How a Chaotic Puppy Became a Farm Legend

in the five plus years that I've been farming it really was my lowest point on the farm here I had spent thousands of dollars to buy this dog and bring her to our farm and she's killing chickens her breeder is smearing me in blog posts half the internet is criticizing me for how horrible of a job I'm doing Abby had to be put in timeout because she started to try playing with chickens again and at the same time I just couldn't bring myself to give away this dog this is not what I had envisioned when I made the decision to bring a second livestock Guardian dog to our farm and potentially start breeding my own puppies [Music] oh you know adding Toby dog to our farm really was an important step in evolution in one Fell Swoop I effectively managed all the Predator problems we were having on our farm and then simultaneously I had gained this new best friend in sidekick who I could do absolutely everything around the farm with everything about that decision just seemed to work out perfectly and so as time went on I really was starting to say wow Toby's such a great dog I would love to breed him I'd love to maybe have breeding puppies that are livestock Guardian dogs trained for farms in Homestead be a part of our farm business and you know raising a livestock Guardian dog really isn't that hard so why not I just add a second one we are currently still actively looking for a female Maremma partner one that would be a suitable breeding partner for Mr Toby dog here and she's got to reach maturity so it's going to be a couple years before we have puppies on the farm but if I want to responsibly free Toby there's actually another step I have to go through in the process he's got to have a health screening for any sort of genetic carriers and issues that he could have usually your vet has to wait until about two years before they can do that health screening and the good news is just last week was Toby dog's second birthday we're gonna take him to the vet we're gonna find out what information the vet has for us and really get to the bottom of the question can Toby dog be a father yeah I'm talking about you buddy you might be siren some pups in the not too distant future are you excited about that so Mr Toby dog I think you recall a couple of weeks ago I took you to the vet and when I took you to the vet they did some health checks on you because we want to make you a dad so Toby dog it looks like the good news is all of your testing has come back very very good and that means that my buddy here is good to be siren puppy litters and so that's when I began the search to find the dog that would ultimately become Abby my plan was originally to actually have a puppy at this point but unfortunately all of those plans have fallen through you see Toby dog has some very diverse genetic lines and because of that it's actually made finding a genetically different dog here on the East Coast very high and so I am searching far and wide right now for that partner but as soon as I have a line on her we will be bringing her to the farm and Toby dog here will number one have a partner in crime to work the farm with and hopefully in a couple of years we'll also have a breeding partner I looked for breeders far and wide to find somebody who could be a genetic match for Toby dog Toby dog actually has a pretty diverse lineage where one half of his parentage actually comes from breeders out in Italy the other half of his parentage on his father's side comes from some very reputable breeders down in the Virginia area and those two mixes of genetics actually seem to connect to a lot of the breeders of maremos all across the United States and so pretty quickly into the process I knew I wasn't going to find somebody east coast and I started looking far and wide and ultimately I found what I thought was going to be a genetically distinct dog all the way out in California which I guess compared to the runner-up which was in Alaska that's not that far away good morning I've got some crazy exciting news I've been waiting like very long to share it with you so Toby I've got some news for you pal yeah I got some big news yeah that's right pretty soon we're getting another Maremma here on the farm that's right on a farm out in California last weekend some little tiny puppies were born it was four males and four females to a beautiful mother Maremma and so yeah one of those females is going to be coming here to goldshaw farm I don't know which one yet they're all looking adorable so what happens is the breeder will try to match the personality of the puppy to the farm that they're going to and so because that puppy is going to ultimately be a partner of Toby's and because that puppy is going to be here on a farm with a lot of poultry versus say like a farm where they're they're working with like a lot of sheep or goats or something she's going to be keeping a careful eye out for the right type of dog we're gonna wait until the puppy is somewhere between three and four months old so in terms of like socialization and health and you know just learning how to be a good dog spending that little extra time with their mother is is usually a good thing for the puppy which does bring up one problem I have to solve I've got to figure out how to get a Maremma puppy here to our farm in Northern Vermont all the way from like Central California I know you can like ship him with an airline but I don't know I don't really like the idea of just taking a young puppy like that ripping it away from its mother and then and tossing in a cargo hold of an airplane so one solution I have been thinking about is potentially so who knows what this winter will hold it'll probably be yeah mid late January at the earliest before all of that goes down several months later so we've been getting a lot of questions about when and the puppies come in here and the puppies come in very soon as far as the puppies themselves and the puppy herself doing really well I mean look at them they are just adorableness running around a farm doing really well and so for the last few months we've been watching these puppies very carefully and we've seen pictures and video and watched them grow up and they look adorable and now our puppy specifically is ready to be picked up from the farm in California and brought here to Gold Shaw Farm in Vermont you know a lot of people will bring a puppy home from the Mom after about eight weeks and we've been actually intentionally waiting a little bit more than four months that ensures that the puppy gets to grow a bit healthier before it has to travel and be separated from its mother and so my plan has been that I was gonna fly out to California actually go from Boston Logan Airport on a direct flight to Los Angeles LAX fly end rent a car drive out to lenmore California which is where the breeder is which is kind of like right in the middle of California I guess closer to Fresno know that anywhere else I made the choice to fly into LAX because I could get pretty cheap direct flights to and from Logan and I wanted to have a direct flight back with the puppy because the plan was I was going to get one of those little puppy carriers and pop her inside that and suffer the cross-country flight but get across get to Logan get back in my truck and drive back to the farm and everything would eventually work out but my friends we have now encountered a problem with our great puppy smuggling plant you see our puppy because she is a little bit over four months old has actually grown too large to be carried on a flight like to be like carry-on luggage you know they actually have doggy weight limits and at this point I couldn't even try to cheat she like far exceeds those doggy weight limits which I admittedly probably should have put a little bit more thinking into ahead of time but you know that forethought is usually not my strong suit isn't it folks now another option would be I could try to check the puppy as luggage some Airlines would actually let you like put them in the cargo hold essentially but I will admit that that approach makes me kind of uncomfortable for a few reasons and Far and Away the biggest reason is the puppy would essentially spend about seven hours eight hours even and potentially even longer if there are flight delays holed up in a small crate and I can't control the climate and it can potentially actually get really hot inside of there and there's nobody monitoring or supervising her so something bad could happen and we wouldn't know until we landed in Boston and then my heart would be broken and so for me that just was kind of a non-starter idea and now given that we can't check the puppy on the flight and have me carry her nor am I willing to let her travel as cargo it really leaves only one method of transportation to bring her from lenmore California to Peach and Vermont and I'm pretty sure you guys have probably deduced that that one way to get her from here to there would be by car and so I actually got in touch with a woman who is just super cool and super responsible and is very much a dog lover she's in the process of pick picking up the puppy girl and bringing her here to the farm it looks like Olivia our puppy Courier just checked into the airport in Denver our puppy Courier her name is Olivia she's super nice super responsible I know she's going to do a great job she's actually based in Connecticut and so she's flying she's got a connecting flight in Denver of course she heads out to California and then she's going to be hopping in the car and driving all the way back I know you guys are super excited about the puppy arriving I know Toby dog is super excited about the puppy arriving and I am super excited about the puppy arriving I know one animal who's not probably excited about the puppy arriving is Little Jenny Jenny do you think you and the puppy are going to be friends you know you and Toby have been mixing it up lately but I think you're going to be friends movie I know you're excited yes you are so the pickup has been made oh boy the pickup has been made oh but Olivia's saying that she's really scared which I guess is understandable here's a video hello hey Olivia Hi how are you not too bad how are you doing [Music] how are things going settling in yeah yeah she wants to like go up to me she's doing good she's like I'm literally just picked her up I Can Tell She's a little nervous but she's okay [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] so