A Sad Morning
It was a sad morning; Beth and I had to put our dog Lucy down. We found her this morning in a road drainage ditch and she couldn’t get out because she had no use of her back legs. In the last week we noticed she had been sleeping a lot more, but it looks like her body was failing rapidly without us knowing or seeing the signs.
We got Lucy, a Great Pyrenees, when we bought our goats two years ago from an older homestead couple, who were reducing the size of their goat herd and sheep flock. Lucy was a rescue for them, and she stayed on their pasture for about five years at that point. (This is normal for Great Pyrenees and the job they were bred to do.) The folks asked us if we wanted her because they couldn’t keep up with the demands of having five Great Pyrenees. Thinking she would be a protector of our sheep, we said yes.
Lucy was in rough shape having been on pasture for so long and we figured she was about eleven or twelve years old. The biggest problem was an infection she had in her ears and worms. However Beth doctored her up and every week cleaned her ears, groomed the long hair and got her healthy again.
Lucy didn’t bond at all with our sheep and choose instead to become a porch dog. It’s amazing how much dirt a large dog can drag in daily. But as she became healthy, and settled into our farm, we began to notice that she patrolled our property daily. It took a little while to get used to her barking at night, but we would sometimes find signs of coyotes in the morning close to the house or by the sheep and goats, and we began to understand her barking for was for a good reason.
She also had the great habit of running out to the road in front of our house and staring down the car or truck that drove past. Beth said she was like "Gandalf the Gray" in the Lord of the Rings barking at the car, “You shall not pass!” Since only three or four cars pass our house on a given day, it was a nice piece of security having her alert us.
But she was also a very gentle dog around us and our family. Great Pyrenees are exceptional dogs. We are going to miss this dog, even though we only had her for two years; she was a big part of our life here.
We got Lucy, a Great Pyrenees, when we bought our goats two years ago from an older homestead couple, who were reducing the size of their goat herd and sheep flock. Lucy was a rescue for them, and she stayed on their pasture for about five years at that point. (This is normal for Great Pyrenees and the job they were bred to do.) The folks asked us if we wanted her because they couldn’t keep up with the demands of having five Great Pyrenees. Thinking she would be a protector of our sheep, we said yes.
Lucy was in rough shape having been on pasture for so long and we figured she was about eleven or twelve years old. The biggest problem was an infection she had in her ears and worms. However Beth doctored her up and every week cleaned her ears, groomed the long hair and got her healthy again.
Lucy didn’t bond at all with our sheep and choose instead to become a porch dog. It’s amazing how much dirt a large dog can drag in daily. But as she became healthy, and settled into our farm, we began to notice that she patrolled our property daily. It took a little while to get used to her barking at night, but we would sometimes find signs of coyotes in the morning close to the house or by the sheep and goats, and we began to understand her barking for was for a good reason.
She also had the great habit of running out to the road in front of our house and staring down the car or truck that drove past. Beth said she was like "Gandalf the Gray" in the Lord of the Rings barking at the car, “You shall not pass!” Since only three or four cars pass our house on a given day, it was a nice piece of security having her alert us.
But she was also a very gentle dog around us and our family. Great Pyrenees are exceptional dogs. We are going to miss this dog, even though we only had her for two years; she was a big part of our life here.
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