Our Hearts Have Been Stolen...

 We've been looking for several months for the right teammate for our livestock guardian dog (LGD), Miller.  There have been an increasing number of predators in the area, and although Miller can handle the size of our goat herd now, we were concerned it might be too much for him with kidding season coming.  Our herd will more than double in size, and the barn cats just aren't up to the task. (: 

Miller checking for signs of predators.  Behind him, Tiger, the barn cat, clearly indifferent to any threat.

We knew he needed backup, but didn't want to just run off and get any old dog.  We wanted the right dog.  We knew we wanted a girl, because male/female LGD teams usually work best.  We'd considered a full-grown dog, but determined we would prefer a puppy, because Miller is such an excellent guardian, and we wanted him to be the unquestionable alpha dog, so he could help us train her.

As much as we loved our first livestock guardian dog, Daisy, we learned some valuable lessons about how training an LGD is significantly different than training a house dog, and how certain personality traits make dogs easier to train as LGDs.  We determined we wanted a puppy who had been born and raised around goats and poultry, and we wanted to observe them with the rest of the puppy litter so we could get an idea of the pack dynamic.

It took us awhile to find something that fit the bill, but we found some Anatolian Shepherd mix puppies that were raised around goats, mini cattle, pigs and chickens.  The breeders said we could come and observe them, and they would reserve the pup we picked (at the time we contacted them, the puppies were still a bit too young to take away from Mom).

We saw that the pups' parents were excellent guardian dogs, and all the puppies were healthy and well-socialized.  After some discussion, my husband and I made the decision to get two puppies instead of just one.  We hoped they would be good playmates, and we could get the benefit of Miller training them both.  We picked the only female in the litter, a light beige, lively, affectionate little girl (the runt in size, but definitely not personality!) and a fluffy black and brown, bright-eyed, but easy going male.  We scheduled with the breeders to pick them up the Saturday after Christmas.   

Picking up our LGD pups. Two is better than one when they're this adorable!

Miller seemed a bit annoyed with us the first few days after we brought them home.  After all, how dare we put two strange dogs in with his goats!  He quickly established himself as the alpha dog, but after a few days of putting them in their place, he was nuzzling them, looking out for them, and showing them the ropes with guarding the goats.  I love that dog!

Below are some of the puppies' first pictures.  When the kids first saw them, they thought it would be fun to name the girl Sugar and the boy Spice based on their coloring.  My husband and I laughed and said, "You may want to get to know their personalities first.  The little girl isn't really much of a Sugar - she's a little more feisty, and her brother is very calm and cuddly.  The names would be opposite of the personalities."  After playing with the pups a few hours, the kids all agreed...we'd name them Bonnie and Clyde.

                                                                  BONNIE

                                                                   CLYDE

**This post has been in the drafts folder since late January.  I debated whether or not to post it, because unfortunately, Bonnie disappeared about three weeks after we brought the puppies home.  All we know is she got out of the fence.  When we confirmed this, we quickly made repairs, so Clyde wouldn't have a similar fate (the space was too small for Miller or any of the goats to get out).  We talked to our neighbors, contacted local shelters, posted flyers, put lost ads around the neighborhood, in the local paper and online, but we never found her.  Given that Miller goes after all predators that try to get into the goat yard, including people we haven't introduced to him, we know whatever happened to her, happened outside the fence.  It could have been coyotes, it could have been someone taking off with her, but we never had any leads. 

We miss our puppy girl!  The whole family was sad, Miller and Clyde mourned her and laid around the goat yard, not eating for nearly two days. For awhile, I didn't want to post this entry, because it just felt depressing. Then, we got into kidding season (pics soon to come), spring gardens, etc. and things got so crazy, I didn't have time to post anything.  I finally made the decision to post it, because the whole point of this blog is to tell our farm's story, and if there's anything we've learned, the wonderful blessings of living on a farm are balanced with some pretty hard facts of life.  Fortunately, the story of our LGD team has a happy ending - one I'll share in an upcoming post.

We love you, Bonnie!  You made us smile every moment you were ours.