I just got an alert that Olivia is on her way with the puppy they're a couple hours away so it looks like they're gonna get here a little bit after dark so there's not much to do right now but I'm just hanging inside here with the barn cats I will admit I'm super excited about this I'm really looking forward to meeting the puppy of course I'm really not looking forward to the weather that we got outside how's it going hi oh I know you're a little scared yeah it's okay maybe she wants a treat come here sweetie it's okay yeah good girl well I got you she is shy [Applause] she's the first drop our best friend I think I know what your name's gonna be what is it oh you curious so her name is going to be lady Abington de Mimzy porpington Duchess of xiaomi we're just gonna call her Abby oh it's okay Abby come here oh boy she's really nervous know yeah you like this huh it's okay hey sit sit it's okay it's a friend it's a friend come on Abby come on abs here yeah was she growling this might require a plan B all right Toby I need you to be on your best behavior can you do that for me can you get your little collar on your leash okay come on buddy we need you to be on your best behavior she's a little nervous so I'm hoping you can calm her down hey buddy oh good girl yeah sniff around this is your new friend yay oh good girl oh come on it's okay I promise toes be a good boy yeah wait who's growling she is getting to know each other it's like a puppy date what do you think Toby you're pretty good you're okay with her she passes your seal of approval hey it's okay you wanna try to come with us come on Abby okay here you go girl you know she's interested in Toby yeah that's good that's really good it's like someone that looks like me Abby you're doing so good girl I'm very proud of you can I get in here and pet you will you do it you can keep eating it's okay no okay yeah you're good you're good no that's a camera you have to get used to that we got some water for you nice Frosty bucket you sit so prim and proper like a good lady I'll check on Abby in a little bit and see how she's doing and she'll have to report to duty for work tomorrow morning pretty much from day one on the farm I was realizing that Abby was very different than Toby Abby is getting much more settled here on the farm a lot less skittish a lot less scared last couple days I've been spending a lot of time with her hey Abby girl you remember me where friends now oh looks like Abby knocked over the chair that I've been keeping in here yeah I've been hanging out here spending good chunks of the day just sitting outside with Abby getting her comfortable with me you're settling in quite nicely you are such a sweetheart you know that so what I'm doing here is actually continuing to condition her to be okay with me around food you actually don't want them to get like too food protected you might have even noticed like when I first touched her she jumped a little bit like she was startled that was just simply because he's getting used to me me being around her but she's seeing that oh no she can eat and I'm not a threat but I will take this away from her now nope sit sit sit girl yes that's also sort of how you reward when you start the training process even though I'm still really just doing the familiarizing her with the farm process for right now all right if you want to come with me we're gonna do chores we can spend time with Toby or Abby we're gonna even do chores today without the leash you've been getting really good yeah you're free you're free yeah I know what are you gonna do with all this open space I know it's impressive you got the barn cats and Toby dog yeah you can go say hi to the crew [Music] you go to the bathroom okay oh Abby you just stepped in it oh wipe that off there girlie Jenny's still getting used to Abby actually the other day I captured their first at least to my knowledge their first interaction and Ginny was not happy with her at all [Music] I know there's big dogs everywhere and they're all scary but Abby you're just a good little girl yes you are you're a nervous gal you want some water those are chickens we don't play with chickens you're allowed to look at chickens oh he's definitely giving her the once over Abby hey Abby no no get out of there there you go all right let's go growing boy seems like he's keeping her in check which is nice because I didn't have that luxury when Toby dog was just a pup there you go Toby yeah Abby you got to stay away you gotta learn Toby is the dominant dog here you cannot get in the mix there but I think you're good here for now by yourself part of a lifestyle gardening dog training is actually teaching them to be okay by themselves I mean she'll pretty much always have Toby but you want a dog that doesn't need human contact 24 7. you know one of the things that most people don't appreciate about livestock Guardian dogs is they are bred to be independent they are bred not to necessarily seek a strong human connection like say a golden retriever that's why they're so good at being left out there with their animals to protect them but the behavior I was seeing out of Abby was so much more like a traditional house dog than a good Farm livestock Guardian dog Abby dog on the other hand was completely different personality wise from Toby yes they were both maremas but whereas Toby dog was always very stubborn very independent and very chill Abby dogs seemed to be extreme high energy and very much an attention seeker you see just because Abby is a special breed of dog known as a Maremma which has good Natural Instincts to be a livestock Guardian dog it doesn't mean that she doesn't need to be trained she still needs to be taught how to work with the poultry she still needs to be taught some basic commands I've held off on doing that for the moment because I wanted to make sure she was comfortable but now that she is comfortable or maybe overly comfortable I can start teaching her the commands and I can start teaching her the basics she was actually much easier to train when it came to obedience commands you ready to come start doing Farm chores with me let's go Abby you need to stick with me having Abby with me while I do my morning and evening Farm chores is probably the most important part of training or maybe second most important part of training it helps create a bond between the dog and me you know I try to let her have as much experience around the farm as possible without getting into trouble that's probably the most important thing when it comes to the training as I start working with her and as I build up trust with her she will ultimately get more and more freedom but right now she's being very closely watched and it's also really helpful to have Toby around because he's really showing her in modeling Behavior four out of a dog on the farm well look at that you're just sitting good girl Abby yeah maybe you tried to work on you with sit yet you seem to naturally know it Abby you gotta be calm sit it's a good boy no no she looks a little nervous but she's doing okay yeah she's really doing okay if I think about it for a puppy that age yeah I know there's so many smells that are interesting in here huh she's being such a good girl here today again part of what I'm trying to do is just normalize the birds to her and have her get used to them without having them be this big fascinating curiosity smelling all the chicken Duty for a puppy of this age she's doing such a good job right now yeah Abby I am super impressed with how you're doing in here good job girl Toby as always I'm so impressed with you don't worry I'll be back it's really important that if I cannot be in here supervising her I cannot let her be free even though her behavior has been very good there's still lots of bad things that could happen she could chase a chicken she can get into a fight with a goose and that's how your livestock Guardian dogs learn their problem behaviors by keeping her separated like this it ensures that she can't screw up since I was so inexperienced with training livestock Guardian dogs and I only had had that one experience of raising Toby dog who I'm coming to learn is more and more a one in a million type of dog it made those early days with Abby dog very challenging all right Abby girl you want to let out the Ducks yeah you ready for me to let out the Ducks are we gonna settle first got so much nervous energy girl we're gonna say release the Kraken hey no no you know anytime she was left with the duck's geese or chicken she would always try to play particularly the fluttery nature of chickens always caught her attention and she'd go after them so I'm not sure how much you guys caught of that on camera but Abby actually ended up chasing a chicken which is why you heard me yelling at her like a psychopath I know that seems harsh and some people might say that's not how you're supposed to do it but that's what I found actually worked really well with Toby dog you know when Toby was a puppy I remember like two instances where he tried to chase a duck and I immediately scolded him and he immediately felt like he was the worst dog in the world and pretty much ever since then I've never seen him try to play with birds you cannot let even remotely playful puppy behavior happen I had to really reprimand her as I was reprimanding her which by the way is not physical it's simply a yelling thing and like a body language thing she clearly knew that she screwed up and so I think she's gonna be better behaved isn't that right Abby come here Abby come here come to me come here okay you gotta remember you can't chase Birds it's like rule number one on this Farm above all else do not chase the birds you got that Missy I know yes you're a sweet pup you have those adorable brown eyes that I cannot let you get away with those things because that's how you become a bad dog we want you to be a good dog like Mr Toby dog one of the hardest parts about training a livestock Guardian dog is actually getting them good with the poultry with poultry what you're doing is you're training your dog to actually be the protector of this space and the birds are just one of the things that belongs to them inside this space and so when something like a fox or a coyote comes around they're protecting their space not necessarily that specific individual bird Abby dog bless her little heart was always trying to play with birds and no matter how much I would scold or correct she didn't want to hear it