# Big Brag section for your LGD's and working dogs purebred or not :o)



## big brown horse

Here is mine.  She is a St. Bernard mix, I'm thinking great pier b/c she has some killer dew claws in back.  Her name is Kate and she came from the shelter.  She was turned in b/c she got "too big".   I suspect she was beaten and neglected too, because she was skin and bones (why her name is Kate, as in Kate Moss) and she used to cower when I came near her.

Kate was 10 mo when I got her, she made a terrible pet dog when I lived in the city.  (Long story, just imagine Marley amd Me and she wasn't very cuddly.) It wasn't until she was 1 1/2, when I moved out here into the country and acquired livestock in the form of sheep, free ranged chickens and ducks and now a piglet, that I understood what her real job was.  Guarding the animals.

Now she won't let anything near her animals that isn't approved by me.  Not even crows or other types of birds, even the wild birds that feed from the feeder.  (She especially hates large flying birds, which is good b/c we have lots of bald eagles hanging around.)  She sits out there and watches her animals all day long.  

She has caught her share of squirrels and rats (from the feed room) too.

In this photo, she just stood up on her two back legs and plucked an apple right from the tree.  Look at that guilty "who me?" look she has on her face. Usually the sheep are with her because a couple more will drop too for them.   The dog in the background is my other St. mix Jane (Jane Doe) she was a stray 11 years ago that I adopted.  Not a gurdian, just a great pet.  Although she would never hurt any of the animals.










Now, please share your photos and stories of your LGD(s).


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## ohiofarmgirl

what's that you said? Brag on our good dogs.. well no other posts are needed. I have The Best Dogs Ever. 

Titan and Lucky are my hardworkin' farm dogs - they keep the critters in line, keep that gander off me, round of lallygagging hens, protect me from the pigs, and watch the gates to make sure the goaties don't get out. If..I mean.. when the goaties get out I send this duo out to 'find those nannies' -- and they round 'em up and herd them back. 

Once Ti went to grab one of the nannies and I yelled and signaled to him "No! Not with your mouth!" and so he did what any hard workin' farm dog would do... he head butted her. It worked. 

This was yesterday during all the snow - that'll do, good dogs. That'll do.


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## big brown horse

OFG I bet your dogs could do my taxes! 


That is the most stunning photo I've ever seen.  Incredible photograph!  "Runs with wolves" comes to mind.


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## freemotion

Yeah, but my two dogs keep the world safe from teddy bears and other ferocious stuffed animals!!!!


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## ksalvagno

Nice looking dogs. No guard dogs here though. One of my house dogs can't stand birds flying over his area so he does bark and keep the hawks away.


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## big brown horse

freemotion said:
			
		

> Yeah, but my two dogs keep the world safe from teddy bears and other ferocious stuffed animals!!!!


 

ksalvagno, that counts a little.  Maybe we should call these types of dogs "Junior Livestock Gurdian Dogs".


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## Beekissed

The white one is a Great Pyr/Lab mix named Lucy Lou.  She had been abandoned on a farm, tied to a dog house.  Already trained to be a LGD or a natural, she is great around all livestock and has a great, deep bark.  Sweet and affectionate, she has been a therapy dog in the nursing home and can find a missing rabbit in short order~she points them out, just like a good bird dog should.  We are not sure of her exact age but she is around 10 or 11.    

The brown one is a Lab/Border Collie mix named Chocolate Jake, AKA Butt Inspector, Egg-suckin', Coon killin', Master of the Silent hunt and all around great dog for guarding the livestock.  When *he* barks, you know there is something serious out there.  Most of the time he is silent.  

It took all of 20 min. to train him to sit, shake with either paw, high five, lie down, etc.  It took him the same amount of time to train to chickens.  He is 3 years old but acts like he is 3 months.  He can eat an apple every 10 seconds, steals tomatoes out of the garden, eggs out of the nests and can snatch a bird right off the bird feeder.  Great mouser, moler and any animal that comes in the yard killer. 






I go on vacation with my birds free ranging, go to work each day...you name it, I can trust these dogs to guard the place and the animals.   Fearless and gentle, loyal and sneaky, these dogs are the total package~except neither dog will fetch or herd, much to my dismay.   

You throw a stick and yell "Go get it!" and they look at you and say, "You threw it, lady, YOU go and pick it up!" and promptly sit down to see if I will go and get it.


