Tubby Dog 007

Tubby is the coolest guardian dog in the world.  First let me explain the role of the dogs and how important they are to the ranch and the protection of the sheep.   Livestock guardian dogs (LGD) stay with the group of animals they protect as a full-time member of the flock or herd. Their ability to guard their herd is mainly instinctive, as the dog is bonded to the herd from an early age.  Unlike the often smaller herding dogs that control the movement of the livestock, LGDs blend in with them, watching for intruders within the flock.  The dogs are introduced to livestock as puppies so they "imprint" on the animals. This imprinting is thought to be largely olfactory and occurs between 3 and 16 weeks of age. An LGD raised with sheep will generally not be an effective guardian of cattle or goats and one raised with cattle will not be an effective guardian of goats or sheep. The imprinting is critical because LGDs tend to behave in a non-predatory and protective way only with animal species they have been raised with.  Thank you wikipedia!  Basically, these dogs are badasses.  

Today I went out with Henry and Carlos on their morning chores.  We took corn to 3 difference bands of sheep.  The first stop was where Tubby and Charlie (another LGD) were.  Just to give you an idea, this group of sheep (aka "band" of sheep) is about 7 miles away from the ranch.  On almost a daily basis Tubby will make his way to the ranch in the morning, toodle around checking in with everyone to make sure they are ok, then he heads back to the band of sheep.  14 miles... almost everyday.  Henry's dad was telling me the other day that Tubby would run/walk (whatever dogs do) over 30 miles a day in the summer when he is out in other areas of the state.  WTF?  Little do we know that Tubby actually runs this ranch.  I mean that is so cool that he just knows where to go and what to do.  Something that is pretty neat about Tubby (more than 500 things I already said) is he is super friendly.  Sometimes these dogs, especially ones that have been living with the sheep since they were puppies aren't necessarily the sweetest, or friendliest but whenever I see Tubby, he comes over for a good head rub and then gets on his way.  I kind of think that Tubby is like the Fonz from Happy Days kind of coolness.

Stoic Tubby 

Happy Tubby

Because these dogs are larger than small humans most people don't have these types of dogs as house pets.  EXCEPT my grandparents, yep...head over to their house and you will encounter a very large, very white dog in their kitchen, her head is about level with the counter, makes stealing food very easy for her, not that she isn't handed every treat by hand anyway...