In Praise of Dogs, Large and Small

This is in response to Perry's comment about dogs and his need to protect his property.

I am a single person living on a large hobby farm in relative privacy and remote from neighbours. *sigh* It's as dreamy as it sounds. However, with that comes predators - happily thus far only the non-human kind. As such, I have a need to protect me and mine, and so along with my fences and gates and firearms and chicken wire, I have dogs. My largest dog of 4 is a 100+ pound Maremma. He is the biggest lovebug mushball. He would sit with his head in my lap, gazing lovingly into my eyes, for the entire time I sit on my porch if I didn't bodily move him away. He greets visitors with a tail wag and a grin.

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However, if he hears or sees coyotes and bears, he is off like a shot, hackles up, running FAST. I would not want to see him actually connect with a coyote (I'm fenced).

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However I would never hesitate to allow him to play with small children. My only worry would be fur ingestion and feet getting stepped on in his need to get into their pockets...

My other 3 are my Sentinals. Whereas the Maremma can sometimes miss stuff as he sleeps off a night of property patrol, my 'little guys' don't miss much. One of them, the smallest in stature, Gidget, is a miniature Warrior Princess. When she's not on my lap or bed or couch, she's always the first one to perk up ears and shine those bright eyes into the back 40, noticing movement that sometimes takes me minutes to spot. She doesn't miss much, and being a Warrior, I have to keep a close eye on her or she'll go try to take Security matters into her own...paws. Happily, the big doofalope Maremma is starting to learn to respond to her call to arms. While he seems to discretely allow her to run ahead of him if he deems it safe to allow her to do that, I know he'd defend her if it came to that.

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It's just that he knows she is much bigger than he is, and she is his elder by 2 years. And he's just that kind of a good boy. He's got her, and my, back.

The other two, Jackson (my former crazy dog avatar) is a sweet loving guy who will follow along in the attack if necessary, but he is more a lover than a fighter. Their mother, Rosie, usually chooses to stand back and bark at the intruder with her whiskey and cigars bark.

I feel so safe with these guys at my back. Nobody, I mean, NOBODY, sneaks up my long driveway. My birds are pretty safe. I sleep well at night for the most part.

Do you have some good dogs at your farm?

What a lovely, cool post on such a hot day! Excellent post.

I will post praises of my big love able pyrenees st Bernard cross. He will protect my chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and grudgingly the guineas also. He also is very protective of my children and myself. He will park himself between us and anyone who comes to visit if he thinks he should not trust them. He also steers my youngest son away from the road, water holes, and horses whenever he tries to go to them. Tug also goes with my kids when they go for a horse ride or a ride in the gator and let's them know if there is a bear around. He is awesome for a young boy who has just turned a year old!!

as some may be aware, i am a big fan of dogs of many types.
i keep some specifically as guardian dogs. Two-legged problems are more of my concern than four-legged, but when taking precautions against one, the other gets covered also.
i tend to be a little harder on potential threats of the two-legged kind than some. i want guardians that will give it all to protect a member of my family and i test and train for it with them. partially so they know what to do and mostly so i know what they will do.

i started by having mock-intrusions / attacks. a very good way to find out what your dogs will do when the actual pressure is on. will the dog actually protect? the truth is that most won't. they bluff and that is most often enough, i am always worried about when the bluff isn't enough.

find out what you have, put your mind at ease. get into some protection / ob training. it is by far, the most binding experience i have had with a dog.

That's good advice Gamestaff. My Maremma has been protection/attack-trained. He's a lovely multi-tasking weapon, if you will.

I agree game staff!! I have had my boy tested totally by accident. It took me taking a flying leap off my deck to save the 81 year old man who grabbed my daughter to give her a hug and tickle. She gave a bit of a shriek, and Tug was lunging at the fellow. I seen him going and jumped from 5 steps up to land on him knocking him off balance. I had to keep hold of Tug until our friend got into the house, I did give him a treat and told him good protect. I have used the word protect when unsure of a person. I also had to hold him when our friend left, and told him "he's okay" from then on he has been okay with our friend but will keep between him and the kids until either my husband or myself are outside. I have a command to get him so he goes off his protection mode which usually works but hadn't fully worked that day, I think because of the shriek. It is awesome to know that he does not back down when needed!

I have long believed a good dog is an asset!!

I've got a German Sheppard and my newest a Heeler and so far all have been boys and wonderful boys at that. I always get the dog who naturally puts himself between me (and sons) the stranger. My GSD does bite!! Not hard but I warn everyone and no one makes any sudden movement. Its almost a guarntee that the old GSD will bite ANY man who steps on my property when the DH isn't home. Never ever has he even made any hostile gesture towards my sons. We actually had a female rotti that did and he tuned her good. She was promtly placed in a home without children or other dogs and has been a success there.

Training is everything here. I actually am starting to realize that my ol GSD is not far from retirement and it bothers me so. His training of the heeler is coming along quite nicely. They have alot of similarities. I truely love my dogs and what they do for us!!

