Morning Walk with the Five Dog Family

The Farmer has been so busy with lambing still (yesterday 4 more), it is my daily job to take the five dog family for a walk and to check the pastures for sheep which might be stuck in a fence (like this morning) or whatever else sixty almost year old lambs can get themselves into. Our daily job is to walk the fences... to see if anything has snuck in that shouldn't be there. To make sure everyone is alive and happy.

It is difficult to get a photo of all of the canines all looking good together. I won't even try. If you want that kind of thing, go check out Jon Katz's blog. He does a gorgeous job with that. Here are the five dogs.... they are all so busy, looking, sniffing, chasing, doing what they need to do.

Almost every morning, we walk the fences... looking out into the forest. I always wonder what is looking at me at that particular time. Mysterious the forest is.

Hard to believe we have 3 puppies all at the same time. Archie and Winston arrived in October. They are Great Pyreness Livestock Guard Dogs (LGD).  You probably wonder how I can tell them apart. I can - from their personalities and from some very specific markings. Archie has stripes on his face and Winston is lighter in color. Archie is the more dominant, rough and tough. He likes to run with the Border Collies. Winston on the other hand loves me. Every morning, he snuggles up to get loves and follows me closely as we walk through the field.

Both Archie and Winston are incredibly sweet and gentle dogs. It seem so funny that we have them as Guard Dogs living with the sheep.... to me, they are like giant teddy bears.  They have a large calf shed which they can use but mostly they are outside in the weather. Their coats are very thick and sometimes coated with icy bits. They don't interact a lot with the sheep but they seem to know their place and their duty. Every evening at dusk, they start barking.... in a deep, gruff, scary bark. This goes on until about midnight. I guess it keeps the predators away. I know if I didn't know these two, I would be scared too. Here they are at a very sweet moment on our walk, giving each other little kisses.

And then there is Kate - our three month old Border Collie. Kate is fast as the wind, can turn on a dime, is in constant motion, and is BC through and through. I have high hopes for her herding talents and can see it developing every day, all day long. She loves to watch the chickens, chase the cats but hasn't quite figured out the sheep yet. 

The ewe is wondering what that streak running across the field is....

As I watch the dogs while walking or being with the sheep, I constantly marvel at the difference in the two dog breeds. Both are time honored dog breeds bred for working with sheep - just different kinds of work. The Great Pyrenees plod along slowly and do a lot of watching and barking. They are slow and steady. The Border Collies on the other twist and jump and turn and never stop until it is time to go inside. We yell out "that'll do" and they know it is time to finish with the sheep and go inside. Kate hasn't quite learned the term yet but she follows Phoebe and Ness, seeming to know that she is a Border Colie.

Kate, Archie, and Ness

When Kate first arrived, I wondered what Archie and Winston would think of her. I shouldn't have worried. Every morning, they are waiting for her to come visit. They run and play but they can't keep up. She bosses them around. It is something to watch - a small little 20 pound puppy telling these two giant puppies what to do.

Archie and Winston playing with little Kate

I love this photo of Winston on the knoll. Ness is behind him and barely visible. She is following the ewes and Winston is watching out for something. He looks so serious and she looks like she has a giant smile on her face.

Winston watching and Nessie waiting to move the sheep

We couldn't have this farm without our dogs. They live to work. It is quite a priviledge to watch a dog do what it was bred to do over the centuries. Sometimes, I feel like I am living in another time - when humans and their dogs supported each other with their own special skills. 

And here is head dog - Phoebe, sweet Phoebe. Thirteen years old and a total love. A lot slower than she used to be but we love her just as much.... Nothing like the familiarity an old dog brings to your life. What memories we have with her.

Do you know the term "Five Dog Night?" There's a great children's book with a title of the same name by Eileen Cristelow about an old Vermonter and how he kept warm. Sweet.