and as soon as I turned my back she might be at it again laughs [Music] it's been a tough morning here on the farm and I feel like I need to tell you guys what happened so far the training of our livestock Guardian puppy Abby has been going really really well she's got a great personality she's been learning her obedience commands really well and she's starting to get very comfortable with the ducks chickens and geese she definitely has that puppy instinct to chase them but I've been very watchful of her and I've been correcting it and I think some of the birds like the geese actually keep her from trying to overstep her bounds and all in all for a puppy she is progressing phenomenally yes you are little girl yes you are which is why the next thing I'm going to tell you it sort of breaks my heart so I've preached on and on to you guys about kind of like the number one rule that I find for training livestock Guardian puppies and that is to never let them alone with your words until you know you can absolutely trust them one hundred percent as you guys know Abby has her own little special puppy area that I can keep her around the birds and around the farm but also lock her up and keep her away from having direct access to the birds when I can't be there to supervise and so when I'm out doing my morning chores I have Abby with me I'm using it as an opportunity to teach and train her we'll even end up doing some obedience commands and that sort of thing but then if I have to go inside and do work inside or go off Farm or on some errands or do something like that I'm not actually out in the barnyard I'll lock her up in that secure puppy area and that will keep her from getting into trouble but then if like around lunch time I decide to come outside to shoot a video or hang out I let her back out again and she's with me but then I might lock her up again and then later what I'll end up doing is bringing her back out when I come to do the evening chores and then after I feed her and Toby for their evening chores typically what I'm doing now is I just actually let her go loose and Run free all the birds are locked up so they are protected from Abby I've got Toby dog to supervise Abby and keep her from getting in any trouble or an animal that might be too much for her to handle comes into the yard keep her protected and speaking of the yard I mean we have about 10 acres here fenced in with a five foot high perimeter fence plus another half foot of electrical top wire here so I'm really not all that concerned about anybody getting in nor am I all that concerned about Abby getting out plus the Maremma as a dog breed is very much nocturnal and so to be able to have access to the Outdoor World and let them Roam and run free at night is really good for her because it lets her work off some of that puppy energy and she and Toby dog can run around and bark and chase away coyotes and do the thing that they're meant to do and then when I come back out the next morning the cycle repeats itself and I'm back out here with Abby doing chores and then I'll lock her up for a few hours and it's a pretty good cycle where I would say that she's spending probably about 18 hours a day roaming free around this Farm but then she's maybe locked up in her area about six hours or so and that's a rough estimate some days it's more some days it's less but the truth of the matter is she's spending more of her time free than locked up it's a little different than I did it with Toby because Toby when he was a puppy he spent more time locked up because I didn't have this perimeter fence at the time and so I didn't want him running free if we didn't even have that fence I wouldn't be all that worried about Toby running too loose and free he's such a good dog and so well behaved and so connected to this Farm I actually doubt he would even wander much further past our property line this one on the other hand I'm not so sure about yet she's still learning her way and what I'm about to tell you next is going to really show you that she's learning her way the chickens often spend most of their time in here or at least most of the chickens do it's so much warmer in here they're protected from the elements and I give them water and I give them food now when I say most of our chickens stay inside I need to stress the word most because as you can see here some of the chickens like to get loose and they like to wander around and during the daytime that is totally fine for them to do and then at night time as the Sun sets what happens is all the Ducks will put themselves to bed in their house and all the geese will actually March themselves into bed into their house and the chickens end up finding their way back home to wherever they live usually but every so often I will have a chicken that will not put themselves to bed and they will find a creative place to roost for the night you know I've caught chickens trying to roost in the cat condo in the dog area other times they've tried to move into this chicken tractor sometimes I've even seen them roosting over by the trash in the water which is why every night when I go to bed I usually just do a quick sweep of the Barnyard to make sure there's no chickens running loose or free and so this next part that I'm about to tell you guys is feeling downright tragic to me because last night blanched the chicken decided to not go back into the hoop coop and she also decided to not go back into her duck house and she took Refuge somewhere on the farm I don't exactly even know where but she didn't go back into any of the secure locations and when I came out to do the morning chores this morning I found Blanche and a pile of white feathers she wasn't entirely dead but she was on the verge of it so I actually put her down to end her suffering and I gotta admit I feel really awful about all of this and if there's any question about which dog it is let me just clarify that Toby dog has never had any incident whatsoever with the bird after you know two and a half years almost two and a half years Abby is the brand new puppy even actually still looks very upset at Abby Abby has been looking guilty all morning pretty much certain that it was Abby not to say that it was Abby's fault though because if I think about whose fault it is it's 100 my fault you know back to that advice that I always give people when raising guard dogs with birds and how you should do it you know that number one rule is don't leave your dog unsupervised until you can trust them and while I didn't do it intentionally it was definitely an accident that led to Abby being unsupervised out here in the yard with access to one of our birds and things went horrible and I know you feel horrible Abby and this is all my fault so I'm sorry to you I'm also really sorry to blanch if I had taken more care to make sure she was locked up and I don't know maybe I'm wrong to let Abby Run free at this young in age it's all my fault so in the winter time when I can't get to the spot that I usually leave dead animal carcasses I actually have another spot here it's over in the back corner of our property now you guys are probably wondering what would I do with a dead chicken like Blanche you know would I feed it to the dogs and potentially I could but I don't know that would feel like it's rewarding bad behavior I could Salvage most of the meat for myself and then my wife and we could eat it ourselves and use that as a way to honor her life but again feel like that's rewarding bad behavior me as the farmer did not do a good job here and so for me to try to claim the body as as resource for myself I don't know doesn't feel ethical so that's why I think that the best thing I can possibly do is leave her right here below these cedar trees here in the Cedar Swamp and I'll let her get consumed by the wild in the wilderness which I don't know I feel like as far as ends go is it the worst way to think about it I feel so bad about this though it's very much my fault she was a very good chicken very sweet gave us a lot of eggs over a couple of years just a tough way to go I think another question that might pop up for folks is what's the point of having a dog that's supposed to protect Birds if it's gonna attack your birds and you have to recognize that this is one of the situations where what might be bad for the one could be good for the many but having Abby by having Toby on the farm we keep our Predators away and it keeps our bird fatality rates very low unfortunately when you're training a new dog this is the type of thing that can happen Abby sit yes good girl now I really feel like I'm opening myself up with you guys and telling you about the death of Blanche the chicken and my mistake and what Abby did and so I know there's a good chance I'm gonna get crushed in the comments here on a number of fronts number one I killed my chicken number two I'm an awful dog owner number three I don't know what I'm doing and I don't know maybe those are all fair criticisms but I guess I show this to people because I think there's some myths out there particularly the livestock Guardian dogs that I think are worth dispelling in even this little incident and what happened I think myth number one is if you have a dog that kills a chicken that dog is broken and is not right and is not fit for Duty and you should just get rid of it and I think that that's a huge mistake I think that that is the worst way you can think about raising a livestock Guardian dog what you really need to do is recognize that yes that's a misstep that's not the behavior you want you need to look at what allowed that behavior to happen so for example in my situation the fact that Abby was loose while a chicken was loose and all those things were happening while they were unsupervised that's why this happened not because Addie's a bad dog it's because I screwed something up I think myth number two out there that's worth talking about and I don't want anybody to think I blame him because like I said this is definitely a myth but there's a myth out there that Toby dog would have supervised her and he should have stopped the whole situation we're out here in the pasture right now and you can see them playing and running around like crazy if Abby tries to do that up there and tries to play with Toby up by the bird yard and like the birdhouses and stuff he actually puts a stop to it really quick now I would have hoped he would have stopped Abby from killing that chicken and maybe he actually