# Should I? Would you?



## secuono (Jul 18, 2016)

I'm starting to question wether or not I should get another dog. 

New land won't be fenced until sometime next year. I plan on usimg it for hay and then winter grazing for the horses and ewes. 

So it seems like 4 dogs would be too much. And the puppies mine will have will be fluffy. I'd rather have one medium to short haired.

I found a GP x Anatolian male puppy. He will be ready the week mine are due to be born. 

Would you keep one of your own super fluffy dogs or get an unrelated, much less fluffy dog? I'm really leaning towards the new dog....It's no fun brushing them for weeks on end. 




 
That's a nice, short coated pup! Others are poof balls!  Lol


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## Southern by choice (Jul 18, 2016)

I view it from the perspective of what you know about your dogs and what you don't know about the pups parents.

When I bred Callie and D it was VERY planned. 3 years in the waiting.
I know my dogs and every positive and negative trait.
I knew the litter would be exceptional. 

Hair is a pain but on the other side what are you getting?

I t will be very difficult to deal with a 12 week pup when you are having a litter.


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## Latestarter (Jul 18, 2016)

Since I own a (presently shedding - big time) Pyr/Toli cross, I can attest to the fact that you are STILL going to have hair issues, even though the coat is much shorter than a pure Pyr... I am pulling out clumps of loose hair with ease and if I run my hands down his back or sides I have a hand full more. The yard where he is has changed to a blond color from all his hair, and I don't even want to discuss what the carpeting inside looks like  Next place? hardwood flooring or tile except in bedrooms!


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## secuono (Jul 18, 2016)

I'll have to keep the new pup and the puppies locked up for months either way. 

What's one more pup in a group of...idk how many do first timers usually have? Just hope it's not 10! =0

Dad-dog was locked up until about 4mo old, but only after a lot of supervised time that slowly lengthened. Then out all day but locked at night. Eventually, he was out over night as well. Mom-dog was locked up longer than him and was next to the house and ducks. Then the backyard, 150x150ft yard roughly, which the birds were housed within. She wasn't free with the sheep or horses until at least a year old. And I didn't introduce the A-frame coop fence crosses until almost 2yrs old. Didn't want to teach her to climb and escape. But the male learned of them early on and grew up away out in the barn. Neither escape, which is my biggest worry since we are right on a major road.


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## Southern by choice (Jul 18, 2016)

Latestarter said:


> Since I own a (presently shedding - big time) Pyr/Toli cross, I can attest to the fact that you are STILL going to have hair issues, even though the coat is much shorter than a pure Pyr... I am pulling out clumps of loose hair with ease and if I run my hands down his back or sides I have a hand full more. The yard where he is has changed to a blond color from all his hair, and I don't even want to discuss what the carpeting inside looks like  Next place? hardwood flooring or tile except in bedrooms!



Pure Toli's also shed like crazy. They just don't get matted like pure pyrs.
Callie and Tiggs have just as much hair as the pyrs but it doesn't get stuck like some of my pyrs coats do. The toli/pyr crosses I have do shed out like the Toli's. LOTS of HAIR and clumps. It seemingly never ends.


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## Baymule (Jul 18, 2016)

I'd keep a couple of my own pups, but that's just my opinion.


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## Goat Whisperer (Jul 18, 2016)

My concern would be the risk factor.... Kinda bad timing to bring a pup in. Puts the whole litter at risk, even if he is separated.


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## Latestarter (Jul 18, 2016)

Really, you have the parents as your main LGDs right now. They are trained to your specs. If you kept one or more of their pups, you could anticipate the pup being "assist" trained by the parent stock and fitting right into the mix as they grow. I don't know if the adults would train a new pup from outside the same way.  It's a really tough call... For breeding purposes down the road, you'd need new stock, if you wanted to do future breedings other than the existing pair you have. So maybe keep one of your puppies, female, and get the male puppy and hope to raise them as a future team. Problem is, you'd have to base the female to keep on what the male you get has for tendencies (patrol vice watcher)  With the size of your new farm, you really could use 2 sets of LGDs to cover the various paddocks. I'm sure they won't mind all that extra run/roam space either


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