Laney goes to University

Updated July 17, 2006

Ch. Csigora Bator Lány of Casablanca, CGC arrived at The Farm of the Wild Roses on April 3rd, 2005. David Gallagher raises sheep for fiber and meat in the beautiful White Mountains of Arizona. Predation (primarily from neighborhood dogs) has stopped since David brought his first kuvasz to the farm more than 12 years ago.

Can a show dog and companion kuvasz reach into her genetic hardwiring for the skills of a working dog? Through David's positive training methods and the example set by Casablanca's Moses of the Wild Roses, we will find out.

If all goes well, Laney will graduate with honors and be bred to Moses. Laney will then come back to Casablanca to have her puppies.


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April 3, 2005
Laney gets acquainted with David and her new surroundings while Maggie and Csikós visit and torment Moses for a few hours.

       

     

Moses on guard



        

     

  David shows Laney the classroom while Maggie and Csikós goof off



    

 

The sheep  


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First progress report from David

April 16, 2005

After twelve days of being a house dog and going for walks on a leash, both Laney and I decided on Thursday night that we were both ready for a new routine.

On Friday morning, April 15, at 8:00am, Laney, on her leash, and I entered the sheep and lamb pen. Previously, we had walked by the sheep pen and stopped and watched them numerous times. This was Laney's first time actually going into the pen. I removed her choke collar and leash. This was the first time she has been outside the house without her collar and leash. I left the sheep pen.

While I puttered around doing this and that and keeping a close eye on Laney and the sheep and lambs, Laney got to know the sheep and patrolled the entire pen. She and Moses had some fun running up and down the portion of the Sheep pen where they share a common fence line. The adult sheep, not yet familiar with Laney, were leery but allowed her to sniff them. The lambs were very leery when Laney wanted to get to know them and ran. This, predictably, resulted in Laney chasing the lambs. A sharp and loud, NO CHASE, resulted in Laney coming to a complete stop and looking at me. When she was at a stop, I said to her, "That's a good girl, calm and docile with the sheep and lambs. This was repeated several times during the hour and a half period of time.

After puttering around for the hour and a half and seeing that Laney was doing very well for her first time with the sheep and lambs, I entered the sheep pen. Laney came to me allowed me to put her choke collar and leash on. We came into the house and repeated this first lesson of another hour and a half in the late afternoon.

In conclusion, I would say that Laney did very well with the sheep and lambs. She could have shown aggression towards them and attacked them. She also could have been fearful and stayed far away form the sheep. She displayed neither of these behaviors which would indicate an unlikely prospect for a sheep guardian.

Laney does need to learn that she will have to wait for the lambs to approach her for them to get to know each other. I think this will happen. Her chasing them was her desire to get to know them and not a hostile act.

In addition, my big concern, will Laney come to me and let me put her collar and leash on, was answered positively. In fact, after her afternoon lesson, she was so happy to see me in the sheep pen with her collar and leash that she surprised me by jumping up with her front paws on my chest.

We went back into the house from the sheep pen for the night. We are now both ready to repeat yesterday today. Instead of going for walks, Laney is now going to be with the sheep and lambs in their pen to relieve herself. And of course to learn.

Second progress report from David

April 19, 2005

On Saturday, Laney had a repeat of her Friday experience with both the morning and afternoon "session" one half hour longer. I came back into the house during the afternoon session and watched through the windows. I concluded that, while I was outside puttering around keeping an eye on Laney, she was also keeping an eye on me. With me in the house, she wanted to get out of the sheep pen and be with me.

So on Sunday morning's session I decided to work inside the sheep pen. I burned up a bunch of dead wood all morning. She was in the sheep pen from 6:30am until 11:30am. During that time she relaxed quite a bit in with the sheep with lying down and resting and so on. Laney spent a couple of hours in the late afternoon again with the sheep with me in the house much of the time and she did fine.

Monday morning went well. I was in the house watching her and she lied down and let the sheep come to her. The lambs walked rather than ran and Laney did not chase them. Instead of bringing Laney back into the house after this morning session, I took her into Mo's yard. I thought the heat of the day would be a good time to put them together as they would calm down and rest sooner. They got along pretty well and Laney was able to let Mo know her boundaries. Laney did want to get out of there after a while to be with me. I decided it was time she needed to learn to be outside and know that I would still be there. I kept her in with Moses over night. She wasn't too happy about it but she did all right. She and Moses woke me this morning with their barking at Elk that were passing by. The two of them had an interesting way of patrolling the fence line, they would meet in the center, do an about face, head back to their respective corners and head back to the center, thereby dividing the fence line.

This morning, I plan on working inside Mo's yard so that she knows that I am still here while she is still in there. I will leave her there with Moses until she gets use to it. She has the dog house to sleep in and keep her food in.  After a few more days of putting Laney in with the sheep for a few hours at a time, I plan to open the gate between the two pens so that the sheep, Mo and Laney share a larger area.


April 24, 2005

Laney has spent the night outside with Moses in his yard and dog house each night now since Sunday, April 17th. I did work in Mo's yard on Monday morning for a couple of hours and both Mo and Laney were curious and interested. Laney was especially glad to have some human company.

On my way out I decided that it would be wise to attempt to put Laney's collar and leash on just to make sure that staying out with Mo was not changing her ways. It was easy putting her collar and leash on. She was happy. So we went out of Mo's pen walking on the leash. I was thinking that we might go up to the house and sit on the deck. When we went past the sheep pen, Laney stopped at their gate and faced into their pen. I told her that she had better ideas than I do and I unlocked the gate and Laney went right in. She stayed for a few hours while I went inside to get things done there. I no longer spend much time "keeping an eye out."

This scenario, of Laney spending the mornings or more with the sheep and lambs after spending the night with Mo, was repeated each day except yesterday, Sunday. It was raining and I wanted Laney to have shelter if she wanted it, so she stayed the day with Moses. Laney experienced some pretty cool temps her first week outside which was quite a change from her first two weeks of sleeping in the house.

Laney's positive disposition with the sheep continues and she and the sheep and lambs have made great progress getting use to each other. That Laney actually wants to and seems to look forward to going into the sheep and lamb pen each day is unexpected gravy on what, so far, has been a very good experience. I have felt so confident in Laney as a responsible sheep guardian that I actually went into town to do errands on two mornings while she watched the sheep. If I thought there was a chance that I would return to see a hurt or dead sheep or lamb, I would not have left her with them.


April 25, 2005

Both Laney and Moses are doing well with sharing Mo's yard and house. They get along well now that they have become use to each other.

Laney was very happy to see me yesterday morning as she always is. She was also happy to go be with the sheep and lambs by 8:00am just as she always is. I get a kick out of how she just expects this to happen. Again, I went into town to buy hay and get mail while Laney guarded the sheep. She went back into Mo's yard shortly after noon.

It use to be easy to look out and tell Mo from Laney. Laney was the clean, white one. Laney now looks a lot more like the sheep guardian she has become.


April 29, 2005

I was gone all morning Thursday and Laney was still with Mo from the night before. When I returned in the  afternoon, I found all to be okay. Laney was very happy. I let her out of Mo's yard and into the sheep/lamb pen for the rest of the afternoon. Only this time, I did not put her collar and leash on. She walked freely out of Mo's yard and into the sheep/lamb pen. For the night, she returned to Mo's yard and house.

Friday afternoon moving towards 3:00pm, Laney is in with the sheep and lambs. She has been with them since 9:00am.

Got a tiny bit of snow today, believe it or not. Laney has done well outside with no signs of getting too cold. And she has had some cold nights but most of the days warm up quite a bit. So I would say that she has handled going from being indoors to outdoors very well. She looks good.

I am very pleased with how easy Laney is to manage, especially with things like moving from one place to another and putting her collar and leash on and off.

