidi Hole"  which has been taken over by the goats.  Now that Heidi is a bit older (11 weeks) she is happy to hang out and sleep in the dog house.

We also have an interesting inadvertent social experiment developing regarding Heidi and Dixie.  Although Dixie lives on a farm with chickens and will be a general farm protector much like Heidi, she has been spending some of her puppy life in the house and also has been travelling with her owners off the farm to visit various venues.  Heidi has not been in the house for a month and has not been off the farm except to go to the vet.  However, we are both planning to attend a "Canine Good Citizen" class starting in March.

Heidi, The Great Pyrenees Puppy - Week 4

Heidi is 10 weeks old now and is beginning to grow legs which means she can RUN.  Fortunately she mostly runs to me and not away from me.  I moved her for a few days into the main goat barn with the adult does while the weather was dry and mild so she could explore the larger yard.  She mostly explored ways to escape.  She is still small enough to squeeze through gaps in board fencing as well as through the wire stays in the fence.  I think she's decided she likes her small pen where she spent her early weeks because I would usually find her near her old pen.  One of the more interesting escapes was kind of a reverse escape.  Somehow she manged to get herself out of the new pen and back INTO her old pen that had all the gates closed.  This pen is the one we use for the Nigerian kids which are TINY and I still haven't figured out how she got back in.  We returned from working on some fencing and she was happily playing by herself in her pen.

Heidi is learning to "hang out" with me when I'm working with the goats.  I was trimming feet and Heidi would lie close by and watch.  Yes, that is poor Celia wedged up against the wall while I trim her front foot. Heidi did try to help a few times but by pushing her away, she got the idea and seemed content to lie and watch.

The goats are still teaching her a bit about respect, especially Celia our Mini-LaMancha.  I think it is more of a game at this point because I often see them chewing on a tree branch together.

Heidi is walking nicely on a leash now and is learning cues such as sitting at a heel position when I stop walking and also sitting "near" the front when she comes to me.  I think leash walking is a great way to emphasis to Heidi that I am the alpha figure above her.  By walking on a leash she has no choice, at least while she is still small, to go where I go.  I noticed today that this is beginning to pay off when I tried to get her in a "down" position from a sitting position.  She willingly let me place her in a "down" without fighting me.  Previously it was a small battle.  Because this is a breed that likes to assume the role of alpha, I take this as a small victory since alpha dogs don't willingly like to placed in subordinate positions.

I love puppies of this age.  They seem so willing to please and try so hard.  I have no doubt though that all this will change in another few months when she enters that pre-adolescent period where puppies seem to LOVE to exercise their independence. For now though, she enjoys our "training" time because she is the center of attention.

During her resting time when the goats are in the barn, she hangs out by the goat door so she can easily monitor who comes and goes.

Heidi also went back to the vet this past week for a second round of puppy shots and a visit with the staff.

Heidi, The Great Pyrenees Puppy - Week 3

Our Pyrenees turned 9 weeks old this weekend. There is not a lot new to report this week.  It is amazing though how much she has grown in 3 weeks, both in size and attitude.  She has gained 6 pounds since we got her and she now weighs 20 pounds.  She is still living with the goats and is getting a bit bolder with them.  She spends more time in close proximity to them and the goats are getting used to her as well.

My Mini-La Mancha has butted her into the fence a time or two but Heidi seems to be unfazed.  I think they are all learning their boundaries and tolerances.
Their favorite activity together is chewing tree branches.

Heidi has reclaimed the dog house and she will often lie in it to observe the goats.  We have also turned off the heat lamp because Heidi was starting to avoid it.  That may have a lot to do with the unusually warm January weather but her coat is getting very heavy as well.  She still has her Heidi hole although I had to make it a bit bigger so she can squeeze through.  Fortunately the goats haven't tried using the larger opening.

Heidi's litter sister owned by other family members came over to play this week.  It was fun to see them together.  Dixie was a bit shy since she was on unfamiliar turf.  I'm sure Heidi will be the same way when she goes to visit Dixie.   Heidi is a bit bigger than her sister and will probably end up being the larger adult.

