OMG! This is the first chance I'm able to get online to look at this thread and post on it since my last post.
I guess I should really choose how I word things more carefully around here.
No you all are right, I don't a mean dog. I do want a dog that is a little more territorial.
Dogs in the house? Only one. The Border collie/shepard cross. She is getting old and joints hurt and she sleeps indoors. The others.... not so much. One exception is in the summer when the temp would get over 90 out, I would allow them to go into the basement to cool off in the afternoons. (their large version of a dog den)
I don't have an off farm income, I am around here practically 24/7, so there is no problem with me spending time with my dogs to train them. And they are all different breeds with different personalities, and different character traits, and strong points and weakness. They all get worked with in their own way.
However there are some things that they are all expected to do: 1) Stay out of the road. They might die if they chase cars, not because they could get hit by the car, but if I catch them ever chasing a car, I might kill them. My dogs do NOT chase cars. The neighbors dogs all do. It's the most irritating things, it rates really high on my list of pet peives. 2) Stay withing hearing distance, so they can come when I call. That's another pet peive of mine, so far they all do really good with that. I have 1000 acres here, and they all stay within earshot of me, and they come when I call. 3) Not go wandering off to the neighbors house. I'm still working with the Pyrenees on that one. She's the only one so far who goes wandering off to the nieghbors house to either play with her dogs or check out their food pans. I have a feeling that's not going to continue much longer. I don't beat my dogs, however I have come up with some creative corrections that really seem to work with some of them. They all have different buttons that work differently on each one.
The black lab for instance.... he's pretty much usless as a working dog. The only reason I got him was to be a companion dog for my border collie cross. However he will play fetch untill someone drops. He likes to chase after things, play tug of war, and he will drive the cattle if I need him to. Sicking him on the cattle is a little like shooting into the herd with a sawed off shot gun though. He has no since of direction, nor which cow specifically needs coaxing. I bet he would have made a good hunting dog. He is Lab after all.
My English Shepard/border collie cross is irriplaceable. She is wicked smart with the livestock. She come from a sheep farm, and the lady who sold her to me didn't know if she could work livestock because she was so shy. She took some time training, but now, she takes hand signals from me, and watches my face to see if she's doing right, and she stops and checks often as she works. Money couldn't buy a better dog than she is. That come from hours and hours of work.
Blue Heelers are well known for being territorial, and with my heeler, heaven help you if you bring your own dog out. Because no matter what size or breed it is, she will take it to task! I've seen her go after a rot or two, and even a german shepard. That being said, she is one of the first Blue Heelers I have ever seen that LOVES people.
retty: I've seen her only
not like
one person, and he was a local flooring supply delivery man, who was lost, and she
really didn't like him at all. My aunt and uncle who lived in Nebraska used to raise Blue Heelers, and they were very territorial, and they didn't like anybody getting out of their vehicle, untill they were called off! When our family would go up to visit, my dad had to get out of the car and call off the dogs before any of us kids could get out. Chances were pretty good we would get bit. In fact we had a blue heeler in the 80's but we had to give him away because he kept biting my grandpa. He was a great dog other wise, but he just didn't like any clown showing up at our house.
I got the Blue Heeler to help with group work with the cattle, and it's interesting how much differently they view the herd, and how much differently they work with the cattle. I tell my friends that the Blue Heeler listens well, but she doesn't hear anything but angry. She listens well, but only if you sound good and mad. She goes after the back end of the cows, (heeler thing) and she goes after them like crazy. I compair the border collie cross like operating with a fine surgical scalpel, and the blue heeler like performing the same brain surgery with a hatchet.
The Pyrenees on the other hand... I just haven't found a nitch for her yet. But I guess four months is still pretty young. We'll see how she works out.
Thanks for all the advice. :tiphat:
(except the petting and beating the dog... that was just disturbing. ) :dunce: