THE FARM
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.
 
Click Thumbnails to Enlarge
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.casablancakuvasz.com/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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