Who is in charge of this place, you ask? No question there: the dogs.
Our first Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs) were Spanish mastiff brothers, Charro and Chico. At four months of age, they taught me that the only thing they need from us is the use of our opposable thumbs. Otherwise, “they’ve got this.”
One day, I heard Chico barking his “little” head off. (There was really nothing little about these pups.) So I got my boots on and went out to see. As soon as I stepped through the pasture gate, Chico grabbed my wrist with a soft-mouth and pulled me across the pasture at a run. We went through the gate on the other side and around the corner, and there was Charro!
He was lying in front of a lamb, licking its face. Not just for fun. The lamb was stuck in a roll of fencing and was choking. Lambs don’t know they can back up, so pushing forward he may have actually killed himself. But Charro was slobbering all over his face, so he could not move.
I extracted the lamb, who bolted, and the pups cavorted around high-fiving each other. Wow they were proud of themselves. Amazing dogs. Just amazing.
Our current LGDs are Warrior and Tova (daughter of Warrior and Charro), as seen hanging out with the herd below.
