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I started learning aboout Pyrenees when I was raising sheep. They seem to work really well with peafowl too! It is no longer surprising to me how many folks who breed peafowl also keep Great Pyrenees. |
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| Isabella I never really intended to have 3 giant dogs, but somehow Isabella has made herself a permanent fixture. |
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Mesa Moon, mostly known as Maisey, Zeke and me. |
| Pyrenees on duty This puppy, who was 3 months old here and is now 6 months old "owns" the peafowl. I have never heard her bark at them once. To her, the birds are part of the landscape and she's much more interested in finding some peacock "bisquits" to chow down on. The pups who bark at the birds when they are still small would not make good candidates for becoming their guardians. Zeke also came from a farm where he was around all kinds of poultry from birth. Do you see the java in the snow? |
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A moment of peace and quiet. |
| The second day. On November 10th and 11th, 2006 Maisey and Zeke had their first litter. Ten pups arrived in the course of the night. The red surface is a piglet warmer which turned out to be an amazing asset in keeping the pups warm during those first 2 weeks. After that they seemed to prefer a puppy pile in the middle of the whelping box. I had originally purchased the piglet warmer to use in one of the java houses during the winter. |
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Which way to the next meal? A lot of folks are surprised at the distinct markings on the pups. As the dogs mature these colored patches almost disappear under the outer coat of white hair. In the photos of the adults you can still see the faded traces of yellow, black or brown. Isabella, on the other hand, is pure white. |
| The eyes start to open at about 10 days. |
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Patience... It wasn't long before Maisey made the pups work for their meals. |
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May 22, 2007! Maisey gave birth to 5 new pups. Everything went like clockwork, starting at about 9:00 a.m. and going into the afternoon. |
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Living the good life: sleep, eat, sleep, eat... |
| One week along and everyone is very organized (and always ready to eat.) With a litter of five, everyone's belly seems to be really full all of the time. Straw bedding is also far superior to the newspaper routine. We'll see what my opinion on that will be in two more weeks when they are eating "real" food. |
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OK, so he was too cute to just post one picture... |
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