Between South Dakota and Wyoming, on the one day that neither Robert nor I was here at the farm, all 22 of my chickens were killed by a predator. The death toll over a two week span here was actually 22 chickens, 3 ducks and our tom turkey but losing all 22 chickens in one day really blew the roof off my head. I phoned Robbie up at work before departing for Wyoming and I told him, “Please bring home a Great Pyrenees puppy this weekend, I won’t go another day without one.”

While our decision to add Ernest to the farm might seem like a rash one, we’ve been discussing picking up a guardian dog for our livestock for over two years now. Every summer I have suffered heavy predation issues at the farm. The first year I had what I believe was a mountain lion plucking full grown turkeys off of 6ft tall perches. The reason I think it was a lion is because this predator was burgling 25lb birds without any struggle and was walking straight off our property with them. I don’t care what anyone says. No skunk, coyote, fox or bobcat could have managed that. It was a lion.

Anyway, it became apparent early on that we would eventually have to bring home a guardian dog for our livestock and my only regret is that we didn’t do it sooner! It’s going to take a while for Ernest to grow up and be big enough and strong enough to do the task he was bred and born to do. I wish we had started a pup two years ago!

Let me tell you about him. We named him for both Shackleton and Hemingway and because we would like him to do his job earnestly. He is so very hairy which is a real novelty since our other dogs have flat coats. His fur is incredible, it’s soft and silky and curly and almost the texture of lamb fleece which is very interesting to me. He has a long tail that he sometimes carries straight down and parallel with his legs, sometimes it sticks up straight like a lightning rod, other times it’s curled softly around off to the side, it’s such an expressive part of him. I love to notice everything he says with it. He’s CHILL. He’s very different from the last three dogs we have raised — all of which were/are high-octane German Shorthaired Pointers from heavy hunting bloodlines. Ernest gets the zoomies from time to time but for the most part he is quite relaxed, naps a lot or just lays down and watches the world. Farley, Tater Tot and Penelope all have extremely strong senses of smell. Ernest seems to have an acute sense of sight and hearing. I watch him when he is laying in the shade and he is continually responding to sounds and sights, filtering everything he senses. Two days ago he stood up and let out his first alarm bark — he planted his feet, brought his tail up, put his chest out and let out some adorable woofs. His bark will be scary when he is full grown, we’re counting on it. Because Ernest is intended as a working dog on our farm, he will live outside full-time and since the day he arrived he has been sleeping alone in the safety of his guardian quarters over in the horse paddocks where the chicken coops are. He spends all the daylight hours out and about with the dogs and I and the cats and the horses and when night comes, I tuck him into bed. He already has a strong sense of place and a general grip on some of the rules around here and I see him growing in confidence daily.

Lastly, it is such a joy to have a new little guy to tend to during the fire season while Robbie is away working. I like that Ernest is easy going, he forces me to slow down which is a serious struggle for me in the summertime when there is so much to do around here. He keeps me in the present even more than my other dogs do.

Ernest, you’re going to be such a great friend to all your friends and such an utter terror to all your enemies. Welcome home, little boy!