# New LGD, not eating well and not settling in.



## Sheepdog (Jan 15, 2012)

I have a Pyenees puppy around 3 months old, have her in with 3 quiet ewe lambs, she's been with them since she was 10 weeks and before I got her, she was raised with chickens and goats with her mother. She is bonding well and sleeps with the sheep. I have an area where I can feed her that the sheep can't get into... just a small pen made from cattle mesh panel with a hole big enough for her to get through to eat her food and come back out to the sheep but where she can see the sheep the whole time. I can just make the hole bigger as she grows but I am wondering what I can do when she gets to be as big as the sheep or bigger, I think she will be okay as she eats whilst I stand there and wait for her to finish.

The Anatolian boy however, is just over 12 months, we have just got him a few days ago, so hoping he will start to settle down after he bonds with the sheep, At the moment, he just wants to be out and be with me and tries to barge through the gate as soon as I open it. He gets reprimanded for this but I think it is just him trying to settle in. He is right beside the Pyrenees puppy, but in a separate pen, but they can see each other and sniff each other as it is cattle mesh fencing dividing the pens. The Anatolian is in with some adult sheep and a ram at the moment. The problem with him, is that he is a little bit hyperactive and when I feed him, he won't stand there and eat. He wants to run around, grab a bite to eat and then run away from his bowl again, he is more interested in me than his food. If I leave him, he runs to the front of the pen and watches me and then the sheep get his food. I have tried putting him on a leash and standing with him by his dinner bowl. I sat there for an hour and he just didn't eat.... and I haven't changed his diet from what the previous owner fed him. I have tried mixing fresh meat and even some buffalo blue tinned meat..... just enough to make it look a little tastier for him, but he still isn't interested. He is a little under weight and I know Anatolians are generally a lean dog, but he is a little too lean. Vet has given him clean bill of health but says he does need to put a little weight on, hes been de-wormed etc. It seems more of a stress behaviour, so I was wondering if there is something I could build where he could go and eat but the sheep won't be able to eat his food.... but cannot for the life of me think of how I can do this. The only thing that comes to mind is if I installed one of those big dog doors on a flap where he could go in and out.... of course the sheep would just push through the door, so there are some that are operated by a magnet...where  the dog has a magnet on his collar and when the magnet comes into contact with the door, the mechanism allows it to open. But I really don't know if wearing a collar is a good idea.... it would be an expensive way to go, especially if it did not work.

I have used one of these doors once before.... for a cat. One of my house dogs thought the cat litter was a cookie jar..... I raise and show Brussels Griffons..... the rough coats have a nice beard.... you can imagine what their beard looked and smelled like after being in the kitty litter!!!!! So I installed a magnetic operated dog/cat door into the laundry room where the cat litter was kept. The kitten wore a collar with the magnet..... A Devon Rex kitten is not a very large cat.... pretty scrawny actually, so the magnet was quite big at the time.... it worked a treat, the dogs didn't chow down on the kitty litter anymore and the kitten worked out very quickly how to use the magnetic door.... but he got stuck to everything, including the refrigerator.... not stuck permanently, but if he walked close to the refrigerator, he kinda got his head sucked against it (which was quite funny to watch) and he would walk along the side of the refrigerator until he came to the end of it and the motion of him walking would then allow the magnet on his collar to free him. It took, me a while to realise that he was almost drowning when he was trying to get a drink out of the stainless steel bowl.... he would end up with half his face submerged in the water!!! We changed to ceramic bowls. As the kitten grew and became stronger, the magnetic collar and door worked much better..... however, it picked up every nail, bottle top etc and often he had nails or screws attatched to his collar...............

So my point is.... even though the magnetic door thing may work, I would be worried about using it on a dog out in the pasture where anything steel, sharp etc could stick to the magnet on the collar.

I am lost at what I can do about the eating habits of this dog.... Also, how long should I allow for him to bond in his new surroundings. He came from a place where he was in with goats and sheep but it was on a small block (about 5 acres) close to town and close to the house. I am wondering if he was more of a pet than anything else. If he really wanted to get out I guess he could just jump over the gate as he is so tall, but he so far hasn't tried.... Should I put him in another pasture, which is well away from the house which has a barn and is well fenced so that he doesn't see us all of the time... but then that worries me because of the coyotes and so far, I am not convinced he will guard the sheep from coyotes which are thick here. Or am I expecting too much too soon? 

Any suggestions much appreciated.


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## redtailgal (Jan 15, 2012)

I've never had and LGD, so I cant help you with the dog/sheep/human relationship.

I have had dogs forever and 100 years though (do the math and see how old I am lol).

For the eating habits, show him a little tough love.  Provided that he is healthy and in proper housing (dry and protected with wind) missing a meal wont hurt him.

Set his food down, and IGNORE him.  Give him 15-20 minutes and then take his food away, even if he hasnt eaten a bite.  After the food is away, then give him whatever attention you wish.

He needs to understand that when its dinner time, it is not playtime.  He will see that he gets no attention while the food is out, and he will also see that he has a limited amount of time to eat before the food goes away.

(he sounds like a normal year old dog to me, btw)


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## Sheepdog (Jan 16, 2012)

Thanks Redtail,

I offered him food last night and he just wanted to mess around and play. So I took it away from him. This morning, he was hungry and he ate almost all of it whilst I was standing there with him. He did get a little aggressive when the sheep came near him and his food and growled and snapped at them... so I think I will post a new thread on this behaviour to see if it is normal, acceptable or how to deal with it.


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