I looked out the East End this morning and found Thor, doing his guard dog thing. He knows the coyotes live on the ridge behind us, and he is ready. Thor is free to roam the barn and fields now. Finn and Knut are still locked up when we are not around. The three of them loose together equal r-u-n-n-o-f-t! Thor seems the most mature and stable and knows what his job is. I wanted three guard dogs because I didn't think it was fair to expect one dog to fight off a big pack of coyotes. If you heard them all singing you would know what I mean, and tell me I need even more. Last summer I would shine my big light up on the ridge and watch all the pairs of glowing eyes watching me and my flock. One night, lying in the trailer which was parked up on the hill at the time, I thought I heard dozens of fire engines in the field above me! They were coyotes singing! It is a wonderful, eerie sound. I don't own a gun, and I don't want any on the farm. Dogs are all I need. Good dogs will work together to protect the flock. My friend Doreen has seen this happen with bears on her farm in NJ. One dog goes after the bear, one stays with the flock, one in between as back up. Her dogs were purebred Maremmas. My dogs are a mixture of four well-respected sheep guarding breeds, Maremma, Anatolian, Great Pyrennees, and Polish Tatra. They are still young at one year...and I'm giving them time to figure out why they exist. If the coyotes manage to get in the barn, and they do around here, the llamas will stomp them to death. Hope that doesn't happen, but it's nice to know Chris and Breeze are there!
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