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My Pyrs have been amazing, purely amazing. No predator losses since they came, and I can count the puppy mistakes (my mistakes, really) on one hand, while a predator took 10-12 birds in one night last summer. It isn't easy, and I know many people who I'd never recommend an LGD to, but it has...

It would not be something you want to do for cats. Tubal ligation, which I'm seeing promoted by some groups, does NOT stop ovulation, which means a queen cat would howl and carry on every few days until she is "bred" and while she would not conceive, it wouldn't solve those behavior issues. Male...

When they go through their first estrus cycle and therefore could conceive varies from dog to dog. In one LGD group I'm in, several owners had dogs cycle at 7 months. Mine is 10 months. Others don't cycle until they are 12+ months. Grain free doesn't make a difference. It's the calcium level...

I hate dealing with the heat cycle myself. I don't like keeping her in the house...I don't have anywhere else secure to keep her. She seems to be enjoying it a bit too much already. But she can't be out on guard duty, attracting every intact male for miles around to surround my property, getting...

Cats, no. Cats can be spayed and neutered early. I personally think 8 weeks is too young, but shelter medicine is different than general practice. Evidence is mounting that large breed dogs that are altered early may be at higher risk for various cancers, orthopedic problems and other issues...

Actually, I'm a veterinarian. I have my reasons for letting her have one full heat cycle. It is also very difficult to spay a large dog during the estrus cycle. I can keep them apart. HE is a bigger problem currently...he has decided to take on the entire job himself...and he is noisy!

Sigh. My girl is starting her first heat. So I've had to pull her into the laundry room...I so do NOT want puppies, especially from a young one and a brother-sister pair. So that leavea him out there...where he decided to patrol back and forth, back and forth in front of the house barking...

I didn't hear my dogs going off all night, but they were still tired enough this morning they went to their beds before I was done feeding and waited for me to close their door.

Predators were out in force last night, keeping my dogs busy. They were exhausted this morning but still did me the courtesy of walking around the farm with me as I fed and watered this morning but flopped down to rest every time I stopped or went in the house for more hot water. However, they...

My two. They came up and looked in the sliding glass door.

Mine have had no injuries defending the stock from predators. A local friend's LGDs kill raccoons on a regular basis and have never suffered even a scratch. (I happen to be a veterinarian...most LGDs don't get injured unless it's a larger predator. It's the non-LGDs that take on coons that get...

My Pyrs freaked out this morning when a hawk swooped down over the place. My girl ran barking after it and it changed its trajectory and landed on the house. Both dogs circled the house keeping an eye on it. When it flew off, they gave chase until it crossed the fenceline, where they turned...

Mine love love love people, but I still wouldn't want to come upon and take them unaware...I went out at 4am the other morning when it started raining hard to cover the horses' round bale. The dogs didn't hear me leave the house, but they heard me walking in the driveway and charged full tilt...

The pickings are likely better several places down. Someone a mile down the road has chickens, and the farmer between us has sheep. Neither has LGDs. Why risk life and limb when one could simply go a little further and perhaps catch a bigger dinner with less trouble? And yes, sometimes they are...

Fox passed by this morning as I was out looking after the critters. Aneto spotted it out behind our back field. He raced out, growling this eerie sound, to the middle of the pasture to a slight rise in the ground, where he sat and watched a bit. Then he barked, and Larunne shot like a bullet out...

A friend of mine raises Katadhins, never really asked her what she does with them. She likes them a lot though. She doesn't like sheep as a rule and started with goats on her homestead, but somehow she got hooked on those ones :) They come in beautiful colors. I learned today I am not the only...

They are a hair over 6 months. Male is 72 lbs, female is 61. They are not from huge dog lines, which is A-OK with me. I really haven't worried too much about building a dog house. All the LGD people I know have said they won't use it, but I guess I should give them the option. It was pretty...

It was pretty cool watching the dogs at 4 this morning. Something was out there, and my girl had parked herself between the woods and the coops and was watching very intently and barking very aggressively. I wandered around out there for 15-20 minutes with a huge bright flashlight trying to find...

Exactly. Also, another reason some folks pursue registration is it allows them to charge more for puppies, even though they are backyard breeders who don't belong to clubs, don't show, don't do OFA/CERF/other genetic testing, don't select breeding dogs to improve the breed, and just produce...

The AKC board of directors can add breeds, but they seem to only do that if someone petitions for the add, if there is a parent club to oversee, how long the breed is in the US, how many breeding dogs there are, record keeping ability, national interest in that breed, etc. Sort of like getting a...