Dogs are an important part of our life here at Ancient Ponies Farm. We arrived here with Oscar and Pumpkin, neither of whom are useful as farm dogs, though we love them dearly! 
Last May, Elka joined our family. She’s now 7 1/2 months old and is starting her training as a herding dog. In the video below you can see her first encounter with sheep. She is showing some good instinct here, which hopefully we will develop over time….and with our soon to arrive sheep. Yes, Maybelle, Oliva (Leicester Longhairs) and 
Mary Agnes (a Gotland- shown in picture) are being picked up, by Zoe and me, in two days time. Since Jasmine, Jessica and Jade are all pregnant and due in the spring, likely with twins or triplet baby goats, we thought we’d wait to breed sheep until next year.
With all of the prey animals we are now responsible for (3 sheep, 3 pregnant goats, 15 chickens and 3 ducks), we’ve been thinking a lot about getting a guardian. A fox already took one of our ducks in broad daylight while I watched. We tried two lamas but they didn’t work out.
So meet Nel. This photo is Nel at 4 weeks so you can imagine what she will ultimately look like. She is a Maremma, which is an Italian dog, bred to guard livestock. She will ultimately live in the barn with the animals and guard against fox and coyote. As we are learning to train Elka for herding, we are also reading up on how to help a livestock guard dog be the best and happiest she can be. She comes next week when she is 8 weeks old.
She will look something like this:
Hi Sharon –
There is a really wonderful farm in NY called Kinderhook and they share a lot about raising their herd dogs – the challenges and joys. I thought it might be an interesting connection for you to make as you take on a special guardian. https://www.kinderhookfarm.com
Much of what they post about the special babies that help their herd is on their Instagram page. Anyway, just thought I’d pass along as you start another new adventure!
Be Well,
Erin