Building healthy livestock guardian dog pack hierarchy
Tarma Shena discusses makes up a healthy livestock guardian dog pack hierarchy, as Tanaka decides she deserves the same respect as everyone else.
The tale of a livestock guardian dog and a cat
Tarma Shena shares how Bridger, her good, veteran livestock guardian dog, was bad. All because of a cat.
Teach livestock guardian dogs to use their imaginations
For Tarma Shena, patience is key in livestock guardian dog training. So is a dog's ability to entertain itself. Case in point: Punica and the squirrel
Preservation breeding vs. purpose bred LGDs
Does the term "preservation breeding" work for livestock guardian dog breeding? Tarma Shena takes a closer look.
Learning proper lambing behavior key for young LGDs
Training young livestock guardian dogs during lambing can be time consuming, but Tarma Shena shares why it is an important job for the shepherd.
How should we define a livestock guardian dog’s intelligence?
Does thinking differently, having different priorities, or different solutions make a species more or less intelligent than humans? Why do we care so much?
Planning never stops with livestock guardian dogs
A busy spring has Tarma Shena considering the next steps for her livestock guardian dog pack.
A tale of two puppies
One puppy is easy. The other has sass and intelligence to spare. Tarma Shena begins her journey in raising them both, individually, and as part of the pack.
Let’s talk about squash
Tarma Shena and everyone on farm — even the livestock guardian dogs — enjoy the fruits of their gardening labors, including squash. So much squash.
Don’t pigeonhole a livestock guardian dog’s intelligence
Bridger is in charge of our unruly, free-ranging, tree-sleeping poultry, the house, yard and us. Although she has filled many positions on this farm, part of having an intelligent dog is respecting that intelligence, and Bridger has had a hand in selecting her duties.