Oh, oh, oh, Farmchiq, you got snow there already, smiling. It was nice to have some cool feelings, as Uno said, on a very hot day. What a group of lovely pictures of your pooches taken last spring, LOVE it!! It made me tear up when I saw them thar pictures, cause I know these dogs intimately. You describe each one to a peach. That picture of Chevy, all bit and white is really a nice picture of him, he is a beautiful soul for surely. And as he comes out of his bush at the top of the driveway, where he lies in wait for anyone coming up your property, and leaps out, all happy at who he sees, well, that makes me smile. How could he miss anyone coming up the drive in that bunch of bushy shrubs. Nice story.

I have three dogs too. One is a big, fat ol' dude of 11 years. Nothing gets by him either and the two little bichon friese cross chiquaqua (spelling for either??) are little kids with big squeaky barks. I love how dogs let you know whatever is around, they are our pride and joys. Thanks for this beautiful show of your pooches, and have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.

Dogs have been a part of my life for as long as I remember. I loved reading this post. I see so many dogs in the city that have such sad lives.It is so nice to see and hear of them running free, being with people and expressing their "dogness". I would love to see more pictures of everyones dogs. I paint portraits of dogs and rarely get a photo that touches my heart. I have seen many on this site that are amazing. Thought you might enjoy seeing the last two portraits I have done the first one is Shalom my vets bermese and the second is Ziggy a deaf, almost blind ,almost hairless little poodle rescued from a puppy mill. .[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this image.][/img][img][You must be registered and logged in to see this image.][/img]

Those portraits are fabulous!! Are they done in, what's it called, pastels? That's not it. Those oily crayon-y things? Grr, where's my brain?? You are very talented. Thank you for sharing. I thought I'd like to ask you to do a portrait for me, but I would want one of every dog I've owned or own. I could never choose just one.

Yes, it's been my life mission to provide a good dog life for my companions. It makes me very sad and disappointed in the human race when I see what we're capable of perpetrating on the animals of the world. I thought I'd celebrate the dogs and see everyone else's.
Cheers.

Love dog posts, thanks farmchiq for starting it with pictures of you impressive mob!

Dogs are a huge part of our lives here. We use them on the ranch and could not manage this place properly without them. Working dogs are not used as much in Canada it seems, as they were in Australia. We would be asked if we had a team of dogs when we applied for postitions down there.

Anyways, here are our workers and team members:

Gus is our lead dog. The brains behind it all. Getting a bit older now so we are on the lookout for someone who will eventually take his spot as lead dog. Take 2 years to know so not easy to find.

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Cloud is very antisocial with other dogs (except Gus who she LOVES!) but thinks humans are great. Good worker and good second dog, just not enough brains for a lead dog.

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Cruz is all brawn and not brains! Too much energy for me, but worth his weight in gold getting cattle out of the bush. When everyone else is done (including us) he is still going strong!

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Mango is the muscle. Makes the eye dogs 10 feet tall and bullet proof. Got a bit of age and had some injuries so slowing down and not as tough as he used to be. We have some of his pups coming up that we have high hopes for. He is a beautiful dog that everyone loves when they meet him. Smart, strong and handsome, who wouldn't love a guy like that?

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My girl Ice. Sweet, serious and completely dedicated to me. My shadow in everything and my protector. She loves rules and makes sure everyone follows them. Can you tell I like her a bit?

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I really need some up to date pictures of her.

Last but not least, Mo, the old fellow we lost last month. Smartest, best working dog we have ever had the pleasure of working with. An amazing fellow that touched our lives and will never be forgotten. Gus is his son but will never quite fill his shoes. RIP old boy.

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So you can see we have a few dogs in our lives. Value each and every one of them for who they are and what they do.
Thanks everyone else for sharing your dogs too, nice to see the 4 leggers in everyone's lives.

vic's chicks I meant to say I love your portraits. Can you pm me your prices please?

What breed are they and what work do they do? They are quite different than "working " dogs I know.

here is lavern... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

here job is to baby sit and teach my daughter how to pick up toys....with her mouth LOL
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this is spud my heeler x...his job is to make up his own jobs one day he is the crow chaser the next day he is a rain catcher...he is crazy LOL in this pictures he is catching snow...
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Oh my gawd that first picture of Lavern made me laugh out loud! What a pet. Your description of her helping your daughter too...too funny.

You just have to love them hey? All such characters in their own ways.

The Fat Ewe wrote:What breed are they and what work do they do? They are quite different than "working " dogs I know.

Gus and Mo are Australian Kelpies, Cloud is an Australian Border Collie and so is Cruz, but he has a bit of Mango in him. Mango is a stabilised cross they us down there for cattle work. They all came with us when we came back from Australia.
They are all herding dogs, will lift and gather stock and bring them to us or move them out of the bush or into new paddocks.

What is Ice? Do the dogs work sheep? They are all short haired so I am also wondering how they fare in the winter here?

The Fat Ewe wrote:What is Ice? Do the dogs work sheep? They are all short haired so I am also wondering how they fare in the winter here?

Ice is a White English Bulldog, she is more guardian and protector than worker, but she does work well in the yards.

The rest will work sheep and they are all short haired, we prefer that. They all are outside all winter, but have covered kennels with insulated dog houses full of straw.