Re: [PyrNet-L] Shaving Pyrs - working dogs

["snowgoose" <dfrost@customcpu.com>]

Hi Judy,
Well, I sure learn something new every day on this list. <G> You sound like
someone I should do more talking with.
----------
> Now, having defended those lush coats, I'll tell you about my working
dogs.
> I have a very different problem - too much rain and mud.  In the winters
> here my clay turns into heavy thick mud that dries into pottery ringlets
on
> Drew's feathers and belly.  I now clip his belly hair down to the skin in
> late fall, and if our new, improved volume of rain (we have been way
ahead
> of the average annual rainfall [60"] for 3 years now) continues, I'll
start
> cliping his back, too.

I have to admit, although I've had friends with Pyrs, the one we're hoping
to get this summer is our first, so I am a newbee Pyr owner. <smile> She
will be an outdoor working dog, but Spring and early summer are probably
the only time I'll have to worry much about mud. Winters will match her
coat nicely here in Anchorage!
 
> I have two working dogs, one keeps herself dry, but Drew likes to lie in
> the rain, and rolls in the mud.  He'll get sticks and other garbage in
his
> neuter-thickened coat on his back.  I've been clipping them out;
everything
> gets wet and matted and muddy, and then green.  By clipping the area, it
> can all dry out again.

That does sound practical. I guess it'll just depend on the dog, huh? Mine
will, I imagine, spend a lot of the bad weather time in the barn with my
goats - who do NOT like rain. That should help some.

> It doesn't get very cold here, so that isn't an issue.  As far as
predator
> protection goes, I'll leave the ruff, but in the 3 years I've had these
> dogs they haven't had to fight a predator yet.  Now we don't even hear
> coyotes from the house.  The way LGDs work, they spend most of their time
> warning predators not to come near, and that warning seems to work very
> well.  Since I have pastures and fences, I'm no longer so worried - as I
> was when I first got the dogs - that they will actually tangle with a
> predator.

I sure hope you are right about that. We have coyotes, wolves (possibly -
although no one has seen one near our property for ages), brown bear and
STRAY DOGS to contend with. We are putting up good strong fencing and plan
to lock the animals inside at night. With a Pyr "early warning system",
perhaps we won't have to worry about it too much either. <smile> Thanks for
the reassurances.

 BTW, where in WA are you located?

Debbie Frost / snowgoose
Home of Spring Promise Pygmies
dfrost@customcpu.com
Anchorage/Wasilla, AK