When we returned home to our ranch from Wyoming, both Lee and I were eager to be with our dogs. We have five dogs now, Butch and Atticus, the two Great Pyrenees as well three mixed breed dogs, Osita (“Little Bear”), Yeti (yes she really does have large feet), and Salty (whose full name is actually Saltalamacchia, but that is another story). Just like a busy human family, it seems impossible to get everyone together for a group picture.
This dog herd is full of personalities and each dog has its own unique way of making him or her self at home here at Whispering Spirit Alpacas. Osita, the rule enforcer, guards the biscuit box to make sure that Yeti (who is a biscuit junky) doesn’t sneak one when no one is looking. Osita has all the house rules down pat and enforces them with her quiet insistence.
Yeti is the social dog. She loves her cats, biscuits, toys, chasing the neighbors’ dogs along the fence line, and accompanying Danita as she feeds the cats and alpacas.
Yes, everyone is friendly both with humans and with each other. Salty and Atticus still wrestle like they did when Attticus was a puppy, but the play has a more ferocious sound since Atticus found his large dog voice (he is still practicing his howl). And yes, he does pin the feisty Salty to the ground for brief moments. Sundance periodically lectures Atticus with a huge dog voice to remind the kid about the proper decorum around the mature Great Pyrenees.
And of course there are those wonderful moments when all of the dogs are sleeping and dreaming of the nights work of keeping the coyotes at bay.
Sandy
Leave a Reply