Puppy Love

Our sweet and awesome Great Pyrenees, Remi(ngton) recently had her first litter of puppies. After years of failed attempts at using different dogs as livestock guardians, we are so thankful for ‘the right tool for the right job’ as Bull Frog learned to say from Andy. We’d been given dogs in the past and had some wander onto our farms and they just never made the cut. Unfortunately, we lost our hard earned investments to the paws and jaws of some of those dogs and learned a million hard and painful lessons.

We were discouraged because our stewardship of dogs was looking bleak and poor and our resolve was quite different than the mainstream’s opinion of keeping pooches on a pedestal. We just couldn’t do it. Dogs either have a place on our homestead where they work and provide protection or they don’t.

We can’t keep dogs just for the sake of keeping them. They work just like every other animal we have, except for maybe the silkies which are purely entertainment. Silkie’s eggs are fine, but their meat is a bit too ‘gamey’ so they are strictly for fun, but they 100% free range and we put zero effort into keeping them alive, so they stay. Dogs on the other hand need regular maintenance, care and upkeep and finally, after years of failure in the canine department (ever tried using a golden retriever as a guard dog?) we have arrived!

My first introduction to Great Pyrenees came when I had the awesome privilege of taking care of the sweetest heart with cerebral palsy. He had this big beautiful Great Pyrenees named Tosca who you just didn’t want to mess with. She was bonded to her boy and his mom like you wouldn’t believe. Tosca has now passed the baton to George since she’s gone to the grave, but meeting her and knowing her loyalty to her bond made a lasting impression.

I loved her loyalty, confidence, gorgeous double coat and size. I loved that when she knew you were ‘approved’ by her master then she’d let her guard down a bit and I loved that my sweet charge had this beautiful guard dog by his side and now another one.

Fast forward a few years and Andy and I are married and farming. When you’re immersed into a culture, whatever it be (church, skateboarding, rock climbing, sustainable farming, other countries, etc) you learn the ways of the culture and the how tos and what nots. When we started farming, we dove in headfirst and with everything we had. We tried everything and then some, we read books, networked, watched videos, went to conferences, you name it. With that, came the big names of farm/ranch dogs and livestock guardian dogs: Anatolian Shepherds, Great Pyrenees, Blue Heelers, etc.

We’d done lots of research and knew we needed a breed to protect our flocks and herds. We had donkeys (and still do) for the larger animals (milk cow and now beef cows), but we needed something protecting the sheep, the chickens and even the goats (although Andy would just as soon use goats as coyote bait-not truly but he and the goats butt heads-truly).

We needed a dog that would keep the other animals safe from predators like hawks, foxes, stray dogs, coyotes and we needed a dog that would be a well rounded asset and able to be versatile on the farm/homestead. Enter the Great Pyrenees.

Y’all this story is getting long and I’m not sure where to cut it off or how much detail to go into, but I am just ecstatic about these dogs. I’m especially ecstatic because Family Tree Farm has 2 Great Pyrenees that we found last year from two breeders in North GA and we were recently given another one, who has helped train the other 2 and brought a ton of balance to the place. Remi hadn’t even worked a farm full-time when we got her! She is just that awesome!

We picked up Remi from Rockin H farm near Athens and you’d think she’d been born here when in fact, we are third (and final!) home! After all of our tried and failed attempts of assimilating other dogs to become livestock guardians and not chicken killers, we have finally succeeded! Finally!!!

Our goals of breeding a line of dogs that will benefit the small homestead needing a dog to lookout for a variety of animals to the family wanting a dog to lookout for their children to the large farming operation needing a dog to protect their hundreds of pastured chickens or sheep or goats is coming to fruition. With the help of a strong, healthy sire and Remi’s field partner and Remi’s awesome genetics and temperament, we have our first litter of what we hope to be a long line of fantastic farm dogs: welcome to the world little pups! We are so glad you’re here!