First Snow Day Spam!
It snowed about 1/2 an inch last night, so the pups were stoked this AM for some snowy play sessions. This is Kahuna, Lani and Fuji's first snow! 
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Kahuna, Loa and Kona LOVE it, they didn't want to come inside. The Akita love it to but they like to just kinda lay around in the snow while Loa, Kona and Kahuna like to run and freak out. Luytiy loves it as well, we was rolling all around in it.
We are really sad Ahi couldn't enjoy it, she LOVES snow.(
Here are some pics...
The Nihonken gang:
Hilo:
Kona, Kahuna and Loa:
Loa:
Maui and Kahuna:
Lani:
Kahuna:
Loa and Hilo:
Luytiy:
Kona:
Kaia:
Maui, Kahuna and Kona:
Kaia and Luytiy:
*my fav!
Kona and Kahuna:
Snowy yard:
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Luytiy's paw vs. my foot:
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)Kahuna, Loa and Kona LOVE it, they didn't want to come inside. The Akita love it to but they like to just kinda lay around in the snow while Loa, Kona and Kahuna like to run and freak out. Luytiy loves it as well, we was rolling all around in it.
We are really sad Ahi couldn't enjoy it, she LOVES snow.
(Here are some pics...
The Nihonken gang:
Hilo:
Kona, Kahuna and Loa:
Loa:
Maui and Kahuna:
Lani:
Kahuna:
Loa and Hilo:
Luytiy:
Kona:
Kaia:
Maui, Kahuna and Kona:
Kaia and Luytiy:
*my fav!
Kona and Kahuna:
Snowy yard:
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Luytiy's paw vs. my foot:
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Comments
I love that last picture of Kaia and Luytiy. It definitely shows that Shibas believe that they are huge!
Send some snow eastward!
LOVE that shot of Kai and Luytiy. If that doesn't describe a Shiba in a nutshell I don't know what would. :-)
Awesome spam all around. It seems like the new pack members are settling in very nicely. And what fun for them to have a snow day. I want a snow day! :-)
The Kaia and Luytyi shot is awesome! Shibatude rules!
Other than that, my favourite is the shot were Luytyi is smelling the snow, I like the effect of the lens distortion with the house in the background.
Kona and Kahuna seem to be getting along great!
Love the pix. Especially, Kahuna running and rolling about AND Hilo chasing after Loa.
Too bad for Ahi though...Still sending good vibes her way...
The snow is all melted now.
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Here are the videos:
*This was when we let them out in the AM - that is why there is so much peeing. lol
*You can see Luytiy is starting to guard in this clip
*Hilo is a meanie.
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All your dogs look great! Kahuna and Luytiy look like they have made themselves right at home and are enjoying the pack to the fullest.
Hopefully we get snow here in Boston soon. Not that I want it, but my Shiba's are dying to play in it, I know.
Hilo was really making a point there, huh?
(Don't laugh! I'm new at this! ahahah)
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Katie / Kristin - I think you guys kinda figured out the answer on your won. Luytiy will guard EVERYTHING - food, people, objects, dogs, cats, livestock, cars. Anything he can see, he will guard. You tech him what to guard and when. For example, we have been working on teaching him that while in his crate he is "off duty", no need to guard.
Today he barked for the first time, at our neighbor. It was great that he was barking, but we corrected him so h knows not to bark at Rick when he is getting firewood.
The other day our other neighbor had their nasty chow-mix out, off leash [totally unattended], and he was harassing our dogs through the fence [same dog that went to attack Jen once, but Hilo stopped him - physically]. I let Luytiy out of his crate and followed him out to the yard where the other dogs where barking and gave him praise for investigating, marking, and giving the "look" to the dog - I would have been happier if he had gave the dog a warning bark, but I was pleased. Baby steps.
The 10,000 foot view of how an LGD works is simple: they guard their perceived family. Any dog, no matter what the breed, once pushed past it's flight threshold, will guard their family and fight. With LGD they were "deigned" to have a very strong emotional bond with their family [strengths their fight instinct] and to have very little, if any, prey drive [so they don't eat the livestock]. They are also "designed" to be very "open minded" to what/who their family is [goat, sheep, dogs, cat, fish, person, car, etc].
I chose Luytiy's breed [Caucasian Ovcharka] because of their natural ability to use proper judgment [when properly socialized]. Their are a lot of CO owners that don't believe a CO should be socialized at all. That creates a highly reactive dog that will be aggressive towards everyone except his perceived family. That is not our planned approached, we plan to thoroughly socialize Luytiy and Masha so that they can use proper judgment and know that a toddler running up to our fence isn't a threat - or the mail man - or my mom, etc.
I can see how if you live in a VERY remote area and have livestock that was constantly under attack from predators it may work better to have a "trigger happy" CO, but that is not really our case. We have predators, but its more like a once a month thing and not an everyday thing.
So, to sum up, the answer to your question is: You have to teach them what not to guard. They will guard as far as they can see. I walk my yard every day with Luytiy so he knows our property lines. Since I started doing that I have noticed he has started making rounds and checking on the border. He also constantly is checking on the others dogs, to make sure they are ok. It's really pretty cool to watch!
To be clear, we got Luytiy to guard our future Alpaca, our dogs, us, and our home. We really already had a few very effective guard dogs - Ahi, Kona and Lani. The three of them are pretty trigger happy and effective when guarding the yard. What I was concerned with is Ahi and Kona are about the size of a coyote, and much smaller than a Mountain Lion. I wanted them to have some "back up", a dog that could really get the job done if needed. So if I am in here at my PC and a group of Coyote try to take Maui - when Ahi and Kona react they will have Luytiy to help make sure Ahi and Kona are not killed in the process. My hope is also that a well socialized, balanced guardian [Luytiy] might help tone down Ahi, Lani and Kona's "trigger happy" barking. Kinda of a "learn by example" approach - I have already noticed Kona stops barking once Luytiy come and checks things out. So Luytiy can do that, instead of me having to get up and check it out everytime Kona barks.
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Thanks for the spam & explanation Brad! I'm learning by the day
I love the 3rd picture of L, he looks so dramatic! ~
[I love snow]
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I too would love to have that much snow.