# Amazing LGD Stories!!! Post 'em here!!!



## WhiteMountainsRanch (May 22, 2013)

*It'd be awesome to have a thread where everyone posts all their amazing LGD stories! I have a couple to start with but have to go out an milk goats first. *


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## terrilhb (May 22, 2013)

I look forward to reading them. This is a good idea.


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## Southern by choice (May 22, 2013)

Does looking into those big brown eyes and falling head over heals count?


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## frustratedearthmother (May 22, 2013)

The first time I was owned by a LGD was about a dozen years ago.  She was an older gal whose original owner couldn't keep anymore.  She'd never been up close and personal with any livestock even though she'd lived in close proximity.  In fact, one of the reasons her original owner couldn't keep her was because she couldn't keep her IN.

A four foot fence didn't even slow her down, a five foot fence was nothing and a six foot fence was easily surmountable.  Eventually we did our entire acerage in electric fencing - just for her.  But that isn't the point of this story...

When I first got her I would only take her around the goats (pygmy goats) on leash.  She was interested and easy going around them.  Then she got to go off-leash visitations with supervision.  After  couple weeks she was taking her job very seriously and doing well.

Around that time my DH brought home some feral hogs.  They were small-ish, about 50 lbs or so.   We fed them out for a while and just about the time we thought about butchering them, one got sick.  In fact he was so sick that I could go into their hog panel pen and give his injections twice a day without him so much as flicking an ear at me.  The injections worked and on the day of his last shot he was pretty upset with me.  I got the hog holder device and was trying to hold him with one hand and stick him with the other.  

At this point, he'd had enough shots and enough being restrained and put up a loud protest.  His brother, who at the time was in the far corner of the pen heard his squeals and thought it was his  duty to come to the aid of his brother.  He came charging across the pen huffing and growling and moving faster than I thought a big fat pig could move!  Now, by this time these hogs were a minumum of 200 lbs.  The only thought that went through my mind was that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and it wasn't gonna end pretty.

It was only a split second later that I saw a white blur come over the hog panels and head straight for that pig.  They hit in the middle and Nellie went rolling, but she rolled right onto her feet and went at that hog again.  This time she was smarter and grabbed him by the nose.  I finished the injection and high tailed it toward the fence.  I sure wasn't gonna take the time to open the gate so I leaped right over it. (kinda surprised myself, but adreneline is a wonderful thing!)  Nellie came over right with me and we both just laid on the ground trying to catch our breath.  

Oh my - if looks could kill she'da killed me on the spot, lol.  It was the look that said "look lady, I saved your bacon this time - but don't be that stupid again!"

I miss that dog.


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## Southern by choice (May 22, 2013)

Awesome!  but sad  she is gone!

and I love your first line....   





> The first time I was owned by a LGD was about a dozen years ago.


White Mountains Ranch... ya know I am gonna cry with every story!


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## frustratedearthmother (May 22, 2013)

Then we're even - cuz I cried writing/remembering it.  She was an awesome dog.

I've got Maddie now and she's coming into her own.  Very loyal, very slobbery, very ferocious bluff, lol.  She's taken a loving (more than a liking) to the little girl next door.  The other day the little girl's father was swinging her around and she was screaming and having a blast - but all Maddie heard were her screams.  Good thing she's not a fence jumper - but she gave dad a thorough chewing out.  

She was fairly slow to mature, preferring to play with neighborhood dogs rather than ask them to leave - BUT last weekend she got the chance to prove she's quite serious now.  One of the kids let a dog into 'her' pasture.  I had to intervene just to get the other dog out of the fencing cuz Maddie kept chasing her away from the gate (and the goats).  No doubt about it now who rules the roost!

Maddie came on board when we lost a couple goats to bobcats.  That hasn't happened again.  She took her time growing up - but she's all business now.


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## babsbag (May 22, 2013)

My first and favorite memory of Sigueme(means Follow Me) growing up was when she was about 5 months old. She had been with us for about 5 weeks and had never even barked. I was beginning to wonder what I had brought to my ranch. Our neighbor had a little poodle that would come to our fence line on occasion and just bark and bark at the goats and us. No real threat, just annoying. On this particular day my LGD was sitting in the field about 20' from the fence, (I have a hot wire that she respects) just watching this poodle make a fool of itself. I could see my girl trying to decide what she should do about this noise; I swear I could see the wheels in her brain turning. After about 10 minutes she decided that enough was enough and she calmly walked to the fence and let out the deepest and loudest bark that a 5 month old pup could make (I was amazed at her bark). She only barked once and that poodle turned tail and ran off as fast as possible. And Sigueme calmly turned around, went about 10', sat down and just watched the dog  run away. I know she said to herself "job well done".

It was at the moment that I knew I had made a good choice. even now, three years later, when she barks it is a calculated, there is something out there bark and I pay attention. I never tell her to be quiet, she knows better than I what lurks in the woods. Not so much with my male :/

I am in awe of them daily.


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