Politics and the Economy

I’ve started to notice even in the little town and rural area we live that more and more thefts are happening. My personal opinion is that it will only get worse. As welfare programs are cut, I don’t believe that people who have made welfare a way of life for generations are all going to run out and seek a full time employment. So I expect they will revert to the age-old means of living,  Or the other lucrative business of illegal substance sales. Am I becoming cynical? Well possibly, but the reports of stolen property just in FB chats have shown an increase of tools walking away from sheds and lean-tos.

The other issue that has always concerned me are our roaming bands of coyotes. The packs travel for food and whenever they return at night you hear them call to each other and it sounds like thousands of them, noise carries in open land for long distances and I’m sure it sounds like more than there really are, none the less they will take down anything they can in packs. My barn cats roam at night once they are full-grown and the other animals are at risk as well.

So I started reading about Guardian Livestock Dogs. There are many breeds that fit this description and some are more suitable for some situations than others but what makes all these breeds unique is their ability to solve problems without human assistance. They generally work at night roaming your property or watching from a place on high.

They are not aggressive and initially warn off intruders by their size and bark. These dogs usually range in the 100 – 150 range and stand up to 39″ in height. They have a very massive presence and between their size and bark most predators avoid them. But if something ventured onto their protective domain and the size does not scare off the predator, they will then body slam them to convince them of their capabilities and size. If an unwanted predator still doesn’t get the message they attack. One of these dogs can handle a coyote easily.

But they are just not guard dogs hence the name guardian. As I said earlier, they are so smart they also take care of their livestock. Livestock for a guardian is anything that belongs on the property, traditional livestock as well as chickens, other dogs, cats and of course the human children to adult. And if something happens in the night, such as an animal is in distress from injury to birthing they have to reason on their own what needs to be done. If it’s a nature process and if so they may lay with the animal for comfort or is something wrong in which case they may carry or drag the animal to shelter and seek a human. But the amazing part is they have to figure this out on their own.

So now that I have explained my research on the breed and was sure that the cats, my little dogs and of course grand children would be safe with them. They are cases of people buying these dogs to protect their child alone no livestock just guardians of the children. At any rate, I bought a Great Pyrenees 4 month old pup from a breeder of working parents. If you make them a house dog that is what they become so I wanted a working dog.

So we bought Ringo,  a Pure White  Great Pyrenees. And along with him came a great investment, These dogs will wander and expand their area of protection. We have 16 acres plenty to protect but I want him to stay on our acreage so I have to expand our hot wire paddocks for the horses and install a wired boundary fence where we are not already not wired. As I said we have 16 acres but not all is pasture fencing or hot wired. So we have installed a boundary fence and are in the progress of training him where it is and his listening to warning signal experience and walking the borders each day so he is aware of where the wire is.

Then came the giant dog house large enough for him to keep out of inclement weather. We bought him 3 weeks ago and he had already gained 8 pounds. He initially weighed in at 40 pounds and was at the vet to get his stitches out from neutering and weighed in at 48 pounds, 3 weeks later. He loves all the animals, helps Ken bring in the horses everyday, plays with the cats, the dachshunds, and the horses and our grandchildren. He is maturing to, he already barks warnings when people he doesn’t know are on the property.

He was a  big investment in the safety of our animals and property and you can’t help falling in love with his big goofy self. He hasn’t grown into his long legs yet. And have I mentioned in three weeks we have nearly finished a 55 pound bag of dog food.