We have a new addition to the family, and it’s a girl! Her name is Mochi and she’s a Colorado Mountain Dog, a mix of livestock guardian dogs (she is specifically Great Pyrenees/Anatolian Shepherd).
A few weeks ago, I was on the hunt for barn cats on Craigslist. Not for now, but for around April when we move in the yurt. I stumbled upon these puppies Saturday night, we visited them Monday and brought Mochi home Tuesday! That’s how it was when we got Odin- super quick. Je and I both love puppies, so we couldn’t resist. What’s a little more chaos 😉
Although we found and bought her quickly, we’ve actually been talking about getting a livestock guardian dog for awhile now. No, we don’t have any livestock yet. But we wanted a big dog that would follow the boys around when they’re outside and be their protector. We never leave them unattended, but it’s a big piece of property and there are big predators. So I feel much better knowing the kids have a dog companion.
And for those of you who know our other dog Odin (6 year old Golden Retriever), he’s not much of a guardian. Yes he has a mean bark, but sometimes I watch the kids playing outside through the window and Odin will be at the door, back to the kids, waiting to come in. We’ll just say that Odin is Je’s guardian because that’s the person he follows.
Mochi was born outside and lived fully outdoors until she became part of our family. She lived on a small farm an hour north of us with chickens, sheep and goats. They also have big predators there, but their LGDs were always on patrol. And I don’t believe they had any livestock losses from big predators because of that.
I’m not well versed in training LGDs really. But I did read that the most important thing is that the puppy first bonds with his or her charges (whatever livestock she’s in charge of). For us, kids=charges, so Mochi goes everywhere the boys go. And she also naps with Hugo (at her own request) and sleeps with him at night.
We’ll see how the guardian training progresses, but we couldn’t be happier with our new addition!
Im another words, the interior walls of the yurt are up, so we’re moving along!
Poppy Seed Farm 