April meets the livestock

April has really started to settle in around here and has gotten quite comfortable with me and the hubby and her pen and paddock.

So I decided it was time for her to meet the livestock. She's been living amongst them since coming here, they've been just on the other side of her pen walls, or on the other side of the paddock fence. This has given her a chance to get used to them and bond with them while keeping them all safe.


Her initial introduction was on leash, but when she showed no particular interest in the sheep or chickens, I went ahead and let her off leash. She immediately mingled with them. The sheep were a little concerned at first, but most of them have been with Livestock Guardian Dogs before (on the farm where I bought them) so the quickly accepted her as a weird smelling sheep.

A very large weird smelling sheep. The chickens were a bit trickier. Yesterday a chicken (obviously with a death wish) flew into April's pen. April responded like a dog -- she immediately grabbed it and feathers were flying everywhere. The hubby was fortunately there when it happened, and he called April's name and she, being the very good doggy that she is, dropped the chicken and looked at him, giving the chicken time to escape. The chicken's fine, by the way, none the worse for wear. But now I'm a bit cautious with April around chickens.

Not that she's done anything before or since then to make me suspect she'd be anything but OK with them. Still....

Ok, well, livestock introduction continues on for a few weeks two or three times a day, until I feel comfortable leaving her with them unattended.

But for now, how about giving Mom a big smooch....

Good dog!

homecoming

Yesterday evening the big white van pulled into our driveway and unloaded the big white dog. April came out of the vehicle readily and looked around. She approached me right away, in a friendly manner. She seemed to say, "Hey, I remember you, didn't you come see me the other day?" The ACO and I walked her through the pastures to the pen we had ready and waiting for her. On the way there, she looked calmly around, tail wagging slightly, body relaxed. She looked at ducks, sheep, and chickens all with the same cool manner. It seemed like she knew she was coming home.


We went into her pen with her and hung out for a bit to let her get accustomed to her new home. A couple days ago Hubby and I built a shelter out of a cattle panel and a tarp on the east side of the duck shed so that there will be plenty of wind break and shade, as this is where she'll have to stay when I'm working the stock with the collies or teaching lessons. The shelter itself is 8' x 10', and is inside a 10' x 16' pen. Roomy enough for her to be comfortable. It's amazing to see how much room she takes up stretched out on the thick bed of straw!


She roamed about the pen, readily accepting a few treats from me and a lot of petting from both the ACO and I. Eventually my Morgan mare, Annie, wandered over to say hi. Annie is a rescue herself, having come from a situation of neglect a couple of years ago, and understands that this is a pretty good place to be. Initially April growled and barked at her, but I reached up and put my arm around Annie's neck, petting her, and told April that she's mine. The barking immediately stopped. I fed Annie a treat, and fed April a treat. Then the two of them touched noses. Annie must have told her that she came to a good place, because April settled right down. At least until Hubby arrived on the scene. The same scenario repeated itself -- I put my arm on his and assured April that he belong here too. Same thing -- she stopped barking and settled down. Figuring it was going to work out, the ACO left and we continued on with our evening farm chores while April enjoyed her first raw meal.

So far so good! April spent the night in her pen, but this morning I propped the gate open and let her have the paddock that is attached to the pen as well. By this afternoon, she had the entire series of side pens in addition to the paddock. Eventually she'll be moving in with the sheep, but for now we're just letting her get used to being on the property and seeing the livestock she'll be involved with.

One problem that we'll need to address is that she hates cats. Or loves them in all the wrong ways, I'm not sure which. But I'll talk more about that later. For now, we're keeping Cosmo, our overly-dog-friendly cat, locked inside so that April has a shot of learning to relax here without him torturing her. (He of course wanted to sit up against the side of her pen, regardless of the fact that she was going crazy on the other side. Well, actually, probably BECAUSE she was going crazy on the other side. He's just that kind of cat.)

at the pound

It was a steady downpour when we arrived at the animal shelter. The first rain in weeks of dry weather, it was a very welcome wet.

I left hubby and the kids in the car and walked into the fenced compound. Two pitbulls, a large gray dog, and a small hyper brown and white one, barked enthusiastically at me. A Rottweiler cross stood patiently in a yard behind a sign marked "Guard Dog on Duty". It wagged it's tail at me and I chuckled. Sure didn't look much like a guard dog, more like a lap dog. He wagged his tail harder.

I opened the door of the small building at the center of the compound and stepped inside. Peering into the tiny office, I saw no one. To my right was a closed door marked "Cat Room". I waited patiently, reading the signs on the door. Rules about visiting the shelter. What to do if you want to pet an animal. How to make donations of food and bedding. Finally I knocked on the door and opened it a bit. My caution was worthwhile, there was a brown tabby staring up at me from the other side. Behind him was the Animal Control Officer (ACO) for the town. I told her who I'd come to see, and she told me where to find her, warning me that she barked at strangers.

My family joined me as we walked past the leaping, barking pitbulls and around the building to the back side. There were only two dogs on this side of the building -- an old, grayed lab cross, about 12 years old, which was bouncing up and down barking hoarsely. Next to him, the mountain of white we had come to see. I remember thinking that she didn't look as big as I expected a 100lb dog would look. And that she looked older than an 8 year old dog should look.

She walked steadily to the front of her kennel, barking voraciously at us. Her stance was firm and confident, her hackles were not raised, and her tail wagged slowly behind her, held level. Not a dominant position. Not a submissive position. Not friendly, but not aggressive either. She was all business -- strangers on her turf, as unnatural as that turf might seem to her, and she did what she knew to do, she was warning the woman who was currently her "boss" that there were strangers in the yard.

The ACO joined us, and I explained why we were there -- we had sheep and poultry in need of protection, and April was in need of liberation from the pound and a new job. A friend had sent me an email with a link to her picture on Petfinder an hour earlier, and I instantly saw how easily I could fill both of our needs.

The ACO moved April out to an exercise pen, and the boys and my hubby stood back a bit to help her feel more comfortable. I stood near the pen with the ACO and we chatted about April's history while she stopped barking and settled in to pace uncomfortably along the back of the pen. Despite the dogs around her barking at her and us, she paid no attention to them at all, focusing softly on us instead.

The story was that April had been surrendered to the pound a week earlier, along with the old lab cross kenneled next to her, because her owners had sold their cattle farm and couldn't find another home for the dogs. Both dogs had lived free in the pasture with the cows, April as a working Livestock Guardian Dog, the other as her companion. While the other dog seemed extremely attached to April, April didn't seem to care much either way. The other dog was a big-time barker, and being at least half sporting dog, would no doubt want to chase, or possibly eat, our poultry. There was no way we could take him.

But April we could take. The ACO was happy enough about that, she had been fearful that both dogs would need to be put down. There's just not much luck adopting out older dogs. At age 8, April is old for her breed, which commonly live to about 10.

We discussed Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs)-- the ACO had done her homework, and even though neither of us had ever worked with an LGD before, at least our notes matched. We both felt like this might just work out well for all involved.

The ACO was more comfortable bringing April out to us rather than having us take her from the pound, so I filled out the adoption paperwork and arranged for her to deliver April a few days later. April's adoption fee -- $5.


And thus April's second life began.