Homestead mailing list

["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

On 12/5/06, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Anyway, I have
> gotten the "giant breed bug" out of my system.

Louie isn't that much bigger than any other large working dog. He's not, for
example, big like a mastiff. He's also definitely not an inside dog (for one
thing, even though I keep the house cool, he'd suffer from the heat in the
winter -- he prefers sleeping on a snowdrift).
> What all does Louie guard?  How far is across the road?

I have goats and a pair of donkeys. He's not reliable with the chickens yet,
but he's not crazy around them either. Right now they're in a pen that he
can't get into. Anatolians can be reliable with any kind of fowl but it's a
challenge for young dogs when the birds squawk and flutter.

Across the road is literally across the road. I live on a low traffic
blacktop that's wide enough for two cars to pass each other without trouble.
He's never out of earshot and rarely out of sight.
> This is my biggest objection and worry about getting an Anatolian.  I
> really don't want a killer-that's why I decided on Pyrs for my goats
> instead of an Anatolian.  I wanted a dog that was more like to chase
> something away than to kill.

But that's the point. He's *not* a killer. He chases the dogs off but he
doesn't go as far after them as the BCs will. The intruders tend to go back
to Sweetwater PDQ. So far we've had only one corpse, a coon, and I'm pretty
sure Louie found the body and brought it home. Oh yeah, there was the deer
remains that he brought home last year. When I toddled out at dawn to get
the paper, I thought he'd killed one of the goats and field dressed it. It *
was* field-dressed, but Louie had only scavenged it -- and then happily
dragged it around the garden and front yard for the rest of the fall until I
finally burned the damned thing.

> How did you train Louie to stay nearby?  Did you bring him in the house
> as a puppy?  How did you teach him to hang around and not run off?

I penned him with the goats when he was a puppy. He was born in a Boer goat
herd where he lived until he was about 9 weeks old, so he was used to goats.
I also socialized him in the afternoons with the BCs (and the cats are all
over the place, so they're his pals). He's always been back and forth
between the barn and the yard.
> People are terrified of Rilian, too, even though there's not a mean bone
> in his body.  He just turned 4, and like most giant breeds, is slow to
> mature.  He is STILL a puppy, mentally.

It seems to me that most working dogs are puppies until they're at least 4.
Louie has gotten more serious faster than I expected, but he can still be an
idiot.
> I've always heard just the opposite, that they kill first and run off
> only what they can't catch.

I suppose it depends on your sampling of Anatolians. That is *not* the breed
reputation and not what I've seen in Louie. The previous LGDs I had were
Komondorok, and they were much more fierce towards humans but they weren't
killers either. They went in for spectacular deterrence though.
> >
> > If you want an easy dog, an Anatolian is probably not your best
> > choice. They're hard headed and know what their job is and don't
> > figure they need much instruction. They are sweet, though.
<...I'm
> not sure that I ever had an easy dog. LOL

What fun would that be?  :)
>
Marie