We fell in love with livestock guardian dogs through our acquaintance with a sheep farmer in the early 2010’s. Her sheep grazed our back pasture and every day, we fed the dogs who guarded the sheep. The sheep farmer left, and shortly after, we were offered Pearl, a Great Pyrenees.
Pearl
Pearl was a rescue, so we never had any medical records, and don’t know her age, but we are guessing she was born in 2010. She had a series of expensive illnesses, and, her disposition made up for everything.
Pearl was calm, canny, stoic, noble, and intelligent; she was always several steps ahead of us in any breaking situation. She trained up several young pups to be fine guardian dogs, and presided over all of us with a high degree of patience and good humor.
We brought grazers here for Pearl. Pearl turned us into farmers. Pearl was our rock.
We had multiple failed attempts to breed Pearl. They ended with the tragedy of a single, stillborn pup. Turns out that she had too short a uterus to safely breed, a fact missed by the vet in charge of the first attempts. So, her legacy is in her teaching. We consider ourselves lucky still, because she transmitted, effortlessly, all that is right and proper for a livestock guardian dog to be.
In 2021, with the help of CBD oil and anti-inflammatory meds, even though crippled, Pearl was *still* going out to pasture. And when cooler, wiser heads were needed, Pearl was invited to step in, and, effortlessly, with ultimate grace, handled whatever needed handling. We recognize that in many ways, Pearl was just more evolved than any of us.
Pearl passed out of her body on August 7, 2021. Pup and Rosie realized they had to step up, and they did. Farewell, our teacher of a warrior heart with great compassion.
Alexei Alexander Pupovitch
Alexei Alexander Pupovich, aka “Pup,” is much larger than Pearl, and seven years younger. And until she became too crippled, she could still beat him. Alexei brought Pearl to life again, out of her deep grief over the loss of her last partner and the dead puppy.
Pup is a goofy, noble, mischievous, naughty guardian dog. His personality chases away our blues. His love is radiant, and he wants to please, but maintains his independence.Just when we think he is settled, he shows us that we can’t take him for granted. It was a big, big day when we changed the order of feeding so that Pup is now fed first instead of Pearl. He seemed to visibly swell with pride.
Pup is exquisitely sensitive to any slight to his status as head of the pack and the flock. He still needed Pearl emotionally for years; he loved to hang around near her.
Rosie
In 2018 we brought home baby Rosie, looking toward the hard day when Pearl won’t be able to go to work out in the pasture.
We chose Rosie because her nature is more intellectual, against Pup’s spontaneous, passionate, emotional ways; we thought they would make a good team, and they do. Rosie is a strategic thinker. She is reserved and obedient. She is capable of intrigue, but, rarely uses it.Shockingly, Rosie grew to be even larger than Pup; she is a giant dog. She loves to smell your breath in the morning: “What did you eat for breakfast?” She bumps into you when walking to and from the daily grazing pasture; it seems to be a combination of a desire to express a little dominance, and, a desire for affection.
Rosie often spontaneously lies on her back and rolls around for the sheer joy of life. There is a delicious frisson about it; we realized that she is inviting Pup to play-attack her. She delights in attention and recognition. She is a good-natured, calm, willing, curious, intelligent companion to all.
The Pack
The pack is evolving all the time as life’s conditions change. The younger dogs matured. Pearl became more frail. We add animals. We have guests. Our neighbors change. Every little wrinkle is noted, added in, and handled.
Pearl sleeps on the farmhouse side of the property some nights now, to guard her humans and chickens, to have less running around.
Rosie and Pup now are a bonded pair. When Rosie was an infant, Pearl was cold and jealous. Pearl immediately understood why Rosie was there: to replace Pearl when age took her out of the life Pearl loved. Pearl washed her hands of raising Rosie after Amy intervened in a disciplinary matter: “Fine, you take care of raising her.” And that was that. So, way too early in his then-adolescent-dog life, Pup had most of the dog-raising of Rosie.