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## ohiofarmgirl

Bee - thats great! what good dogs!  neither of these guys hunt. Shady - our century-old heeler mix was a great hunter when she was younger. but these two nerdnicks dont hunt at all. we'll eventually get another dog...after Shady goes on to her reward. i'd love to have an anatolian..but the big man wants an akita - honestly we need a hunter around here. the barncats can bring down anything short of a coon
;-)

the only thing about shepherds is they tend to obsess - Ti (who has the stick of course) would run himself into the ground of we didnt stop him. and yep, he's creepy smart - he might just do your taxes! i figured out that i can 'stack' commands - not just give him one at a time, and i can mix them up.

if they are being naughty (usually just screwing around - not really doing any damage) i just use my best mommy voice and say "i'm watching you" and they skulk away.

K - these two keep the hawks away too. for some reason Ti has been fascinated with planes and birds since he was little ... but he does know the diff between the chickens and the crazy little birds around here. and for some reason the both of them HATE cardinals... our state bird.


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## big brown horse

Bee, love your dogs!  What does your Lucy have on her neck a low jack?  

The only kind of LGD's I had as a child were strays.  "Swifty" our three legged mix was the best dog as far as chickens were concerned.  We had an unfenced yard that they roamed, true "yard-birds" as we called them in the south.  She would round them all up at night, "Swifty, go get the chickens!"  She would also "sic" anything we asked her to, "Sic-em Swifty!"  And off she would go a barkin' towards what ever we were pointing at.  

She kept her eye on us kiddos too and even walked me to school.  As soon as I went into the building, she walked home.

(We never knew what happened to her leg by the way, she just showed up that way.)

Now my Kate is not a pet and doesn't listen to me one bit.  She doesn't care about being petted or even hearing a praising word.  She is obsessed with her sheep, chickens, ducks and now her pig.  They can eat out of her bowl!  Her only job is to keep the preditors OUT.  She doesn't even come when I call her.  Thank God she found her calling with me b/c anyone else would have taken her back to the pound.

Jane here is my pet dog.  I love them both very much, but for different reasons.










*I love the stories guys!!*


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## ksalvagno

Here is a picture of Blakely. This is a younger picture. He had an OCD lesion on his shoulder and had to be operated on. To keep him from licking and biting his wound, he wore a shirt. He broke is E collar in one day and those darn things are expensive! Now you would never know he ever had a problem. The boy is fast.







Everyone has such nice healthy looking dogs! It is so good for them to be outside in a large area and running around. Our dogs are confined to the 2 acres around our house. Unfortunately, 3 of my dogs would kill the chickens and chase the goats. But they are all house dogs and we aren't expecting them to protect the livestock.


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## big brown horse

Hey, that is a great idea with the t-shirt!  I hate those e-collars, do you know what a St. Bernard sized e-collar looks like?  Just like those circa 1980 sized sattelite dishes! 

Blakley is a great name by the way.


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## ohiofarmgirl

K - your house dogs can patrol the stuffed animals with Free's!

the great thing about workin dogs is they like to work. we are totally the 3 Amigos all summer long (Shady just likes to lounge around in her dotage). when it gets hot we play fetch in the pond - they love it.

and since we are bragging.... my fav 'job' is when i hook tools on Ti's collar and tell him to 'go find daddy' -- so i dont have to walk up the hill one more time to give him a hammer, fence tool, etc.


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## big brown horse

Hey that is a great idea!  "Go find daddy." 

Back in college I had a friend that I would go camping with.  She had a dog that wore a backpack.  We would fill it with beer and while we hiked up the mountian, the dog swam in the creek next to the trail.  Kept our beer nice and cold. 

Perhaps I should change the title to "working dog".

eta: typos!!!


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## Patchesnposies

What amazes me about LGD's is how naturally it comes to them.  We have two Anatolian Shepherd Dogs, Zosia (female 1 year old) and Wrangler (male 6 mos old).  They were both rescue dogs, whose owners were not educated about LGD's and thought they were just horrible dogs who would not mind at all.  They had no concept that you had to deal with these dogs differently.

Zosia is the alpha dog and takes inventory many times a day of both her people and her animals.   She is young but this protector stuff is so instinctive to her.  She is very gentle and loving to all of the babies in her care.  Wrangler is a BIG duffus right now.  If his feet are any indication of what his size will be when full grown, he will be huge.  Zosia is teaching him what she will and will not accept when it comes to the treatment of her animals.

The funny thing is, all of our dogs (we have 8) are used to being kenneled at night and put themselves to bed about the time the kids go (we have 6 of those!).  They have been crated since we got them that is how we housebroke them.

Zosia and Wrangler were housebroken that way, too.  Recently, as they have matured, they have resisted being kenneled.  They will go into their crates if we insist but are very unhappy about it.

