The Lord

We have purchased our first herdsire. Actually, he's a Junior Herdsire, which means he's too young to breed yet, but we're hoping all goes well.

His name is Robasia's Lord Muireach. We call him either "The Lord" or "Muireach". I have some other pretty obnoxious names for him too (My Pretty Boy, for example). We'll start breeding him next year. His first "date" has already been arranged - ask for details sometime.

Rescue update

We haven't had any foster dogs or puppies for a while. My husband's stepfather passed away suddenly in June, and we "inherited" his 12 year old Dalmatian, Moses. Moses is aggressive towards new animals (no trips to the dog park for him). As such, we've decided it's a bad idea to bring new dogs / puppies to the house every few weeks. We'll start fostering again when Moses passes (and let's face it - he's a 12 year old Dalmatian with bad kidneys, so this probably isn't a long term commitment).

My sweet baby Zigmund (see post from 7/22/09) is finally over his mange, and is up for adoption. Check out Shelter from the Storm's web site if you're interested in adopting him. He's such a couch potato, for a young dog. The adoptable dogs are listed in alpabetical order, so of course, he's last on the list.

The new guard dog

We decided to get another Livestock Guardian dog. Patty is great, but she is getting old, and working dogs tend to age faster than house dogs. We wanted to get a puppy while Patty was still active and getting around so she could train the new dog.

Enter Bucky. She is 3/4 Pyrenees, 1/4 Newfoundland. We got her from some alpaca friends of ours in Holland, Michigan, at Sunset Dreams Alpacas. This is the day we brought her home. She was about 14 weeks old then.



The training seems to be going well; Bucky idolizes Patty, and is often seen trotting around the pasture right behind her. She rarely barks, too, which is nice.

One night, we were laying in bed, and we heard a big dog bark. We were a little freaked out because it was unfamiliar. It was Bucky - her little puppy bark was long gone, and she was barking at some perceived threat. Patty was still in the barn, so this was Bucky protecting her herd all by herself.