Sentry, Baymule’s Livestock Guard Dog

[baymule]

We have two Great Pyrenees, Paris and Trip. Paris is 10 and Trip will be 5 in November. Now is a good time to introduce and train a new puppy. I have been wanting an Anatolian. I was on a Facebook Sheep and goat group when I saw a post for a very Anatolian looking puppy. I kept going back to that post, looking at that puppy. Finally I contacted the lady.

The puppy is 4 months old. His mom is Anatolian, his dad is Great Pyrenees and Akbash. He has been raised with Sheep and goats, horses, chickens and a pig.

We drove to Kaufman, only an hour away on Wednesday and got him.

The ride home. Look at that sweet face!

Introducing a wether.

I put the puppy in a pen for the night. Next morning, he was out, still in the Sheep lot, but not in his pen. I went to work, finding his escape holes and covering them up. Much of our pens are constructed out of cow panels, they have 6” holes and the puppy can squeeze through them. I got his pen secured. He is in the barn, with Sheep on 3 sides.

The reason for penning him up, he is a puppy. When a puppy plays with littermates and the play gets too rough, the other pup will cry out, Yelp or whine. This is the signal “It hurts! Stop”. The puppy then knows to stop playing. But if a puppy is playing with a lamb and bites it, the lamb runs in terror-silently or saying BAA BAA! Since the puppy doesn’t speak terrified lamb, and the lamb doesn’t speak roughed up littermate, it is game on! The puppy then learns to chase and bite the sheep or whatever animals it is with. It takes time to teach proper behavior.

So, what to name him? He was in the lamb pen, exhibiting proper behavior. Keeping a respectful distance, alert, watching his lambs. It came to me, Sentry.

Today we introduced Sentry to Trip and Carson. Carson was all about greeting a new friend!

Trip was reserved, not antagonistic, which was a good thing. Sentry jumped up on Trip, Trip turned his head away. Sentry jumped on the other side, Trip turned his the other way. We stood outside the pasture, watching. What an affront on Trip’s dignity.

Finally Trip had enough and bit Sentry. Not hard, but a dominant bite. Trip growled and bit Sentry up and down like we eat corn on the cob. Trip nose bumped him, poking Sentry hard. Sentry submitted and rolled over.

Trip chewed on Sentry’s throat, legs, belly and growled. When Trip was satisfied that Sentry knew his place in the pack, he let the puppy up.

1. 
   
   
   Sentry went a respectful distance away and laid down. He’s in the pack now.
   
   
   
   
   
   After I fed Sentry this evening, he squeezed through a cow panel to follow me into the pen of pregnant ewes and the ram. Lady Baa Baa butted Sentry in the side, lifting him off the ground and doing a flip before he landed in a heap. She was teaching him Sheep manners.
   
   Later, Sentry, Trip, Carson and I took a walk around the pasture, letting Sentry hang out with the Big Boys before I put him up for the night.
   
   

 

[baymule]

Sentry is learning every day. Yesterday I put all the dogs in his pasture. They played all day. It’s fun watching him take his place in the pack. I keep a lawn chair in there so I can sit and watch the dogs. With 3 other big dogs swarming me for attention, Sentry still remembered his manners and sat to be petted. Wiggly, but he sat. Love this pup!

 

[baymule]

I’ve been picking up the guinea feathers that they are molting. I picked up one, deemed it too worn and dropped it. Sentry picked it up, with that wrinkled face, trying to figure out what I wanted with that silly feather.

I have one hen that refuses to go in the coop. She patiently waits for Sentry to leave his food, then tries to eat all she can. He’ll walk away, then realize that she is eating his food. He pounces AT her, never ON her. He never touches her, but she gets the message and moves away. He either finishes his food or lays down to guard it from her.

 

[baymule]

I planted corn today in the garden. Sentry got as close as he could on the outside of the garden, because it is fenced. He found shade under a peach tree, just to be close to me.
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[baymule]

Ringo begs for attention.