broke up her ability to to attack the chicken but it all still went down the way it went down and I can't blame Toby for that but I do think it's a good illustration for folks who are thinking that you know by having an older livestock Guardian dog that dog is going to do all the training work with your pop that's not the case you as the owner still need to do a lot of work I love you unconditionally puppy dog and I'm gonna keep working with you now I would try really hard to correct her behavior you know I am not a believer in hitting your dog I'm not a believer in doing things like tying dead birds around your dog because your bird killed the dead bird I don't believe that that actually works and a lot of other trainers would agree too but I'm also not one of those folks who believes in training 100 on positive reinforcement because particularly with livestock Guardian dogs it's not as much about what you want them to do it's what you want them not to do the problem was that didn't seem to be working with Abby she would do something bad I would scold her she would look remorseful and then five minutes later it was like the whole thing didn't happen and she was back to being her lovable cheerful self getting into trouble yet again you know for Toby dog I had set up like a little yard that was basically just a chicken wire fence that surrounded the duck yard that I had at the time and so that way he could be close to the birds and see the birds and interact with the birds but at the same time he wouldn't be completely left alone to his own devices and get into trouble and so for Abby dog I actually just put her in the same exact spot and hoped for the best the problem there was Abby Doug is a bit of an escape artist if she gets used to jumping over these Gates I will have a real problem on my hands because that's what I use to secure the rest of the main pasture when we have our two gates and so as a result of that I actually spent some time yesterday building out a brand new area to house Abby and be her puppy daycare this will also be the place that I keep her when she goes into heat and I don't want her breeding with Toby I also put in this ice cube which I think Abby actually likes I even got this sort of awning kit that goes with the kennel so she's covered from the wet which is actually the biggest thing and she's covered from the wind because because you have a wind break with the duck house right there she's tilted out this way and then this thing actually does some good wind protection as well and she's also by the highest highest area here on the farm or usually highest traffic area on the farm so you'll see like the birds come here to get their food and water and so that means she will see a lot of Bird activity but the birds can't get in and she can't get out so already I was struggling in my plan to try to raise livestock Guardian dog puppies because while Toby dog always seemed like a natural what I was seeing out of the behavior from Abby was not suggesting she was a natural livestock Guardian dog particularly one suited to work with poultry [Music] so is it possible to prevent a puppy from getting pregnant I'm not sure but I've got something here today that I think might help me it's a dog chastity belt yes Toby dog you heard me right a doggy chastity belt dogs go into heat a couple of times a year and that's when the female dog attracts the male dog and is liable to get pregnant and while someday I might try to breed Toby and Abby together I'm not even sure if I am going to breed her I still have to do some genetic testing with her I still have to screen her for hip dysplasia and elbow dysplasia and those screenings aren't something that can happen until she reaches about two years of age now that she's almost six months old she's gonna start having a heat very soon but at the same time I don't want to get her fixed because I might breed her someday I got to admit I was kind of surprised to see that doggy chastity belts were even a thing what do you think Abby looks actually a little more complicated than I was expecting come on Abigail need your help she just took one look at this thing and did not want anything to do with it I know I know you don't like this at all I'm not sure I like it being so Good by being on your back but it's making it hard to do this right I'm thoroughly confused by this thing well it only took me about 35 minutes to do but I finally got the doggy chastity belt on Abby Abby do you have any initial reactions very curious to see if you're able to go to the bathroom or not looks like she's able to pee with it on that's good but the real question is long term is Abby going to be able to live up to her potential is she going to be able to be a successful guard dog on our farm watch over the ducks and geese and chickens and not create problems as far as personality goes Toby dog is relatively shy and reserved I mean that's just the reality of the type of dog he is that's neither good nor bad but it plays out in their personality because Abby is not that she's a wild child I think Toby's shyness is actually played out in terms of how directive he's been with Abby and so just the fact that their personalities are different plays out I I mean even look at it here Abby just wants to run and play meanwhile Toby is investigating for signs of any animals that shouldn't be here you know I've noticed other behavioral differences with Toby and Abby too like for example Abby she's got like a herding Instinct and when I come out here late at night what will happen is you know oftentimes you'll have Ducks out here playing in the the Swale not quite ready to go into the duck house for the night and what Abby will do is she'll run up here and kind of herd the ducks in and the Ducks will very quickly make their way back down into their area that's just not the type of thing you'll see Toby dog do and again I think that's a big part of their nature in terms of Toby dog is much more of a protector it's much more gentle and much more laid back Abby is a little bit more high-wired and and like I said she seems like she's got like this massive drive for herding which is probably where she's gotten into Trouble with Chickens you know there was Blanche the chicken that she killed but then there's been other chickens that she's tried to play with and I've had to reprimand and her whereas Toby did that like once or twice in my entire memory Abby does it over and over again I think ultimately I'll be able to break her of that habit it's just taking a lot more work and it does make me wonder about her instincts and to be quite honest with you guys I have a decision to ultimately make I've always said that I'd hope to breed Toby and Abby but that does not mean that I will breed Toby and Abby when you buy a dog and you have dreams of breeding you always have to go into it with the mindset that it might not work out and you're going to hit curveballs along the way and so I was already starting to see some issues with Abby's Behavior to say she might not be the ideal dog to breed and become a mother for future livestock Guardian puppies the way I got into this whole idea of breeding in the first place came from the fact that I truly believe in the disposition that Toby has where he is the perfect lifestyle Guardian dog for poultry the jury is still very much out if Abby has the right disposition for that sort of thing you know she's actually very good with the geese and she's been very good with the Ducks it's the chickens that she seems to have the problem with [Music] you know overall Abby's doing really well with learning on how to work with the birds the one animal she still struggles with a lot is chickens and at this point it's only really one specific chicken yeah I'm serious like Abby loves all the animals maybe a little bit too playful with them but overall she's good with them but there's this one white chicken we have Abby no you guys remember Dottie the chicken she was the mama who hatched out some chicks that got eaten by the skunk her sister Blanche was the one that was killed by Abby yeah that Daddy well for whatever reason it seems in for her [Music] one chicken and it's only the White Chick part of me wonders is it because she got to taste what chicken tastes like with Blanche that she now has it in for Dottie it's like the only Fury I really have I'm just very concerned when I see how much interest Abby takes in her specifically that was a good job right there good girl yeah you could even see it right she was looking at Dottie she's still looking at Dottie Abby sit sit good girl I want you to be in a sit right now we gotta let Dottie just do her thing and let Abby be around here but I do worry about what it means for the future of our farm and I guess specifically I really don't think I'm gonna ever have any leghorn chickens or white chickens definitely no leg horns on the farm again I mean for one thing leghorns aren't necessarily suited for our climate you know they've got those large Combs which is really tough in the cold they really run the risk of getting cross bed and so as I think about future Birds you know sticking with dark colors because of Abby's predisposition it just might end up being something I end up doing I know it's probably not what a lot of people would recommend but just seems like the most logical solution to the problem I'm having of having this one white chicken that is absolutely despised by my guard dog I mean look at it Abby's doing so good right now about all these birds as soon as she catches a glimpse of Dottie she is way too interested Abby stay seated foreign [Applause] [Music] ultimately I made the decision that Abby was going to continue to be a livestock Guardian dog on our farm but we were not going to breed her or even attempt to breed her in the future but because Toby dog is a male who's intact I can't just wait a couple of years and then get her fixed when I look at Toby's personality which required me to correct him like two or three times when he was four or five months old versus Abby's personality which has required a correction nearly every single day for the last five months that tells me that in terms of Natural Instincts Kobe has much better Natural Instincts than Abby does should I be breeding Abby or no you know back to that point that I've always made I want to be a responsible and ethical breeder and if I have this dog that has this potential genetic carrier for these hernias as well as