Livestock Guardians at Three Many Acres
Welcome to our pooch page! We added two livestock guardians to our farm in April 2019, and we haven't looked back. These girls are Anatolian Shephard/Maremma crosses, sisters, and were born December 2018. On this page you'll find out why we added these ladies to our farm, resources for more information about guardian dogs in general, and perhaps (one day) puppies for sale if we choose to breed them.
Pups for Sale
COMING 2021?
We haven't yet decided if we'll breed our LGDs or not, but if we do this is where you'll find puppy listings! If you think you'd be interested in a pup, drop us a note and let us know.
Freya
Anatolian/Maremma Female
Freya is long and lean. She's got more of an Anatolian build, and is sweet as can be. When she's not "on duty", you'll find her chewing on something--almost anything really--or a-snooze in her doghouse. She will sit still for hours if you brush her, and enjoys family hikes in our woods.
Danu
Anatolian/Maremma Female
Despite her muddy appearance, Danu is white and fluffy. When she's not keeping hungry predators from eating our farm animals, her favorite position is upside-down. She'll stand for hours to be brushed and willingly serves as a pillow if you happen to be cloud-gazing from the ground.
WHY LIVESTOCK GUARDIANS?
Not just any dog...
In permaculture, we are always looking for solutions to problems that are good for the earth, have layers of benefits, and (ideally) lessen our work load quite a bit. The "problem"? We lost our Bourbon Red turkeys to bobcats, and a few chickens to foxes.
The "solution"? Livestock guardian dogs (LGDs), of course!
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We never considered getting more dogs. We already had three, albeit older dogs, when we brought Danu and Freya home. So why get more dogs? Let us share a story...
It was the middle of a cool spring night when, quite suddenly, we were awoken from our slumber. We thought, why is there a fox that sounds so close to our bedroom? I sent Kyle outside to investigate and when he returned, he told me. One of our farm cats was currently sniffing said fox's tail, and the fox (wanting nothing to do with our cat) was "barking" at it. Guess where those three dogs were? Sound asleep on the front porch. Perhaps they were dreaming about catching a fox, perhaps not. It turns out our "porch dogs" had retired from their animal-chasing days, and they forgot to tell us. It was then that we decided we needed some younger dogs, more adept at chasing away the wild things that make a meal out of our working critters. We still love our old pooches, but the years have caught up to them and now they spend their days lazing about the farm.
Back to Danu and Freya: they were pups, and we thought that we might have been swindled by the breeder who strongly suggested two puppies instead of one. It turns out we were not swindled, and she was right!
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Having two pups instead of one allows them to play with each other so when it's training time, we can get to it. Also, with 7 acres to protect, having two dogs allows one to stay with the stock and the other to chase off a predator (yes, they do take turns). It's really amazing to see them work together, and we now refer to them as "The Goddesses" because they protect our family (animals included) and provide lots of love. Seriously, just look at that picture!
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Like all the animals here, these girls get to do exactly what they love; plus receive tons of affection from us. We are happy to report that we haven't lost any critters to predators since The Goddesses have joined our team.
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We chose Anatolian/Maremma crosses because we wanted a great LGD that was family-friendly and not as prone to some of the genetic diseases and joint problems to which some of the purebreds are prone.