I know they are thinking "How in the world can we protect you......if we are in that BOX?"  So, they sleep on a big doggy bed in our room.  I pity anyone who tries to come into our house in the middle of the night.

This is Zosia, with Arriba the Redbone Coonhound.






A more pensive pose:





And this is Dangly Wrangly (who isn't really dangly, cause he's neutered, LOL):




This look is most definitely a "It wasn't me...Ma....HONEST!" look.


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## big brown horse

They are so cute!!

I can relate to the "how can I protect you in this box".  My dog Kate hates to even come in the house.  You practically have to drag her in kicking and screaming.  Even then she sits by the back door's sliding glass window and watches.


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## currycomb

no pics, but got adopted by a neighbors husky mix. i have moved twice, and he stays wherever i move to, constantly patrolling. he is getting old, and we will miss george when he is gone. then there is cutter, a 3 legged blue heeler. both these dogs roam free, sleep in feed room in the hay. walked in there the last sunny day we had, asleep on the floor in the sun is george the husky, cutter the heeler, 2 chickens (don't like the other birds, get picked on) and 3 kittens about half grown. talk about getting along.there wasn't an inch between them! until we caught them, there were a dozen hens using the feed room as their sanctuary, no monsters going to get them in there. feed the cats in here too, now have 6 that come and go at will (mostly just hang out in warm spots). people have a hard time beleiving my dogs don't kill the chickens. cutter would pick his favorite hen up and carry her around, then gently place her on the ground when done with her, never ever hurt her. amazing animals


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## Roll farms

I've mentioned Razor on this forum in the past...he was our first, and best, LGD.  Brought him home as a sickly 4 mo. old, saved his life, and he paid us back by running off anything and everything that didn't belong.
He'd jump in the sky after hawks, chew on chain link to get to neighbor's dogs, and patrolled faithfully, rain or shine.

Every day he came into the barn, ate his dinner, and came over and  burped in my face while I milked, before going back out on the job.

What I haven't mentioned was that he died a month ago.  I was too heartsick to 'say' it out loud.

RIP Razor....you were a great dog and we were lucky to know you.
Thanks for taking care of us and our animals, buddy.






This is Edge, another pyr, w/ her litter of pups in August.  She's a great dog as well, and was a great mom.  The litter was sired by an Anatolian Sheperd, purposely so we'd have shorter-haired pups.






And this is Edge w/ Gus, her son that we kept from that litter.  He was 5 mos. old in this pic.  






He got fixed today at 6 mos of age, and weighed 81#.

Hoping he grows up to fill Razor's shoes....


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## Grillo

Here's my LGD in training.  Pictured at 8/9 months old while I was brushing her out.  A real natural, learned to leave birds alone very quickly.  With her deep, powerful, booming bark she is a fearsome deterrent for 4 and 2 legged predators.







And another ...


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## Mugen

I want to show my Komondors and Caucasian Mountain Dog too, but how do I attach files here? Thanks folks!


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## ohiofarmgirl

mugen - click on the "uploads" in the navigation bar at the top of the page in the blue bar. then browse from your computer, submit, then cut-n-paste the url from either the image or the thumbnail into the body of your post. you'll see that the "Uploads" will open a new tab in your browser you so can type your post while its uploading.

Roll Farms - so sorry for your loss. its a hard thing to loose a good old friend. 

so Gus is the anatolian x pry? so is that the best of both worlds? less shaggy? how is his personality? i like the 'aloof' anatolian vs the bouncy "pet me" that i've seen in prys.. would love to know more


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## Roll farms

I'm _hoping_ he'll be the best of both worlds...

His dad, Tank, was a bit TOO aggressive / protective, of everything.   He started being mean to Razor and I had to seperate them....Tank went to a sheep farm in TN where he'll be the lone LGD.

Edge will let anyone human walk up and do whatever they want...but is a great protector against animals.

My one gripe w/ Razor (he actually bit people, no "pet me" Pyr was he) was his coat...he would not shed, just mat and look horrible....And I hated shaving him down every year but HAD to.

SOooo...when he started getting 'up there' I purposely bred Edge to Tank hoping for a somewhat aggressive, short coated, yet manageable LGD.

At 6 mos it's too soon to say if it was a success or not, temperament-wise, but his coat is more like the ASD than the Pyr.


