Since I have two Australian Shepherds that don’t herd and a Great Pyrenees/Anatolian Shepherd that doesn’t guard, I call my property the Island of Misfit Dogs. I even brought Wiley (Wile E Coyote) and Roadie (Roadrunner) to herding lessons, but they were never that interested. During their last lesson, Roadie was headed halfheartedly toward the small cluster of sheep when a butterfly fluttered by in front of him. Roadie turned and followed the butterfly in a clear demonstration of canine ADD. I quit taking the Aussies to stock-dog lessons after that.
I got Camille, the Pyrenees mix, a year and a half ago, since I intended to get chickens, and I wanted a livestock guardian dog to chase away the red-tailed hawk that sits on my gate and waits for me to bring him chicken dinner.
When she hears coyotes yipping in the distance, she runs inside and hides. I think that just hearing this sound can make her extremely anxious. And this is heartbreaking to see, so my friend told me to start having a look for the best cbd oil for dogs that could help her with her anxiousness in these situations. I have no experience in this type of treatment, but I’d be willing to try anything if it made her feel better. I hope this doesn’t happen all of the time though.
She also likes to chase her tail, catch her tail, play tug of war with her own tail, and then take off running…while still holding her tail in her mouth. This, obviously, has unfortunate results. I’ve tried dissuading her of this with elk antlers for dogs, but so far she’d still rather go for her tail than chew on the antlers. Maybe sometime in the future this’ll change. The other dogs are more interested than she is!
As you can see, all three of my misfits are long-haired and so cleaning up after them is fun. It wasn’t too bad with just my Aussies, but then Cam came along and brought a tornado of dog hair with her. Things have improved since I found some advice for dealing with dog hairs, but it’s still hard work.
As you can tell from her tail-chasing, Cam’s skills obviously do not include coordination and/or logic. Her talents lie in other directions, such as… Hang on… Give me a minute… Sorry, I’ve got nothing. Oh well, she sure is cute.
