Sometimes things just work out. Several years back, when we had boer goats, we had purchase two, beautiful, white Pyranees dogs who were supposed to be ready to go and good guard dogs. They were raised with goats, and they were probably at least 6 months old. It didn't matter what we did, those dogs would take off down the road. They'd go through electric fence as well, even after we had them shorn. It was like watching Dumb and Dumber. It took about 2 weeks for us to have them sold to someone else who like Pyranees and understood they weren't getting the worlds smartest duo. That experience pretty much ruined our desire for guard dogs.
This past spring, prior to lambing and after the sheep had been moved to a bigger pasture, I thought about finding something to look after them as coyotes are commonplace here. I've heard llamas were a good choice, but after extensive research...it was iffy. You had to get a good one and I just didn't feel up to trying one and having it not be suitable for guarding. So, I looked at the different breeds of guard dogs. Read different posts and it seemed like that was probably the best way to go. We weren't ready to make that commitment yet, and lambing was imminent and the dogs would have to be trained....but, the happiest people, the ones I found anyhow, were ones with crosses between Pyranees and Anatolian. That's what I decided, back then, I would get if I ever did get a dog.
So we lambed out and I lost my first lamb. Pretty confident that it was an eagle that took that one. Just before we had gotten the puppies, another one was killed...by something else. It was either a coyote or a stray dog.
A buyer had come for some sheep and she mentioned she had puppies- they were the crosses I was looking for, it crossed my mind that maybe I should get one. But I still wasn't sure. And, they were spoken for. Later, I made a comment that it crossed my mind to get one and it turned out someone didn't get theirs. So 2 were left. Of course when she emailed the photos that pretty much made the decision. At first we were only getting one, but decided on the pair. It was a good choice. One of the best swaps I've done...thank you Tabitha for the wonderful puppies.
These 2 little girls are really smart and they pay attention. Dont' run off, either. For the first week they just stayed on the porch and hung out with us. They were curious and would follow us into the sheep pens. They are now in with the girls, have their own pen right now, mostly for their own safety. I have a couple ewes with attitude :-)
I think these little girls will work out well.
