Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
When you bring an animal onto your homestead you do it in the hope of that animal fulfilling some role or function to make your homestead better.
Sometimes, it just doesn't work out.
Sometimes, things don't go according to plan.
Such is the case with our dog Tigra.
He's a 10 month old mutt.
Mom:
1/2 Labrador
1/2 Pit bull.
Dad:
1/2 Pyrenees
1/2 Alaskan Husky.
He's always been a "mouther", that is, he likes to chew on things. It's his way of exploring the world. We've been working with him to break him of the habit, but haven't been completely successful.
Earlier on as a pup he killed a few chickens and our only rooster. Forgivable offenses all. After all, he was only a pup.
Lately, however, Tigra's chewing has gotten worse.
Last week, he ended up killing one of our female rabbits after he forced open her cage. He didn't eat her, mind you, he just chewed on her head a little. With Tigra and his large powerful jaws, a little is a lot.
Then, just a few days ago he ended up hurting the back leg of one of our goats by chewing on it. Unfortunately, I think he found one of the recently butchered goats legs and realized:
"Hey, Wait a minute! These guys are made of meat too!"
After I saw this I realized that he would never make a good Livestock Guardian Dog, no matter how much training I gave him.
He's a dog who likes to chew on other animals. That doesn't work on a homestead where the other animals are your source of food and fertility. Call it a conflict of interest. His job was to protect them, not prey upon them, and he failed his duty.
So, with much sadness I decided to find Tigra a new home.
We put an add on Craigslist and only received two calls on him. The second call said that they wanted him for sure, so we arranged to meet them halfway and hand him over to his new owners.
"Sometimes your first offer is your best offer."
Timeless wisdom from Dr. David Seybold: Pastor, Father, Husband, Friend
So, that's what we did today.
In the future we will probably get a breeding pair of Great Pyranese or Anatolian Shepherd dogs. For now, we will just have to live without having Tigra to protect our birds from predators, including himself.
Do you have LGD's? If so, I'd like to hear from you and your recommendations. Thanks!
Thanks for Reading!
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We have not been able to buy the dog we want, but look into Marrema sheepdogs. Some of the LGDs need MILES of territory, and LARGE herds to keep them out of trouble. Some are not great with kids. The Marrema sheepdog was by far the most suitable breed for what we wanted, and it sounds like we have pretty similar situations. Good luck!
Never "herd" of them, but I will check into it. Thanks!
It is hard to let him go, but hopefully he has a more appropriate home now. Im glad you took the time to find a new home and not just put him down. Some dogs just dont make good farm dogs or guardians.
Best of luck finding your new dog(s)!!
Putting him down was never an option. Thanks for your well wishes.
Good!
For many farmers this is not the case...
:)
I can feel your anguish. You had so much patience but in the end you had no choice. I totally get it. Sad though. He will have another journey now.
Yes, the lady that took him is keeping me updated on his status. He's doing well.
what a read. nice story and so sad to learn that Tigra could not adapt. but its ok, better for him to be where he wouldnt cause more harm. thanks for sharing this story.
You're welcome. Thanks for reading it and appreciating it.
Welcome as always ma'am
Keep it coming!
Around here the Great Pyrenees seems to be the dog of choice for guard dogs. Sorry things didn’t work out, but I think you did what you had to. Better luck your next working dog . 🐓🐓
Dogs are sometimes much better than some people, they are very smart, faithful, real. They will never betray you, even if we abuse them sometimes, anyway, we are for them the best .
Oh man 😢 I love my animals. When we started homestwading we had a Newfoundland named Obie, and we lost him while he was protecting us from a logging truck. Now we have two brothers. One is my truck dog and the other is a yard dog. They have protected our rabbits and chickens well. They have caught countless opossoms and raccoons. They are blue heeler/border collie mixes
That's sad, but once a dog gets a taste of very fresh meat, and how they obtained it, they will be repeat offenders. I don't know how it would be possible to train them out of such a powerful instinct gone amuck. Good choice. Sorry for the loss, but glad your post is doing well. Upvoted.
@bluerthangreen, I can totally relate to this! We have a homestead far out in the Ozarks, and have had to adopt-out dogs that we'd hoped would mesh with all of the other animals on our farm. (Free-range chickens, cat, other dogs, pigs). But they couldn't, and that's crucial for a harmonious homestead. It was a hard decision, but we made sure they went to good homes. We also bred our Anatolian and Pyrenees, and I'll tell you, finding those puppies a new home was the hardest thing ever! Not because we couldn't find great people, but because I didn't want to let any of them go! I mean, look at them!
Here are two of our guardians:
Heathen (Pure Anatolian)
And Freya (Pyrenees/Anatolian mix)
And their son, Two-Face/Harvey Dent. (Who we did keep, despite my protesting wife!)
Thanks for the pictures. If you have anymore puppies and are looking for new homes, think of us.
That was certainly not an easy decision, but in the end it was the best solution for everyone.