New Puppies

Yesterday we traveled to the panhandle to pick up our new puppies. Just a five hour jaunt to the big city of Holt, FL. The sky was overcast as we went through patches of rain on I10 and we arrived just as the clouds cleared.

Draggin' Acres Farm is a shady maze of paddocks filled with big goats, tiny goats, one cat and about 5 Great Pyrenees dogs. The puppies met us at the gate along with their mother, and human mother, Brooke. She gave us the "tour" all along introducing us to the new arrivals in the baby goat department. There were a few I could have scooped up and put into the extra dog crate we brought, but I resisted.

Brooke's puppies are raised with the goats 24/7. All the dogs and the goats act as a herd together and the dogs take on the responsibilities of protectors as they get older. The bond they form is strong enough for the dogs to risk their lives for the animals they protect. There are other guardian breeds of dogs, but we chose the Great Pyrs because of their good temperament with people. At least that has been our experience. Lilly, our first guardian puppy also came from Brooke last year. In fact, these two new fluffy bundles are her half-sister and half-brother. Hopefully Lilly will be interested enough in them to teach them what happens here on our farm. Brooke didn't have any chickens so that will be a new adventure.

What made the day even better was having Catherine, our daughter, drive over from Alabama and meet us for lunch then travel with us to Brooke's farm. She was the photographer and the one who keeps me on my toes about blogging and all that computer stuff. (thank you sweetheart)

 Ziggy and Cricket are our newest arrivals. I think they've melted Bill's heart already. Now they get to start farm school and the best part is they get to eat all the chicken they can hold.