Hello everyone,
I have a dog post for pony Sunday. It's partly a follow up to this story and a mix of bittersweet.
And on a sad note, we learned last week that the other female, Candy, an anatolian shepherd, finally died. She was a legend in our village in the wrong way ; she terrorised most of the villagers and dozens of hikers. As a runner, I had been terrified of her for the eleven years I was coming here. She bit me once several years ago but most times I made a huge detour so as not to come near her. But the shepherds loved her, because she was the best LGD around to handle the wolves. Not only was she fearless, she was also very clever. The wolves are intelligent and they usually attack the herd in several points simultaneously and she understood that perfectly. She was wounded twice and she was the best defender, Gaston her owner even used to lend her for two weeks or so when another herd was attacked by wolves so she would help keeping them away.
She had cancer and was covered in tumours at the end. Maxime, the young shepherd who took the herd over, hesitated to have her euthanised, but they decided to keep her in the mountain next to the sheeps in a small stable with heavy doses of pain medicine.
Quite a few people said good riddance, but each of the shepherds who worked with her was very sad. It feels like the end of an era for me. I have very few pictures of her for obvious reason, this is one when I helped tag the sheeps in 2021. I am glad she is not in pain anymore and I think letting her die naturally was maybe the right thing to do in her case.
I have a dog post for pony Sunday. It's partly a follow up to this story and a mix of bittersweet.
The nice stuff first , this week, I finally got to meet the little LGD puppy with his daddy and mummy, Typhon and Alice ! Alice is now very old and she stayed out of reach. Typhon is the sweetest LGD I've ever met ; once he recognised me he came for cuddles. The puppy followed and wanted to jump on my legs and then come running with me, but his daddy explained to him no, they had to stay with the ewes and lambs. It was awesome to watch !And I have a cute story to share on a more optimistic note- circle of life and all that. It's not about chickens though so I will pay tax. The sheeps came back from spending winter in the plain at the end of January. They are staying in their new mountain shelter for lambing season, so the LGD's were sent back up there with them. The oldest, a Great Pyrenneese called Alice, looked very tired and was staying inside the little goat stable a week before the sheeps arrived. Everyone thought she was isolating to die so they brought her some hay for warmth, food, and left her quiet. But just when the sheeps came back, when they went to see her, they found a surprise - she had given birth to a puppy ! Because there was only one and Alice is so old, it didn't show. It is healthy and growing up fine and Marion and Maxime, the owners, are very happy as usually they are attributed adult LGD'S by the state and they are a lot more difficult to work with than a baby that will grow next to the herd.
Near where the ewes stay to lamb.
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Chicken tax : BFTP of my ex-batt's. Only Blanche and Nougat are still with me now.
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And on a sad note, we learned last week that the other female, Candy, an anatolian shepherd, finally died. She was a legend in our village in the wrong way ; she terrorised most of the villagers and dozens of hikers. As a runner, I had been terrified of her for the eleven years I was coming here. She bit me once several years ago but most times I made a huge detour so as not to come near her. But the shepherds loved her, because she was the best LGD around to handle the wolves. Not only was she fearless, she was also very clever. The wolves are intelligent and they usually attack the herd in several points simultaneously and she understood that perfectly. She was wounded twice and she was the best defender, Gaston her owner even used to lend her for two weeks or so when another herd was attacked by wolves so she would help keeping them away.
She had cancer and was covered in tumours at the end. Maxime, the young shepherd who took the herd over, hesitated to have her euthanised, but they decided to keep her in the mountain next to the sheeps in a small stable with heavy doses of pain medicine.
Quite a few people said good riddance, but each of the shepherds who worked with her was very sad. It feels like the end of an era for me. I have very few pictures of her for obvious reason, this is one when I helped tag the sheeps in 2021. I am glad she is not in pain anymore and I think letting her die naturally was maybe the right thing to do in her case.
