All the new babies are growing up quickly, entering into independence while their adult feathers spring up out of their skin. Some of you might recall I had a massacre here last May and I lost 22 laying hens (my entire flock) in one night which was the straw that broke the camel’s back! I told Robbie to bring me a Great Pyrenees puppy when he next came home from McCall and so he did and Ernest came into our lives.
Ernest has been a game changer.
We have not had a single livestock fatality or disappearance since he began patrolling at night at the age of 6 months old. He is now slightly older than a full year and he is the archangel of our farm. In the light of his bold presence on our farm we began to build our flocks again. We started 25 laying hens/roosters/bantams this spring, guinea fowl, meat birds, we have a jenny with a passel of turkleteenies (my favorite), ducks and geese. The geese stole my heart. All our critters are teetering in the awkward zone between teenager and adult but it breaks my heart a bit to see my geese growing up.
Waterfowl has started sleeping on the pond at night but when daybreak comes they are often snuggled up with Ernest on the lawn in front of our big bedroom window.
Nothing on our farm fears Ernest, it’s remarkable to watch.
I have been remiss with farm postings! I shall try to take some photos in the coming weeks — all is very alive and well here on Sundries Farm.
Ernest the Archangel.
Makes me smile to picture the waterfowl curled up in sleep next to Ernest.
x
Everything curls up with Ernest, even RHUBARB curls up with Ernest and he’s such a crusty, aloof, battle cat these days…even he loves Ernest.
I must know more!!! Did you have to do any training for Ernest or was it all instinctual? Does he come inside at all? Where does he sleep (I guess he can’t be patrolling if he’s snoozing in bed with me)? We have been holding off (for years) on getting chickens for fear of the carnage possibilities that you so unfortunately had to deal with. We are softies – it would break my heart and my husband will blame himself mercilessly. BUT, if we can get a guardian angel…
Yes! We have done a lot of training with Ernest and work with Ernest but there is a difference between trained traits and instinctual traits in working dogs. The instinct to watch and care for animals he considered his “flock” is specific to the breed. Good manners is not. Basic obedience is not. This is an ancient breed, a very primal breed, a working dog breed.
He comes into the front entryway of our house in the mornings and sometimes in the afternoon if I am working in my studio and he seems to want to be around me. Otherwise, he is outside full time. He never comes in at night. And he doesn’t want to. He wants to be on patrol. Even if it’s snowing or raining or the winds are ripping at 50mph. He wants to be outside. He works all night long and sleeps most of the day but beyond his work habits, this breed is actually nocturnal.
I do not recommend this breed for small jobs or small properties. This breed is intended to care for large flocks of animals in big spaces. These dogs are very independent and tend to wander. Ernest patrols 15 fenced (no-climb fencing) acres here and we keep our entry gates shut all day and all night and if we didn’t have a secured perimeter to keep Ernest IN he would be ranging all over the countryside 24/7, chasing cars, chasing UTVs, following our own cars as we leave our property…it would be a disaster. My point here is I think 15 acres is a small space for this working breed. While we are on the topic, I like to be as honest about this breed as possible, when our property is under predatory pressure, Ernest will sometimes bark all night long. He’s doing his job. It’s ok with me. But if you have neighbors who are sensitive to barking dogs and night noise (or if they’re just generally cranky and hard to please) they will hate you and your Great Pyreneese. There are nights when Ernest will not bark at all. He only barks when he’s working predators. But when something is lurking around the edges of our place or the coyote packs are passing through or if there’s a skunk walking along the fence or a bobcat or whatever, he’s shouting at the top of his lungs about it.
The last thing I will say is while these dogs are gentle giants, they are very difficult to do obedience training with because of the independence I mentioned in the previous paragraph. They’re born and bred to do their own thing at their own rate of speed. If you suck at training dogs and working with animals, you will probably wind up with an out of control 120-150lb dog.
I try to be really honest about this breed. Thank you for asking about it!!!
This was a very useful description of the breed. Thank you for going into so much detail!
Cuddle puddle!!