the fact that she just has a less than Stellar track record as a dog working with poultry I mean it genuinely does have me wondering what should I be doing with Abby and well I have come to a decision okay Abby how are you feeling you doing okay I decided rather than have her go into heat and have to deal with a whole bunch of problems and risks and risk having a pregnancy that I would just get her fixed and we'd move on you know there is a decent case for waiting a couple of years to get a dog spayed but I weighed that against the risks of early pregnancy or some sort of problem like that and I made the decision just to go ahead with it we're gonna get you situated in your little Hospital oh you recognize this guy oh heavy tobia reunited Now Toby dog you're gonna have to take it easy on Abby he's very curious about what's going on back there I know Toby I know it's been quite drastic I just put down some fresh straw for you so come on in so now Abby's going to be on heavy movement restriction for the next 10 to 14 days I'm gonna let her heal up I'll occasionally walk her around the farm but for the most part she'll be spending her time in her little kennel area I got you this red bodysuit and you're gonna be able to wear this and this will prevent you from licking your wound what do you think Abby now I know that the question for a lot of you is going to be well what am I gonna do with Abby if she's less than an ideal guard dog and I'm now not gonna breed her what's her purpose what's her role here on the farm and quite frankly Abby's going to keep doing the things she's been doing I'm gonna keep working with Abby I'm Gonna Keep training her and she's gonna ultimately be a good guard dog for the farm she just takes more work and she just maybe doesn't have quite the genetics that we were hoping for for breeding you know oftentimes you can have a plan and you're going to have to change that plan and if you get disappointed by it or disappointed by the animals or people that that plan is built around you're going to keep viewing the world like this is the way it should be or how it's supposed to be but you know supposed to be has got nothing to do with it you got to accept the situation for what it is and find something that works and I will tell you right now there's nothing more adorable than having this 90 pound puppy dog laying on my lap I love having her here on our farm and she is absolutely a part of our farm and yes she can be frustrating and yes there's certain things that I was disappointed about with her but it doesn't mean that we're not going to keep working with her and she is 100 a part of gold Shaw Farm which I guess looking back is probably a good thing because when I ultimately did a DNA test on Abby I was rather stunned to see what I found out about her genetics particularly her genetics as they relate to Mr Toby dog today is the day that I'm giving Abby dog her DNA test are you excited I like doing these DNA tests because I find a very interesting information that comes out of them I think it's kind of cool to see the generic Heritage and lineage for the animal and I also like to use them to screen for any potential health issues so yeah I'm gonna have to give her the swab and then we'll get our results I have never had an animal more enthusiastic about getting their DNA test than Abby you know Toby dog was a little bit nervous when I gave him his test and the barn cats were quite Surly about the whole experience but Abby seems downright excited now it gives you this like little q-tippy deal and what you got to do is swab this inside their mouth for about a minute okay ABS you ready you ready you were so excited for this come on go girl there we go okay I think that was enough good job Abby we now have your sample now I gotta just box this up and send it to the lab so I just got a notification on my phone that Abby dogs DNA test results came in and so I figured both with Abby and you guys as my witness I would read them and see what we got and again it's not like I'm really expecting anything groundbreaking here but I'm always curious to see DNA test results for my animals now what I'm expecting to see with Abby's DNA test results is that she is a full-blooded Maremma I want to double check and make sure that she doesn't have any genetic indicators that would suggest that she might have health problems but because of her pedigree I actually don't expect that to be the case and then the other really fun thing that I found in the past with DNA tests is you can find like relatives of your dog so like in the past I've actually had messages and communicated with some of the folks whose dogs are related to Toby dog and I find that to be kind of cool but I am stalling here let me open up the results and see what we got result number one is when it comes to Abby's status as a full blood yes she's 100 a Maremma second as far as her health goes oh no Abby's got two genetic indicators of potential health problems so first off she's got the dilated cardiomyopathy Gene which predisposes her to heart disease so the alt activity which it's sort of a variant that shows that her ALT level may be lower than normal so like if I was talking to the vet and the vet was doing a liver test on Abby her result might look lower than normal and so I should tell the vet if she's got that but honestly neither of those are good you know when I did the genetic testing on Toby that was one of those things where he had a perfectly clean bill of health same thing with the barn cats they had these perfectly clean bills of Health with no genetic indicators of any health problems the genetic indicator doesn't mean that she's definitely going to have a health problem but it does mean that there is a higher predisposition and quite honestly as I'm recording this here live with you guys I got to admit I'm really kind of bummed by that one and now a couple months later after I had her Spade that looks like it was absolutely the right decision and even if it wasn't her behavior problems even if it wasn't the hernia problem this genetic carrier status would be enough to disqualify Abby as a breedable dog in my eyes let's check out the rest of Abby's DNA results I'm really curious actually to see her relatives what you've got to be kidding me you know I'm sorry I probably shouldn't have recorded this video while I'm finding out the results and I should have given myself a little time to process this oh my God this is insane you know like I was saying earlier one of the cool things about the DNA testing service I'm using for this video is number one they're actually the largest dog DNA tester in the United States and so I was fully expecting to find relatives of Abby's on their network of other people who've tested and I most definitely have Embrace yourselves for this ones we have Toby yes that's correct I'm I'm finding this out for the first time and I I have absolutely gobsmacked by this Toby dog and Abby are closely related as human first cousins I I can't get over this because like I said I use the same exact testing service with Toby a couple of years ago and so his results were still up there and yes he is a 13 shared DNA connection with Abby first cousins Abby dog were you aware of this information you and Toby dog are first cousins Toby dog I've got some very weird news did you know that you and Abby dog are very much related yeah you guys share 13 DNA that's crazy kids I don't know what to think about that that's insane this amount of shared DNA between the two dogs would also in my eyes be a disqualifier for breeding I'm really glad I got this done for Abby's Health's sake because I'll be sharing this information with my vet and it'll give things for me and the vet to watch out for so just from that point alone I'm very glad that I did this now as it got to be the summer of 2022 I was still really struggling with Abby the training wasn't working out I really didn't want to have to send to her away but I was starting to run out of options now a lot of Abby's playful energy is rooted in the fact that she still is very much a teenager but a fair amount of that is also rooted in the fact that her instincts are quite different than Toby dogs Abby Abby tranquilo good job for anybody who's seen our videos you can clearly see that Abby likes to play with birds and the biggest thing I've been working on with her from a disciplinary perspective is to try to break her of that habit by the time Toby was about 10 or 11 months old I did let him be with the birds unsupervised 24 7. but that was because I could trust Toby he had proven himself he had a track record I had given him a longer and longer leash before I ultimately did that unfortunately with Abby that just hasn't been the case and that's not that I blame her that's just who she is but much like a parent who has two children that are wildly different in their behavior I need to raise Abby a little bit differently than I raised Toby now as far as what am I going to do about Abby guys the plan Still Remains 100 the same I'm gonna continue to keep training her and I know eventually she's going to be an outstanding livestock Guardian dog it's just going to take a lot of work and love on my part but the good news is I absolutely love this pup she has proven herself to be an outstanding Farm companion I don't know if you guys noticed this earlier when we were herding the cattle back in foreign kilo good girl but Abby was doing a tremendous job of placing herself in a way related to the cattle where it kept them from moving backwards she kept inching up and she's learned some commands which sometimes you'll hear me say tranquilo to her which is my way of saying take it easy take it easy so that she knows to go slow with the cattle and she's learned that command super well she's just a teenager and she needs time and she needs patience and I know she's going to ultimately mature but I was starting to run out of options but the last ditch effort I found was I had a friend put me in touch with a person who is a livestock Guardian dog trainer and they've worked with livestock Guardian dogs for years you know the training methods that you might apply to a regular dog are very different than the training methods for a livestock Guardian dog and so the obedience training that Abby needed was slightly different so I couldn't just go to like local puppy kindergarten and so that's where this person who lived even in a different state that I'm in you know