 

[Beekissed]

It's so funny that he leads you with the leash....this new Anatolian pup I just got had never been on a leash before and after the initial battle, he did better than any dog I've leash trained....but when he wants to go somewhere other than where I'm leading, he'll gently grasp the leash and give a light tug in the direction he wants to go. So.... I go, to see what he's got in his mind.... and it's usually a good reason. As soon as I respond and follow his lead, he lets go of the leash. Amazing dog....got me leash trained already!

Never had a dog grab the leash before, so that's a new one on me.

 

[baymule]

I didn't go feed until after dark yesterday. I always feed Sentry first, then feed sheep and chickens while he eats. He waits on me, then we take a walk (so he can poop LOL). We took our walk, I checked again on the sheep. Sentry alerted, ears up, stiff position, he "boofed" then ran towards the front fence, barking. I walked after him, then I heard it-coyotes across the road, in the distance, howling. It was a proud moment, he recognized the coyotes as danger, ran to meet said danger and barked to warn the danger to stay away. Good dog.​

 

[baymule]

We had our grand daughters for the weekend to give their parents some down time, which was greatly appreciated. LOL Yesterday the two littles, age 3 and 4, went with me to do chores. I fed Sentry and let them in his pasture. He was delighted! He joyfully licked faces and danced all around them. He ran between the 4 year old legs, this lifted her up and she face planted in the dirt. She came up crying, I ran to her, scolding Sentry, since she was in the dirt, obviously she wanted to play! I growled at him, using GET BACK! and walking into him. He got back and I picked her up. In a short time she was laughing. For a few seconds she looked like she was in the little kids mutton busting event at rodeos-riding backwards!

Sentry came back, but sat down at a respectful distance, watching. I called him to us and he was more subdued. Now for the good news! he did NOT jump on them or paw at them. He minded his manners and was good. I just didn't see the mutton busting coming. Yesterday and today, the girls spent time with Sentry. I thanked them and told them they were helping to train him. He was extremely happy to see them, but behaved himself in a wiggly puppy way. Making progress.​

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Smart guy!

 

[baymule]

Ok, here goes. We had quite a scare this week. On Monday evening, Sentry clearly didn't feel good, he was limping on both back legs and there was a big hard knot pushed out past the base of his tail. When I touched it, he licked my hand, telling me it hurt. From the looks of it, it looked like the other hip blew out. We had already discussed not having another surgery and putting him down. So we loved him, sniffled, and prepared ourselves for the worst. We took him to the vet Tuesday. What a Covid-19 experience that was!

Curbside vet care. No one was allowed inside, the vet techs came out and took the pets inside. Care was performed, then the pet was brought back to the owner. Another lady brought the bill and took payment. Nuts. We expressed our concerns to the tech and she led Sentry away. The vet came out and said that his X-ray looked the same, it was not out of place. I asked about the bump on his hindquarter and the vet said he didn't know, but it wasn't bone. So we figured that maybe it was a muscular injury from him playing too hard with the other dogs. We heaved a sigh of relief that we didn't have to put him down.

That lump was sore and it hurt. I kept watching him, wondering what was wrong. Thursday morning I saw blood spots on the porch and his anus was bloody. Back to the vet we went. For the first time, I didn't have to lift him in the truck, he jumped in. He had an impacted anal gland and it had ruptured. We left him, they sedated him and cleaned him all up and soaked the area with antibiotic. We picked him up that afternoon. The vet said that normally, big dogs don't get an impacted anal gland, that is mostly a little dog problem. DH asked the vet why Sentry had an impacted anal gland, if it was a little dog problem. The vet shrugged and said, "You got a lemon?" We all laughed. Lemon he certainly is, a train wreck of a dog. The vet agreed with us that Sentry can't take another surgery, the operated leg dangles, the muscles have atrophied and he just doesn't have a good leg to stand on. Not if, but when, his other hip blows out or becomes too painful for him, we will say our tearful goodbyes and give him a peaceful escape.

So now he has a shaved butt, an obvious hole that is healing up, pain pills and antibiotics for a week. His fur is starting to look like a patchwork of shaved spots. He feels much better and is running and playing again. We let the sheep out in the yard and he laid in the soft clover under a pine tree, watching, on guard. His mind and heart is in it, his crippled leg, sore butt body slows him down, but it ain't stopping him.​