Oh, I have not mentioned that a short time ago I noticed the Laney had gotten her voice back. She is a very good watch dog with very keen senses. Moses likes it because he can rest more knowing that Laney is on the job.


May 10, 2005

Laney is doing very well! She has been spending most days with the sheep and lambs and all nights with Moses. I took another two nights away trip this past Saturday and Sunday night. Again, Laney was very glad to see me upon my return. She is very easy to handle. I think keeping her in the house with me for her first two weeks here was a good idea. We are pretty well bonded which makes both our lives much easier with this experiment.

Monday was the usual for Laney with spending her time with the sheep and lambs during the day and returning to Mo's yard for the night.

Yesterday, Tuesday, marked another significant change in routine for Laney. Instead of taking her out of Mo's yard and then into the sheep pen for the day, I opened the gate between Mo's yard and the sheep pen. The sheep and lambs quickly made their way into Mo's yard, as they usually do when given the opportunity, and began their breakfast on the grass and weeds that have been growing in Mo's yard.

I was very curious to know whether or not the two dogs, who are individually good sheep guardian dogs, would engage in "group-think" and do stupid things, as this was the first time they both were together at the same time with the sheep and lambs. No problems! They were both great.

I left the gate between the two areas open all day AND over night. This morning all, Laney, Mo, sheep and lambs are fine.

I plan on staying with this arrangement for the time being. This gives both Moses and Laney a greater area to patrol and protect and keeps them both with the sheep and lambs 24/7.


May 14, 2005

Today, marks the end of Laney's first week week of spending all of her time, day and night, with my sheep and lambs. She enjoys having the expanded territory to patrol and protect. She is on guard for all trucks, cars and others who may pass by along our road. She has been quite impressed with the elk that pass by in the night and early in the morning. She lets all know that she is there.

I find it interesting that, sometimes when the sheep and lambs are resting in the front and Moses is resting on the side by his house, Laney is in the front resting with the sheep and lambs. The lambs are use to her now and Laney no longer has a need to follow or chase them. Laney has successfully made the adjustment from being with me to being with the sheep and lambs. She no longer rests by the gate waiting for my return. I put Laney's and Mo's food in Mo's house as a way of keeping their food away from the sheep and lambs. Laney now moves in and out of that "dog condo" as if she owns it.

Laney does continue to be the first to greet me when I enter the sheep and lambs' pens and is always happy to get some pets and praise. She continues to be very easy to handle.


Laney and Mo were bred in late June. Neil and I picked up Laney on August 22 to bring her back to Casablanca to whelp her puppies in luxury. We'll be interested in seeing how long it takes her to adapt to life as a princess again! The pedigree for these puppies is at http://www.hbalaw.com/casablanca/2005litter.htm  Inquiries are always welcome.

Puppies were born August 27, 2005!!!!


November 2005

Neil and I returned Laney to the farm. Her daughter Elan from her previous litter came along for the ride. Photos of Laney's return and Elan's first sheep experience are here:
Return to the Farm 2005


March 2006

David reports that Laney, Moses, airedale terrier Angel, sheep, lambs and ducks are all doing well. "It was something seeing them all deal with the three feet of snow that we had a few weeks ago. Laney actually enjoys being with the sheep and lambs more than Mo."


July 2006

David reports...."by the way, the two of them, Laney and Moses, kept a bear that had gotten into my sheep and lamb pen up a tree all night last Thursday night until I showed up at first day light. Interesting watching the bear try to come down and seeing
Laney and Moses make him/her go back up the tree. Eventually the bear went all the way up the tree and transferred over to
another tree which was outside the pen, came down and was out of here".


 
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Gail S. Dash &  Neil Berger 
P.O. Box 280322 
Northridge, CA 91328 

phone (818)77BWDOG
       (818)772-9364 
email: gail@casablancakuvasz.com

City of Los Angeles
Dept. of Animal Regulation
Animal Breeder's License
B02-000076

©2006 Gail S. Dash
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