Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[Bruce]

And THEN we will get puppy pictures?? You have been remiss in paying your dog pictures tax, last picture was 5 months ago! I'll let it slide this time but NEXT time, there WILL be a fine!

 

[Finnie]

while 99 will get spayed next month.

Senile Texas Aggie

I’m not trying to tell you when to spay your dog, because that’s, of course, your decision. But did you know that spaying a large breed dog before it is fully grown causes a delay in the closing of the growth plates in its leg bones? There are also other long term unintended consequences from removing the hormones that are a result of the spay/neuter surgery.

Of course, you have to weigh the pros and cons, since delaying until after the second heat or until 2 years old does drag out the length of time that you have to be diligent about avoiding pregnancy.

 

[Bruce]

Since Max was already neutered there is no hurry to get 99 done. And yes, for reasons I do not know, vets seem to think animals should be neutered too young, as you pointed out. But not a young as the SPCA and other shelters do.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Maybe you folks can provide guidance in how best to raise the dogs. I do not want 99 to get pregnant and have to deal with unwanted puppies. Until now we have kept the dogs in a shed at night and in a pen in the daytime, occasionaly taking them for a 1/2 mile walk. Once the surgeries were done, I had planned on letting the dogs roam wherever they wanted, hoping they would stay close to the house. We currently have no fencing to keep them in. But maybe we should consider getting electric fencing, akin to what is used for goats, and make them a roomy area to keep them in. That way 99 won't get pregnant (hopefully) and they will have more room than they do now. Also, by using an enclosed area, that would permit our black cat to roam outside. (The dogs view that cat as a chew toy, so we have to keep them separate.) Any suggestions?

We are currently experiencing thunder sleet. We have of course experienced thunderstorms before, and once experienced thunder snow, but this is the first time we have experienced thunder sleet. Has anyone else experienced that?

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Alaskan]

I know all that "spay/neuter" later stuff for the big breeds....

We have had 2 big breeds, both male... but N0 WAY was i going to even wait a full year to get either one cut.

those hormones do a bunch of behavior influence....

Incredibly easier to keep them from roaming, AND get them to listen/mind/be generally obedient once they are neutered.

All the dogs we had when I was a kid were female... I don't remember a big behavior difference between pre and post spay (of course when in heat...that is different... but in general...)

I think your pups are great Pyrenees??? That breed will NOT stay put... they have no idea how. They will walk off until a fence stops them.

Our Mastiff didn't need a fence (once neutered), it was easy to train him to where he was supposed to stay and guard and teach him property boundaries.

 

[Bruce]

I had planned on letting the dogs roam wherever they wanted, hoping they would stay close to the house.

oh, sorry, did I post that out loud?

I know you have a lot of acreage and the house isn't close to the property lines but if they don't have a flock to guard there isn't much reason to not wander,

 

[rachels.haven]

@Senile_Texas_Aggie probably doesn't want to wind up with 14 new LGD puppies. Bad for the marriage and sanity.

 

[farmerjan]

We do not have any LGD's because we do not have the fences to contain them. We had one and there were some major issues with a neighbor "do-gooder" that thought it was absolutely horrible to expect the dog to live with the sheep.... BUT, we also had one for a short time that would not stay in most any fence and had to go back to the original owner which was the agreement... and they had hoped that a place in a more rural area would maybe get him to settle down a bit.
However, there are a couple of people around here that have them with their sheep. The Great Pyr's do not stay put... they are roamers and decide what they want to guard. One has an Anatolian x pyr that is very protective of their kids, sheep, yard, family(the dog has designated everyone there as their "PACK"), but it is also fenced.
Because of my lack of much experience I would defer to @Baymule , and @Ridgetop ... BUT ... these dogs are bred to do a job. If there is nothing there for them to "take care of or to guard" they have no reason to stick around. I think you are going to be very disappointed if you turn them loose as they are not going to stay. Especially with 2 of them, they are going to have company and go looking for a "job to do"..... and when they are going through the puppy/learning stage which often lasts into their 1st and 2nd year, they can do more killing before they learn what is acceptable behavior.
Perhaps you need to rethink the whole project before they get to the point where you want to turn them loose, and then suffer consequences from them getting into trouble. With the amount of money you have invested, it would be a tragedy to have them either just roam and disappear, or to have them get into trouble with killing someone's animals and then you having to pay for it and perhaps have them impounded or destroyed.
Without animals on the farm to protect, they are not going to be content to just laze around. It is not their nature.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Thanks, everyone, for the input. The puppies are a cross between Anatolian and Great Pyrenees. It sounds like we need to plan to have an electric fence of some kind in which to keep them so that they will not roam. Well, that will make it easier knowing that now, rather than setting them free and hoping they would stay put. Maybe I should also check to see just what the laws and ordinances are for Arkansas and Logan county regarding restricting dogs' movement.

 

[Mini Horses]

Sadly for an owner, most of these LGDs don't "know" not to attempt to make guard duty rounds a part of "all they can see". It's what they were born to do. They just have an unexplainable need to do it. The fenced animals they are to guard are often the only thing that keeps them a little closer to where you want them to be.

They are beautiful dogs to look at....and enjoy. But, they NEED a job and proper limits trained for their behaviour instincts. If they agree with you, they'll consider the request.