On to Oskar….some days I love him and some days he stresses me out. I’ve never 100% trusted him, but I’m pretty sure that’s a me problem more than him. I have some PTSD about LGDs. He also tends to be rude/spazzy around me. Lots of flailing and getting in my face. I’m sure he’s just trying to get attention, but getting clobbered by 120+lbs of Anatolian is not fun.
During the winter, he lives with the rams because the ewes have always been terrified of him and I worry about stressing pregnant ewes and I don’t trust him with new babies.
Let me just say, Oskar has never injured a sheep. He has chased sheep and pulled some wool (no wool pulling in a long time though), but he has never done any physical damage. His chasing these days is not usually started by him. The sheep run (because they’re stupid) and he runs after them because he thinks it’s a game. They stop running, he stops running.
During the summer, I try to keep him with the ewes as much as possible because they’re usually in a bigger area than the rams are and I’m trying to convince them that they don’t need to panic around him. I divided the field in half last year so that I can control what sections get grazed when and the ewes/Oskar were in the far section up by the road.
I recently let them in the section that comes up to the barn. The lambs/rams are in the other pasture that goes up the hill behind the barn and they have access to the paddock/barn.
Last Friday, Oskar suddenly started trying to climb the gate into the paddock with the lambs. I thought he was just being a brat and was mad because I hadn’t fed him yet. Saturday morning I looked out the window and there he was, in the wrong field, patrolling the hill. I was going to put him back with the ewes, but decided it was a good opportunity to see how he behaved with the lambs, especially since there’s a bunch of small spooky Shetlands that are perfect for testing out that chase response. I did have to run some hot wire in the barn to make sure he wasn’t able to climb the feeders.
There was a little bit of panic running/chasing at first, but Saturday night, he had the whole group held up in the top corner of the paddock all night. He alternated between napping in front of the group and patrolling.
Over the last few days, he has become a completely different dog. He’s still a giant goof ball and a pain in my butt (in a good way), but he is suddenly so much calmer. He’s no longer trying to knock me over for attention. I’m now wondering if he’s been stressed this whole and that’s what his rude behavior has been about. I suspect most of the predator pressure is coming from the woods behind the hill pasture. Nothing was coming in the field, but the woods come right up to the fence line and we frequently hear coyotes back there.
It’s taken a few days for the lambs to get used to him. Most of them are still jumpy around him, but they will come in the barn while he’s there. There was a mass protest for a couple days because they wanted their grain, but Oskar was “in the way.” Lots of screaming.
My BIL’s pigs are penned in one cover of my hill field where they have access to the pond. They staged a breakout today. He told me that he fixed the problem and they wouldn’t get out again. An hour later, they were back out.
I don’t really care where they are as long as my sheep can’t eat the pig feed. Oskar thinks they’re super cool, the sheep aren’t too concerned about them.
I’m going to try to install Oskar’s jump gate so that he can get from the paddock into the front field with the ewes so he can get to both areas at will.
). He told her that his car had “slipped off the road” and could she please help pull him out of the ditch. She thankfully told she couldn’t help him and locked the doors (something we never do). My BIL called me shortly after because the neighbor had called him to say that a guy had knocked on their door and asked to come in. They called the police and when they showed up, he took off on foot. 
and stress. So try to improve those areas 