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## ohiofarmgirl

wow great strategy!  hope Gus works out...would love to know how he does.

i hear you on the coat thing. even my shepherds get extra hot ...but we just all go for a swim. 

i've met several pry's around here and they are just so big and goofy... admittedly some of its personality... we arent to the point where we have a big enough herd for a LSD..and these two that i have are great defenders of the property and help me so much.. its like having an extra pair of hands.  

ps love the name Tank


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## cmjust0

Alright..  You've all had your chances, but -- aside from Roll's Razor   -- here's the best LGD the world has ever seen.

Ivan.  He's about 13mo in this picture..  He's 2yo now.







Perhaps my best Ivan story is when he deterred the neighbor's Rotty and Boxer from entering his barnyard.  They went right over to the gate and he met them with a mouthful of big white teeth..  He let me know something was up, too, with his "angry" bark.  I came outside with one of our border collies (a mistake...got lucky) and the neighbor's dogs tucked tail and ran for home.

It's funny...  Ivan would fight to the death to fend off a Rottweiler and a Boxer, but if you pick up a chicken and offer it to him, he recoils like "Get that thing away from me!"  



Ivan goes in for surgery 2/24/10..  Likely a ruptured CCL..  Keep your  for us, please.


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## big brown horse

Awww he is so cute!  Like a big fluffy teddy bear.

Great story!


Hope his surgery helps.    Good luck!

Roll Farms, sorry for your loss.


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## Beekissed

> Bee, love your dogs!  What does your Lucy have on her neck a low jack?


BBH, those are receivers around their necks.  I have a perimeter fence on my little acre but I also have invisible, wireless fencing for the dogs as I live right along the highway.  Wouldn't want to lose a dog and Lucy is a wanderer....    You can see that the collars are not tight....these dogs merely have to hear the beep and they avoid the line, so it's not necessary to have their collars snug...sort of like dog necklaces instead of collars.  

CM, your Ivan sounds like my Jake...I trained him with a chicken held to his throat. So, though he is constantly among them, he is not afraid until I pick one up and show it to him or say, "My chicken!"....that really freaks him out!


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## Mugen

Here are pix of my three big boys. Aren't they cute?


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## Mugen

This is not my dog, but just an illustration of the breed. I love CMD. I do feed mine raw beef as well. I like my two Komondors negro look. I keep their hair about 3-4" long.


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## big brown horse

They are cute!


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## ksalvagno

Everyone has such nice looking dogs!

Roll, sorry for your loss. I know how hard it is.

CM, good luck with the surgery.


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## Grillo

Mugen,


Those Komondorok are the cutest thing LOL.  And full of fire I'd guess.  Funny how LGD breeds are so beautiful and they are so because of their function.


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## AlisonJ_SFW2

Okay, I just had to google "CMD" - I've never seen one before!  What gorgeous dogs!  Not to say that all the other dogs in this thread aren't gorgeous, of course!  

We don't own LGDs, but our "working" dogs are:

Zoe - Husky-mix, our Culler-of-Chickens-Stupid-Enough-to-Leave-the-Run.  The good news is, no other predators can get near the run while Zoe is at large.

Stella - Beagle-mix, Chicken-Sniffer-and-Poop-Eater.  

Jack - Mini Aussie, who spends his days trying to herd the cats.


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## Lalaith

This is Orlando.  He's a Doberman X Coon Hound.  He's an excellent guard dog and he takes very good care of his "pack" of horses, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, and donkeys.  He's getting on in age but it hasn't slowed him down at all...


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## cmjust0

I forgot about this thread.    Saw two things out of our new LGD pup yesterday that I thought were neat..

1) She chased wild birds out of the main aisle of the barn.  Chickens?  Fine..  Wild birds?  Nope...not having it.

2) Two of our does were having a serious knock-down/drag-out fight (dunno why) and she got so upset..  She's still smaller than the goats, but she tried her best to calmy intercede and break them up.  She wasn't being "the fun police" like some dogs do, coming in with teeth borne, growling and snapping when they see two other dogs playfighting...she just kept trying to walk between them like "guys, stop it...I don't like this.."

It was sweet.  

Oh...turns out that she also likes to lick goat baby faces.  The goat babies don't much care for it, but she doesn't let that stop her.


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## Lil-patch-of-heaven

Glad you brought it back up. I don't have an LGD but enjoy reading about them. 

Our dog is a German Shepherd. A herding breed and guard, yes, but risky around animals. They are my favorites though and I've owned quite a few so that's what I wanted. 

The ironic thing is that in some ways his personality is shaping up more like an lgd. As far as training, oh yeah, he gets it. Tell him once or twice and he knows perfectly well what sit, down, stay etc mean. What he DOESNT get is why he should. I mean, just because you said so? No, let's be practical here. 

