Buford T. Justice

[Baymule]

Today Buford was with the ewes and lambs unsupervised. Well…… not by me, but Sentry and Sheba were with him. Buford kept trying to mingle with the flock, the ewes kept running him off. By the end of the day, he could walk through them and hang out with the lambs.

And Sheba! She tries to be grumpy, chewing on his head and growling, she’s so funny. She has a playmate! They run and play and have a great time.

Buford did great today. It was cold, windy, I got a cold, so I stayed in and took my medicine like a good girl. Bored to death,

Buford sits for his pan of food. He’s so cute.

I went to feed the horse. I heard the puppy screaming for his life and Sentry mauling him. Sentry and Sheba have an agreement. Sentry eats his food, then lays down and waits for Sheba. She sometimes doesn’t eat it all and she walks away. Then Sentry finishes it. Obviously Buford tried to finish Sheba’s food and he learned a tough lesson. He was sitting in a corner, chastised. Sheba was standing next to him, like she was trying to comfort him. Poor little guy. He messes up and gets his head tore off.

No bite marks, just the fear and respect scared into him. He’s learning his place in the pack. It’s like a dog’s set of laws and customs. There is order in the pack.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Poor guy! Bet he won't make that mistake again!

 

[Baymule]

Dog dynamics.

 

[Baymule]

Thank you SHEBA! Sheba and Buford are running and playing. She runs the excess energy off of him and I’m sure that contributes to him not searching out a lamb to play with. Sheba is awesome!

 

[Baymule]

Oh Buford! He’s at that play with lambs stage. So far, he’s “walked” the lambs into speeding up and I yell at him. BUFORD! NO! And he stops and trots to the gate.

This morning Aerial the lamb got left in the night pen and was yelling for her mom. She got Buford instead. I took my eyes off him just long enough to give the horse something to eat. He was chasing Aerial in hot pursuit. She was running and BAA BAA BAA!


I lowered the boom on Buford. I snapped a leash on him, called the sheep and closed the gate. He got a serious Come To Jesus meeting. I fussed at him, dragged him through the sheep, he got butted several times and told NO and MINE. Then he wouldn’t come to me. Uhhhhh…… no we aren’t going to do this. I call, you come. He ducked into a Quonset hut and growled at me.

WRONG THING TO DO. I dragged him out, rolled him, pinned him by the scruff of his neck, belly up, growling and doing my best Sentry Serious Bad A$$ Dog snarl. Something must have worked, Buford yelped and got rid of his pissy attitude.

We worked on Buford Come, and he did. Profuse praise, baby talk, hugs, lots of good dogs on a now happy wiggly puppy. Over and over and over.

I turned the sheep out, Buford on a leash and spent the next few hours on positive reinforcement. Took leash off, walked through sheep, Buford Come! He did and got lots of praise. I spent 4 hours with him, sheep, Sheba and Sentry. Maybe we made progress this morning. Maybe we do it again tomorrow or next week. He’s a puppy. He may be big, but he is a puppy.

I loaded the truck with brush and tree limbs to take to the burn pile. Buford saw himself in the shiny trim on the side. He stalked that other dog and barked at it. Silly Buford.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hopefully he will remember this day! Good that you were out with him at just the right time!

 

[SageHill]

Oh Buford! He’s at that play with lambs stage. So far, he’s “walked” the lambs into speeding up and I yell at him. BUFORD! NO! And he stops and trots to the gate.

This morning Aerial the lamb got left in the night pen and was yelling for her mom. She got Buford instead. I took my eyes off him just long enough to give the horse something to eat. He was chasing Aerial in hot pursuit. She was running and BAA BAA BAA!


I lowered the boom on Buford. I snapped a leash on him, called the sheep and closed the gate. He got a serious Come To Jesus meeting. I fussed at him, dragged him through the sheep, he got butted several times and told NO and MINE. Then he wouldn’t come to me. Uhhhhh…… no we aren’t going to do this. I call, you come. He ducked into a Quonset hut and growled at me.

WRONG THING TO DO. I dragged him out, rolled him, pinned him by the scruff of his neck, belly up, growling and doing my best Sentry Serious Bad A$$ Dog snarl. Something must have worked, Buford yelped and got rid of his pissy attitude.

We worked on Buford Come, and he did. Profuse praise, baby talk, hugs, lots of good dogs on a now happy wiggly puppy. Over and over and over.

I turned the sheep out, Buford on a leash and spent the next few hours on positive reinforcement. Took leash off, walked through sheep, Buford Come! He did and got lots of praise. I spent 4 hours with him, sheep, Sheba and Sentry. Maybe we made progress this morning. Maybe we do it again tomorrow or next week. He’s a puppy. He may be big, but he is a puppy.

I loaded the truck with brush and tree limbs to take to the burn pile. Buford saw himself in the shiny trim on the side. He stalked that other dog and barked at it. Silly Buford.

View attachment 97106

Ah, the “teenager” time has arrived. Ha - he had plans a little different than yours for the day. Though it did make for a good dog training day

 

[Baymule]

Hopefully he will remember this day! Good that you were out with him at just the right time!

I try to keep an eye on him. I don’t want puppy play to escalate to biting and running the lambs half to death. If I leave, I either put him up or the sheep. It’s just an attack of the stupids, I’ll sure be glad when he moves on to the next phase. When I was doing my Sentry mauling imitation, I thought about biting his ear. LOL

Sentry gets on Buford and it sounds like he’s murdering Buford. Buford screams for his life and is one chastised puppy. Not a mark on him, no bite mark, no blood, just terror stricken. Now if I could just get Sentry to monitor Buford’s lamb chasing…….

 

[Ridgetop]

Excellent training day. Training takes time, but when the result is a perfect LGD (or herding dog) the results are worth every minute. People who figure they can get an LGD puppy and toss it in the field with the sheep/goats "because it will work instinctively" are asking for trouble down the road. No matter how well bred the dog is, or how well the parents work, there is always training to be done with an LGD. (Although I have never had one potty in the house even as a puppy surprisingly, and we usually drive several days to transport our LGDs, meaning at least one night in a motel.)

 

[Baymule]

I had things to do this morning, so penned Buford and let the ewes out to graze. Early afternoon I let Buford out. Was on the porch making my 50 CCX chicks comfortable. Buford was with the flock. Sentry and Sheba were asleep in a shaft spit. I drew up a chair and watched Buford. He was being good. Even when the lambs ran right past him, he didn’t chase. Several hours went by. I was busy, but kept a close eye on Buford.

I noticed him singling out Aerial, following her. I guess she is his favorite to torment…er guard! I watched closely. He followed her, walked past her, but just a little too close to her. Finally he he put his front paws splayed out, head down, butt up, in the let’s play position.

BUFORD!! I bellowed.

OH CRAP! MOMMA CAUGHT ME!

He immediately broke off, with that grin he does when he’s in trouble (it’s so darn cute) and ran to the gate. I stayed on the porch and told him not to play with sheep.

After awhile he wandered back out to the flock. He behaved himself.