came and helped me and particularly we did a number of Zoom sessions where they helped me kind of figure out some things I was doing wrong and then the other thing that they suggested was moving to an e-collar you know the thing is Abby has a lot of interest in the birds and she likes to play with them that doesn't mean she likes to eat the birds and she doesn't have like a murderous Instinct within her but the noisy flapping Wing nature of our Birds often extracts the attention of Abby who sees them kind of as something to play with and so training her in a way where she can be around our Birds supervised and not create problems has been one of my biggest priorities on the farm this summer and I gotta say overall things have been going really well while you can still see she's got that interest in the birds that you don't see from someone like Toby dog she has come Leaps and Bounds from where she was even as recently as three months ago you see because when it came to Toby I was like 90 99 positive reinforcement you know a few treats a whole heck of a lot of praise and he was doing exactly what I was hoping for him to do and I gotta say I sort of almost developed the mindset where I would be looking down on people who would use things like electric shock collars on their dogs as a method of training you know I saw a shock collar almost as the equivalent of like hitting your dog which you should obviously never ever do and for years I've always said to myself oh I would never use something like that with my dogs Abby come good girl yeah he's such a good girl you and your obedience commands are outstanding at this point and quite honestly for the most part that's how I've trained Abby you know she's become an exceptionally obedient dog she will come sit stay whenever I call her like watch Abby sit good girl and all of that training has come through positive reinforcement you know the occasional treat lots of praising and so while it's taking a lot of hard work with Abby because she's a bit of a stubborn one I have been able to use positive reinforcement for her obedience commands but the obedience piece has never really been quite the problem my challenge with Abby has always been to teach her not to use chickens as chew toys and that has proven to be a bit more challenging and so training against that with positive reinforcement while it's definitely possible and I mean that's really how I did it with Toby it's not nearly as easy because you know essentially what I want her to do is not do something not to do something back in June I actually started working with a dog training coach somebody here in New England who has been giving me some tips and working with me and Abby and really helping improve the training that I'm delivering to her you know she actually noticed a few things when she observed Abby's Behavior around the chickens as well as she observed how Abby learned certain things I don't know if you guys remember it but a few months back when I first moved the cattle out to pasture I would bring Abby around with me to do the cow chores and at one point Abby was exploring the electric rope that I used to keep the cattle in place and she put her nose right up to it I don't know sweetie it's okay it's okay and while Abby was a little bit scared by the fence and the cattle over the first couple of days after that happened really ever since then she has learned how to work around the fence and that has really kept her from getting into too much trouble yeah you're a smart girl once you learn a lesson because of all of these factors as well as the fact that I wasn't having too much success with positive reinforcement with Abby my dog training coach recommended that I actually explore getting an e-collar or a shock collar for Abby now an e-collar if you're not familiar is one of those things that is very controversial in the dog training World oftentimes people think of them as just solely shock collars where it's like a collar that you put on your dog you have a little remote control when you press the button you zap them to hi hack now when this trainer suggested that I move to an e-collar I was shocked pun completely intended I never thought of myself as a person who would use a shock collar on their dog I thought that it was cruel I thought it was inhumane and it seemed counterproductive to me and not the type of way that I want to train my dog but the dog trainer I was working with said no no no that's a little bit of a myth that's a little bit of a stereotype and particularly when you look at modern e-collars most of them actually have a vibrate function that becomes the primary use for using when you're training your dog and at this point my back very much felt like it was up against the wall I knew that either I was going to make this work with this trainer or I was going to have to send Abby packing which I really didn't want to do because I loved her so much and I built such a connection with her and on top of it all I just hate the idea of failing on an animal and leaving that animal with an uncertain future when you take on a dog as that dog owner or really as any animal owner it is your responsibility to make sure that they have proper Health Care make sure that they have proper nutrition make sure that they have proper housing and security make sure that they have proper training make sure that they have all the things that they need to be a successful animal that is on you as the owner and I would feel horrible if I just suddenly said yep you know what she's not working out here we're done we'll I don't know put her up for adoption send her away something like that it was not a scenario I was ever even remotely comfortable with and so I got past my squeamishness with the e-collar and I gave it a try I actually want to do a little bit of a demonstration today to show you how I personally got comfortable with it as well as how I use one of these so I actually have two different models of collar I've tested out over the last couple of months I started off with this Sportsman model of collar and it worked okay I actually ended up buying a second one and I spent a little bit more money on this one it's called the e-collar it's from ecollar.com and this thing is tremendous now what I found to be very useful for this is I've never actually used any High electricity in fact I've never used electricity any higher than like 25 of what this thing can do so I got the electrodes right up against my neck I've got this thing set to 18 this is what the BuzzFeed feature feels like I don't know I can even hear it like I said like one little click feels like you're getting a text message on your phones I feel no shame when an Abby's misbehaving and administering this and this is always the first thing you do but then if she doesn't respond the next step actually becomes to hit the electric and so here's what the electric feels like I mean it's like unpleasant I mean you can see I'm hitting it you can see the light go off you can see there like I'm doing it over and over to myself it feels unpleasant like I wouldn't like it but it's less than a bee sting I have been shocked so much worse so many times more when I've hit our own electric fence here on the farm it doesn't feel good but it definitely doesn't feel like I'm causing undue pain and that's why I'm comfortable with using something like this on Abby now with Abby in the e-collar what I was essentially doing was using it as a way to focus her training and redirect her from getting into trouble or causing problems you know one of the biggest things I have to work on with Abby right now is to keep her from intervening when there's bird fighting because the birds will fight she gets very curious about it she thinks it's clean Abby come foreign [Music] situations like that'll happen where Abby's just walking and she'll create chaos and she's almost startled by the chaos but she needs to learn not to be the chaos and because Abby was a dog who was so heavily driven by stimulus in response it worked like an absolute charm but just know that when it comes to my animals on my farm their welfare and their well-being is like a founding principle for what we do here at our farm and so I'm doing this because I want to make Abby the best possible dog for this Farm I know not everybody's gonna agree with it but sometimes when you're running a farm like ours you got to be comfortable with making decisions that not everybody's gonna like and for about four to six weeks I was just doing it on the down low I wasn't making videos talking about it I was just kind of doing it in secret hoping that nobody would notice that she was wearing an e-collar because one of the tough things that happens when you make videos about your farm and you're dealing with problems and you're trying to learn sometimes you don't want to put all your business out immediately into the open because number one people might get the wrong impression and judge you a certain way or number two people might follow you and do exactly what you're doing when you might say six weeks later oh no this was a complete mistake and I was totally wrong and so yes I kept it on the down low and I experimented with it and the e-collar just worked great with Abby and it was exactly what she needed from a training standpoint and she got so much better not perfect but better [Music] thank you [Music] oh I think you're a little scared yeah it's okay maybe she wants a tree come here sweetie I gotcha she is shy hey buddy oh good girl yeah oh good girl you're settling in quite nicely you are such a sweetheart you know that foreign [Music] okay you gotta remember you can't chase Birds it's like rule number one on this Farm I know yes you're a sweet pup you have those adorable brown eyes [Music] all right [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] Abby dog how's it going sweetie you can see Toby is always the first one to the door of the duck and Goose house I think he likes the responsibility of going in there and greeting them each morning isn't that right buddy I know Toby dog you want to see your friends you want to check on everybody make sure they're all okay good morning Birds how's everybody doing this morning huh all right Toby dogs all right Abby dog let's go come on come on guys good job for those of you guys wondering about an Abbey dog training update she's doing really really good I am actually quite impressed with how she has grown up no no jumping the one behavior