We still spend daily quality time together playing and grooming.  Heidi is able to walk farther now so our daily leash walks are covering a bit more territory.  We visit the bucks in the back field every day so she can see that they belong in her territory.  She no longer pulls on the leash and only lags when there is a situation she is not familiar with such as crossing small creeks.  I think she has to think about it first.  She is learning to sit to be petted.  That hasn't prevented those big front paws from waving around but she seems to be making an effort to control herself and refraining from jumping up.  I'm pleased that she seems willing to go "back to work" willingly when our play time is over.

I also let her play briefly with our other 4 dogs.  I want her to know they belong here.  Here she is with our Spinone, Mr. Moose Tracks.  So far she is an awesome puppy.  We'll see what the next week brings!

Heidi, The Great Pyrenees Puppy - Week 2

Last week I started documenting the development of our Pyrenees puppy.  She is 8 weeks old now. Once mature, her primary role on our farm will be guarding our goats.  For now she is a typical puppy with the attention span of a gnat. 

She has been living in the barn with three of my young goats all this week. but she has been spending more time outside in the small yard with the goats.  Sometimes she will bark at them and offer to play.  For this behavior she is snubbed by the goats.                                                                           

We were starting to work on crate training during her brief stint as a house dog so I moved a crate in to her "Heidi hole" and arranged some hay bales next to the crate so that she has no choice but to sleep in it. I also feed her and give treats in her crate. Her heat lamp provides warmth in the rear of the crate. This worked very well for several days then one evening Don went to check on her and she was lying on top of the hay bale. I’m beginning to think I pamper this puppy too much.  However, after she has been out in the snow I see her curled up in her crate basking in the warmth of the lamp so I think I’ll leave it a while longer. Accepting a crate is important so that she can be transported to the vet and training class.                 

Heidi is much more mobile and coordinated this week and has grown noticeably.  She has also discovered the large dog house in the yard. She thought It WAS a safe place to observe goings-on until the goats decided that if the dog wants the dog house then we want it more.  Prior to the puppy moving in, the goats never set one hoof in that dog house. They always spent their time on top of it.  When I last looked the goats were taking turns lying in the dog house. Heidi made a feeble attempt to retake the house but to no avail. 

I let Heidi mingle with the adult does for brief supervised periods on a couple of mild afternoons and she explored their larger yard. Last week, when I carried the puppy into the doe yard, my herd queen stood and trembled from head to hoof.  Interestingly, she doesn't seem bothered by my four other large dogs but this armload of fur set her off. This week she began to accept the existence of the puppy and eventually stopped trembling when the puppy was nearby. She never took her eyes off Heidi though. After all it is the herd queen’s responsibility to monitor the goings on around the herd and Tenny does a good job of that.

 Heidi also discovered that she is small enough to easily walk through the wires in the field fencing.  She found her way around the backside of the barn through the yard and made a bee-line back into her "Heidi hole".  Smart dog!  I guess she needs to grow a bit more before I can put her in that yard but at her current rate it won't take more than a week or two!

I spent more time researching the pros and cons of socializing livestock guardians. Some recommend a hand’s off approach and others recommend as much socializing as possible.  Because one of Heidi’s roles will be as a companion, we don't want to risk having a dog that is people shy. We also have adults and children that come to our farm to see the goat kids. For these reasons, we decided to enroll her in a Canine Good Citizen class starting in March when she will be 4 months old.  We concluded that we would rather have an over-socialized dog patrolling the farm rather than one who might be fearful of strangers or worse, perceive them as a threat. A properly socialized Pyrenees should be able to "read" people and determine their intent. Even then, Heidi should primarily function as a deterrent by her mere presence and not by aggression.

Every day I take Heidi out of the goat yard for her "quality time". Because she is so young much of this time is spent playing and cuddling.  Because she left the litter at 6 weeks, I was concerned about her not learning to "play nice" from her siblings and mother so one thing we are working on is making sure she doesn't use teeth. If she touches skin with her teeth I squeal loudly and shun her, much as a sibling puppy would.  It is amazing how well this works. One of her favorite things is to play with her giant ball.

