PUPdate on a
sister from last years litter:
Hi Elaine, Congrats on the new litter! IMO
that breeding is a winning
combination, so I'm so glad your still breeding
Rusty and Molly.
Skye as a pup
Skye is really maturing into a lovely, all
around farm dog. Her style
has been changing ever since she went into her
first heat. I can see more
and more of Grandma Mona coming out. She is
still an extremely biddable
dog but with a core of steel and I love it. She
has a heck of a nose and is
quite the mouse and rat hunter.
She is
wonderfully outgoing and gentle with
people but rules the goats with an iron paw!
She grips a lot but has
never drawn any blood, so I know that she's only
doing what is necessary
(these are really pushy goats who gave her a
hard time for a long time)
Somewhere along the line she decided she was
tired of negotiating everything and
just came on like gangbusters.
Her favorite thing is to "watch the gate" for
me. I can leave the barn
door wide open with an open can of grain just
beyond and no one would dare to make a break for it. She is queen of the
body checks and slams (and
these are 200 + lb goats). I have no doubt that
she would be a great cattle
dog.
Skye shows a lot of control around the chickens,
we free range some days and not others so she
will walk
through them and ignore but once I let her know
that I want them in,
she'll
help me herd them in the run. She shows a
surprising amount of eye and
lowers her head down till it's level with her
back when she's herding
the
chickens. She'll also grab and hold them for me
if I ask...
I think a pup from this breeding would be fine
on a sheep farm. These
dogs
will do whatever it takes to be useful. As long
as there is a good
bond,
firm, fair leadership and the most important
"easy" command, these dogs
will
turn themselves inside out to be useful. And
what more could one want
out
of a dog?
Feel free to give out my number to anyone
interested in a pup and
thanks
again for such a wonderful companion and right
arm!
Judy
Tue, 31 Jan 2006
Cimarron Indigo Skye- bonding to the goats