that she's actually started doing that she wasn't doing before is she's starting to jump up on me and so I got to work on her with the jumping and so that's actually the next thing I'm going to be focused on she actually hasn't even been wearing her vibrating collar lately she's been good with just kind of doing her thing of course when Toby dog was Abby's age he actually had a similar issue and so I just had to work with him and be kind of persistent and eventually she got it what I try to do is redirect her to just sit when she tries to jump up yes good girl because you're sitting you get attention that's a good girl and yes Toby dog you get your attention too do any dogs want to join me in the Dog Barn hey Toby dog yeah you want to come in the dog barn with me huh Abby joined as well so yes the space that was affectionately named The Dog Barn is working out really great okay okay doggies I'm finding that both dogs are spending the timing here you know a lot of folks have said that I need to make this a smaller space and that it's too big but I actually think it works out really well for both dogs because you know Toby dog and Abby dog sometimes can get on each other's nerves more like Abby Doug can get on Toby dog's nerves and so the fact that they both can be in here and have their separate spaces works out good what I find is Toby dog usually likes to take that corner and Abby dog usually likes to take that corner and so it works out pretty good all right come on guys we're gonna go check on the cattle good morning moo crew how are my mookers doing how's it going Annabelle you're doing good come on dogs you can come in and say hi to the cows oh yeah you guys like that stuff huh we'll dig in you got a whole other Bale now you can see Abby's making herself at home I have a dog are you rolling in cow poop now I'm gonna have to brush you that is gross girl I swear that dog drives me crazy sometimes okay large white Farm dogs come with me large Shaggy cows you stay out here how's everybody doing this morning yeah the hoop coop continues to be the toastiest building on the farm other than our Farmhouse Toby dog and Abby dog they live outdoors 24 7. they basically protect this building and all of its residents Abby Doug's still a little bit in training she's getting better and better so you guys might be noticing on the fence over here that I've suddenly set up some poly wire that I typically use for my cattle but I have it here connected to our electric fence the reason for that is we had a little training set back the other day you see my darling Abby dog she began jumping over the chicken wire getting into the bird yard which I don't want her doing just yet while she's a darling girl and she's made so much progress in her training she's still not a full-fledged livestock Guardian dog yet which is perhaps another myth about livestock Guardian dogs that I think is worth busting you know some folks think about livestock Guardian dogs like they're just a tool like you'd go buy a chainsaw at the hardware store and pull it out of the box throw some chain oil in it throw some gasoline in it and boom you're good to go and while these dogs most definitely do operate on Instinct and they are suited for the jobs that they do sometimes they do require training and particularly with Abby dog I've worked a lot over the course of this year to get her to a place where she could potentially be a livestock Guardian dog Dwight Farm dogs let's see if we can sneak up on them of course Abby dog there's no sneaking up on you how's it going sweetie good morning good to see you Abby dog good to see you Mr Toby dog how are my large white Farm dogs doing huh good to see you buddy Abby you need to sit foreign did you have a good night oh you don't say man these dogs are the security detail here at our farm yes I know you're vicious and you're cuddly it's a weird combination yeah that's right you guys you've been seeing coyotes you're in coyotes I've occasionally come out here in the middle of the night to hear them barking off the coyotes as the farmer it's actually a very satisfying sound you know the relationship my dogs have with their poultry is kind of different than the relationship like a livestock Guardian dog that protects sheep has with its flock you see when a dog like our dogs is living with like a sheep or a goat it starts to think that it's part of that species it thinks it's sheep or goat but because our birds are the main animal that our dogs are protecting they don't seem exactly the same way our dogs are very protective of our birds and they don't like any sort of outside creatures coming in and messing with their Birds but it's because they see these birds as part of their territory and they're just simply protecting their territory from other outside creatures which is why the coyotes stay away look the dogs are sensing something near their territory what is it ABS what is it Toby huh what is it what is it look you can even see goofy Abby is in her serious guard dog mode right now Toby dog definitely has his tackles up you know these Woods very regularly I can hear a coyote out there what is it Abby dog there is something that has definitely gotten your attention out here not exactly sure what it is but it's something I even see Toby dog he's sniffing and snuffing something something's out there he doesn't like it and as I've talked at length in previous videos my dogs are not out there fighting coyotes they are establishing this Farm as their territory and they're keeping the coyotes away yes who's the cuddliest apex predator out there yes you are my friend you are yes you are uh it looks like we're catching Abby doing one measure of Predator control these dogs peeing and pooping in various places it's part of how they keep the Predators away that leaves a scent so even when they're not over here say later this afternoon coyote or Bobcat's gonna get a whiff of that dog dookie from Abby and really wonder if it's worth it to come near here and then if they do come near here suddenly the dogs are gonna spring into action and then they're gonna start barking like the hounds of hell and that's how we keep those guys away something's got their attention I don't know what it is seems to be down by the road so if I had to guess it might be like my neighbor walking his dog I don't know you know I will admit I've given up trying to know what they're barking at I don't try to correct it and stop them they should be allowed to bark whenever they want that's like what their breed was designed to do and if they're doing their job effectively they're barking I sure do like to sit back and watch them work it's very enjoyable lady Abington you're being such a good girl I'm gonna let you come out visit the cattle with me come on sweetie good girl good girl come on let's say hi to your friends yeah Abby likes the cattle a lot girl hey there ladies okay Annabelle and Anna Green Gables hanging out here all right come on let's go inside good girl what do you think ABS is it nice visiting your friends so it looks like they have enough hay I'll probably have to give them more hay tomorrow yeah I'm giving them a fresh bail every two or three days they seem like they're eating less hay now that they're producing no milk which is a good thing Abby and Amanda are getting used to each other Amanda hasn't had any time with Abby really well a little bit not much hi good to see you guys oh I'm so happy to see both of you yes oh Abby you're being well behaved despite some initial challenges with training Abby she has settled into a very good Groove this winter these days she's no longer living in the kennel and she is able to free range on our farm pretty much full time and with this newfound Freedom she's been a really good pup but I still have my fair share of reservations Happy Dog you ready to release the quacking release the Kraken you know Abby I'm really glad that you care about release the Kraken because without you I don't think any animal on the planet would so ever since I moved my birds inside the hoop coop for the winter it's been much easier actually keeping Abby and when the birds moved in here I went from having Abby inside her kennel anytime I couldn't be out here directly to supervise her to the point of today when she has actually nine and a half acres to just her and Toby dog where they can run and Roam and play and do whatever they want and I don't have to worry about her getting into trouble with the birds during the day you see I put up this poultry fencing right here as a way to segregate out the birds and what it does is it actually keeps the birds to one part of the farm so they only have this area around here and so what that has meant is I can confidently let Abby run around and she is absolutely blossomed with the Newfound freedom and I don't know if you guys realize this at this point but when it comes to The Obedience commands I would actually say Abby is now a better trained dog than Toby watch Abby come look at how Abby just sits quietly and she knows she needs to be patient I mean she's still learning though sometimes she likes to ride Toby dog which is a little weird but believe me when I say she has come so so far so my winter bird keeping situation has been good for both Abby dog and the bird and I'm genuinely happy about that but as you guys are well aware all good things must come to an end good girl Abby I'm so proud of you right there that was excellent good girl you were so calm yes I don't know if you guys caught that behavior right there but basically Abby was just walking around doing her rounds and the chicken just walked right into her and the birds are often very prone to getting spooked by her at this point but what's amazing is she doesn't freak out and try to play with them she just acts calm and keeps moving yeah good girl Abby good girl no jumping we're still working on that with you we're still working on that with you you know it might seem like it's ways away but in just a few short weeks all the snow that you see behind me is gonna melt this whole area is gonna turn into one gigantic Pond our main Pond will fill the Overflow area for the pond will fill and so pretty soon my ducks and geese who are living inside there are going to want to break past this fence and be able to free range on the farm again and while that is all fine and good and very much how we manage our farm the one creature who might lose out on that change is our gal lady Abington