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.