I'm new here too - I openned your post because I have deeep roots in upstate NY. Where are you from? I'm in NJ now, but I grew up in Binghamton, went to school in Buffalo, and vacation every summer at Letchworth. My kids have grown up loving upstate ny and the 2 oldest went to college there.
And THEN i read that you have an american eskimo! So do we! Merlin is an awesome dog around us, but he's kind of a beast around strangers. How does your Westley do around the chickens? I'm hoping he won't stress them out too much. But I know we'll have to protect them from him.
Then I saw in Unclebeans reply that they raise keeshonds - which was our dog BEFORE Merlin. So this thread made me happy.