yeah sweetie I don't know what's gonna happen you know a lot of folks have wondered that once the birds go back to free-ranging is Abby going to be able to be a free-ranging dog herself full-time and the really honest answer is I'm not 100 sure yet because when it comes down to it while Abby's Behavior has improved I would still say I'm not a hundred percent with her you know for example earlier this winter I had a situation where Abby jumped over this short poultry netting which isn't shocking and so that's why I ended up putting this electric poly wire rope around here as well that would discourage her from trying to come into the bird yard but when she was in here by herself unsupervised I did find that she was actually eventually trying to play with one of the birds she didn't harm it and no bad happened from it but at the same time it's the type of thing that shakes my confidence and so in terms of what I'm gonna actually do once the birds start to free range again I'm still working on my plan I'm going to avoid kenneling her when I don't have to because I really think that she's developed so much by just being a free-range dog at this point at this age but I also know she's going to need more supervision than normal yes I'm talking about you you weirdo you know last summer when I was really struggling with Abby's training and I ended up even hiring a trainer to consult me and help me and one of the tools that they encouraged me to use was an e-collar using that e-collar was actually the thing that ultimately got Abby to turn a corner and really really improved her behavior and so what I will probably end up doing is starting to let her free range but putting the e-collar back on her because you'll notice she's not even wearing it right now and I'll just watch really really carefully and really with some time and some patience I'm hoping that she's gonna be ready to go to be a full-fledged livestock Guardian Doug I'm sorry guys I have no idea what's going on here right now between my two dogs like what what is that I don't know I think Toby's as confused as I am Abby get down hey get down from there get down Abby [Music] good morning Toby good morning Abby how's it going there girl how's it going buddy all right you go Mark your territory yeah you're super excited this morning you know what I've noticed with the dogs is it always seems like right before Dawn they go take a nap and then they wake back up again when I come out here Abby always Springs forward Toby's always a little bit sleepier but yes it always makes me happy to see them in the morning your water freeze up no I guess not all right you guys want to go see your birds Abby stop jumping when you sit you get pet that's how this works when you jump you don't get pets morning Birds what you doing there Abby epic that you really like was there some really rancid duck poop there that you were rolling in huh dogs are so weird did you just bring me this egg oh Abby I think Abby's learning the ways of the Easter bunny from Toby dog did you just do that and now you think you're gonna get it I'm sorry girl maybe later I'm very impressed with the girl that she did that she actually cracked it just a little bit so not quite perfect shape but she's learning all right Abby what do we have going on for egg Patrol ah got the angry ganders back again Abby you know you keep your distance Abby did you take one of the wooden eggs too yeah you're just becoming like a regular old egg hunter huh you see my sister and my brother-in-law and my two nephews all came up here to the farm and spent the weekend and it was really enjoyable so the younger boy's favorite animals on the farm were Toby dog and Abby dog he absolutely loved just snuggling up next to them and both dogs actually did surprisingly well you know I've tried to socialize them to Children over the years whether they be my friend's kids or my nephews or whomever and I feel like watching both dogs with the boys it shows that my efforts have really been uh worth it because you know they just seem so chill and relaxed and at ease hanging out with the boys it was very good to see good girl sweetie go go now one of the things people have often commented with me as they see me and my struggles with the cattle is that I need a cattle dog you know moving cattle can be lots of work heck even moving geese can be lots of work and having a herding dog like one of those hurting breeds like a border collie or Australian Shepherd is definitely a tool that you can use to help move your animals now the dilemma with that though is to have a good herding dog it actually takes a lot of work to train them and I just haven't ever quite felt like I'm in the position to train a good herding dog it's one of those things that's like on my maybe someday list but not something I'm gonna Rush right in and do now a lot of viewers over the years have commented on Abby's ability to seem to like herd the animals and move them and it's true she does have this sort of shepherding Instinct that is significantly stronger than what I see out of Toby dog but at the same time she definitely is a livestock Guardian dog and so trying to do too much work with her being a herding dog and training her as a herding dog doesn't quite work the behavior though that I have seen is she will see her cattle if they're straying off and she will push them into place and put them like all together because that's what feels like it's supposed to be for her and so she will be very directive you know maremas as a livestock Guardian dog breed can be very bossy when it comes to that sometimes people who get them for family dogs are a little bit taken aback at how they might like push their toddlers around or move their children around or even not let them go certain places because they're concerned about protecting their owner or protecting any sort of animal that they see as their pack and Abby has that instinct significantly stronger than Toby where Toby is all about marking his territory and barking away any sort of potential threats and he's just very chill around all the animals that are on the farm Abby is a boss now I think it was that combination of working with the e-collar and improving my training of Abby and working with her as well as her getting older and becoming more mature as she's aged up and she's now almost two years old she's become much more calm but she's still got a lot of high energy and I don't feel great about leaving her with chickens completely unsupervised [Music] now as I went through the process to fence in the upper pasture it created a lot more space for Abby dog and with that extra space she's been able to do her thing and spend a lot more time up here just wandering around watching over the cattle I have the poultry netting up to protect the chickens and all in all it seems like it's keeping her out of trouble there's also the high tensile fence which is electrified which kind of discourages her from wandering too far but overall I mean this is a big area it's about 24 Acres or so that we have fenced in in this upper pasture so it's not like she's just contained in like a little tiny cell she's got room to run I've also been experimenting with a special collar there's this company called spot on and they sent me a couple of collars to sample and so I'm trying to train her with that collar it's actually somewhat similar to training her with the e-collar like it lets you actually draw with like a GPS map online a border of the perimeter that she's allowed to be in and then it kind of geo-fences her in and so when she gets too close to the Border it starts beeping and what I'm trying to do is just train her that when she hears that beep that she knows to come back and so she's learning that still as soon as I get her fully trained with that collar she will be up here by herself full time and Toby dog will be guarding the birds down the lower pasture Abby will be guarding animals up here you know one of the biggest predator risks we have here on our farm are coyotes and particularly as we have a new Young calf on the farm I do worry about the coyotes with that calf having Abby up here keeps the calf safer and really keeps my chickens safer keeps the whole herd safer and it really expands the protective bubble that my dogs are putting around the farm I still work really closely with Abby and getting her comfortable with things like the goslings you know if I'd put a gosling in front of her a year ago it was no doubt or no question in my mind that she would just try to immediately bite that little thing's head off now as she's gotten older she'll give it a Sniff and be a little bit curious maybe you want to try to play with it but she also knows that she's not allowed to and so while I wouldn't leave her with a bunch of goslings unsupervised supervised I feel pretty confident in letting her be around the goslings at this point Abby Doug has gotten to a place where she is officially a livestock Guardian dog on our farm I don't think she's necessarily ever going to be a great livestock Guardian dog for poultry but I think she could be a wonderful livestock Guardian dog for working with the cattle and I think she's going to do a great job working up here and I'm really excited about what happens next for her now I know a lot of folks are going to wonder will I ever get a third dog for breeding with Toby and honestly I'm not sure if I'm ready for it yet I want to get Abby fully settled and situated and then maybe I'll reevaluate and make some considerations or maybe I'll just decide that I never want to do it maybe I find a breeding match for Toby and I breed with somebody else and I just have him as a stud we'll see I think time will tell on that front I'm actually still dealing with a whole bunch of Maremma Association paperwork problems and getting his final registration but only time's gonna tell on this one come on Abigail it's time to move the cattle

Channel: Gold Shaw Farm

Views: 75,222

Keywords: gold shaw farm, duck farm, goose farm, vermont farm, farm vlog, sustainable farming, homestead pigs, 99 problems, homestead vlog, farm dog, farmcore, farm dogs, livestock guardian dog breeds, livestock guardian dog, livestock guard dog, abby dog, gold shaw farm abby, gold shaw farm youtube, abby breeder, abby dog died, abby dog breeder, gold shaw farm abby drama, gold shaw farm abby breeder

Id: JnABO0fBGjg

Length: 83min 55sec (5035 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 08 2023