He'd much rather put the goats back into the pasture (and he LOVES licking baby goat faces too and even tries to lick the does), or bark at cows that get too close to "his" animals, or make darn sure the cats don't step a paw outside because he knows I keep them INside the house. Anything like that, he's on top of it. Lie down because I say to? No, apparently that's demeaning and pointless. 

But I guess I'd rather have a dog with good common sense that learns all the truly important lessons that make living with them a joy -- but are usually harder to teach, rather than a dog that snaps out his sit/down/stays but drives me batty with general bad manners. 

He just seems wise ahead of his time -- he's not yet 6 months old. Shaping up to be a great dog though. Even though he DID grab the buckling by the ear once when he refused to go into the pasture. 

Thanks for sharing all. I enjoy hearing about your wonderful dogs. And Roll, sorry for your loss.


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## COUNTRYMAN

My right hand man "Dusty" simply put i cant imagine doing this with out him. nobody bother me, nobody bothers my animals needer


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## Grillo

Dusty has a gorgeous head.   I love G Pyrenees, but its a shame that a lot of the working dogs are so off type.  Can't blame the shepherds, they don't care about standards and type, just the performance of the dog.


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## HartRice

Mugen~ what breed of dog is the pic that you posted just a pic of that wasn't yours. it is absolutely beautiful


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## GeeseRCool

I have two wonderful border collies and I LOVE them!!!!!!


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## Grillo

My little (well no so little anymore) boy Benny is growing up.  Here's a few pictures from when he turned 5 months.















He's already barking at night and starting to discern strangers from family.  He's about to be sent to the main yard to complete his training with my older female Kira who is already doing a fine job stopping the predation that had already started before I sent her there.

Doesn't he look like those dogs you see in the old Pyrenees postcards from the early 1900s?


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## MsPony

When I lived on the goat farm we had Anatolians, and I hate/love those dogs. They were ALWAYS escaping and going on to other people ranches!! I would be driving to school or polo practice, see them on some ranch and have to run through peoples ranches to get them. They would attack other peoples animals  Looking back, I was a lot thinner back then 

The oldest, Anatolian X Akbash was the best. He was old, could still tree a cougar, when he barked I would stand at attention but he really wanted to cuddle in my bed. I miss them all.

Now I just have *this* thing, who has NO concept of protection, none. He is a retriever/hunter through and through. He brings any out of sort eggs or chickens that shouldnt be where they are. 

For the past almost week I have been trying to beat it into his head, that this new batch of chicks is HIS, his to protect, cherish and love. So far, he only gets interested when they flap around 










Scooter my 4 day old Light Brahma is barely the size of his paws!








img


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## foxywench

heartrice, the CMD is the caucasian mountain dog or caucasian ovcharka.
they are NOT a good breed for most people.  they are a wonderfull LGD's but they also tend to be on a higher human agression level than most breeds, they take standoffishness to a whole new level. and need more than a standard fence...radio/shock collars dont bother them even a little either...

they are absolutly stunning, id love a pair of ovcharka or central asian sheperds one day...


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## meme

Good luck  , I don`t have any guard dogs I have one 9 year old lab pit bull mix, and one chihuahua mix. I am ashamed though, because only one was a rescue. But I still love both my little pups. Do you want some pics of them?


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## cattlecait

Just because your pup isn't a rescue doesn't mean you should be ashamed, he's still a dog  Neither of my dogs were rescues, one was from a friend's accidental litter and the other, my Border Collie, was given to me. He'll make a beautiful stud dog someday, that's for sure!


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## BellLisaMo

Look out world... Meet my 6 month old Aussie "Hershey Kisses". He spends his days lounging around, but never fails to let me know if Javelinas are in the yard, or if the llamas are out. He also knows how to climb the ladder on the kids clubhouse and slide down the slide! ) He is a lover and is not overly hyper. He likes to lounge around when hes not walking around with me.

He can sit, fetch, shake and "come here" 







Here he is helping me in the chicken pen. He sits by the door and just makes sure the chickens don't get out of hand. Haha.






He will also be learning how to herd the goats, llamas and the cow as he gets bigger.


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## farmerJohn

Well my Luna is only 11 weeks old, but is already turning into a GREAT LGD and she has a great partner, my sister brought her dog out to meet the animals, and my little mini donk started braying and kicking his hind legs, getting the goats back into the barn, and Luna, who can still squeeze through the fence, started barking up a storm and circling my sisters dog. It was a very impressive show, all for a little jack russell/ boston terrier mix.
HAHAHAHA


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