We also practice walking on a 20-foot lead with me holding the other end of the rope. This accustoms her to a having a lead attached to her collar. For now she willingly follows me. We explored the workshop this week and learned about cats, well at least the one cat that didn't hide. We also went on a short walk to visit the bucks in our back pasture. I am also working on grooming by brushing her, filing her toe nails, and looking in her mouth. Because she will be such a large dog, I am encouraging her to sit (notice I didn't say teach) while being petted. I also routinely take her food and treats away from her then give them back. I want her to learn that I control all food and treats and am the alpha of the family (don’t tell Don). I definitely don't want a food-aggressive 100 pound dog. 

When I return her to the goat yard, she never cries or whimpers. She accepts that this is her "place".  As she matures, my hope is that she can relax and have a bit of down-time when she is with me. At other times hopefully she will know she is on duty.  Even Pyrenees need a break sometimes.  Only time will tell if this works.

Heidi, the Great Pyrenees Puppy - Week 1

We decided to kick off the new year with a Great Pyrenees puppy we named Heidi.  Not something to be taken lightly for sure but something we felt we were ready for.  The Pyrenees is a Livestock Guard Dog (LGD) from the Pyrenees Mountain region of France that was bred for centuries to protect roving livestock from predators.  They live and bond with the flock or herd and consider it their job 24/7 to make sure their charges come to no harm. According to the AKC breed standard "the Great Pyrenees is confident, gentle, and affectionate. While territorial and protective of his flock or family when necessary, his general demeanor is one of quiet composure, both patient and tolerant. He is strong willed, independent and somewhat reserved, yet attentive, fearless and loyal to his charges both human and animal". They are generally good decision makers and problem solvers.  At 25 to 32 inches tall and weighing 100 pounds or more, they have the size and attitude to back up any threat they make make toward an unwanted intruder.

We are not new to dogs.  We have 4 adult dogs at the moment.  Three of them are Italian Spinoni, a pointing breed from Italy.  They live to hunt the fields, woods and brush piles around our farm.  "There has just GOT to be a bird in there somewhere " is their mantra.  These dogs are fun-loving, clownish and full of energy.  We take walks and rides around the farm and they never get enough.  There is always one more bird out there somewhere.  My spinoni bark to alert me of...well everything.  Friends, foes, dogs barking over the hill, airplanes, cats fighting, you name it they are more than happy to tell you about it.   My 10-year-old Spinone, Moose, seems particularly fond of barking at important threats such as if you make the salt in the salt-shaker tinkle too loudly.  He is most happy to bark with in the safety of the house or dog run but exposed out in the open, not so much.  This is, after all, the dog that tried to give a stuffed toy to a rabbit that was eyeing our veggie garden.  Suffice it to say these dogs are PETS.  Great Pyrenees, although they make great companions, are working dogs first and foremost and they seem to take their job seriously.

The very first thing I learned about our white, fluffy, cuddly ball of fur was that it was going to be VERY difficult to make the mental switch from pet owner to working LGD owner.  To make matters worse it is January, albeit a warmer than usual one and here I sit with a 6 week old puppy.  I sought much advice from other LGD owners, some conflicting, but all helpful in getting on the road to producing a working dog.  Much advice centered around getting her into the barn near or with the goats ASAP but definitely OUT of  the house.  But it's JANUARY in West Virginia!  Other folks said not-to-worry,and that all will be fine if she stays in the house a while.  What to do??


Compromise.  That's what.  Heidi spent the first four days of week one in the house bonding with her human herd while the temperatures refused to go above 20 degrees.  Heidi exhibited her independent nature early on.  I thought it would be useful to at least introduce her to a cozy crate in the living room so that she could be close to us.  Heidi though made it CLEAR that she preferred to lie at the back sliding glass door on the cold bare floor so she could look out, wistfully even, at the snow.   But soon she'd come trotting into the living room and lie down at our feet by our recliners.  AWWWW!

After 4 days, the cold weather retreated a bit so I sucked it up and made her a place in the goat barn with my three younger does.  It is a cozy retreat with a heat lamp where she can escape the goats to eat and rest.  Here she can comfortably spend her days bonding with goats. The goats think she is an alien from Mars.  They charge at her but are mostly bluffing, doing their best to show the puppy who is in charge. As I sit here typing this on her 7th week birthday, she is getting a bit bolder and has barked at one of the goats for the first time.  I wonder what the next seven days will bring??  Stay tuned!