The Beginning

Me and my first cat, Snowshoe.

When I was a child I used to collect pets--at least as much as my parents would allow. I dreamed of owning a pet store someday. No mammals were allowed (too smelly and messy), but between my dad's biology classroom and my own collection I cared for various types of fish, hermit crabs, anole lizards, an iguana, a turtle, salamanders, a king snake, a tarantula, and after awhile, my parents broke down an allowed an outdoor cat.

I can't say I did much training with them. Back in the day before the internet I had to rely on what library books were available to me. I had a leash for my iguana (not very effective) but that was the extent of any pet training. It never occurred to me to try to train a tarantula or a snake. (I have since learned you can train just about anything, even a fish).

As I got older my interest in animals faded. They eventually died or donated to my dad's school and I was a busy and distracted teenager. I decided that caring for animals was too much trouble and dropped my plans for a pet store. My interests went more toward music and I eventually became a kindergarten teacher (kind of like animal training, I know :)).

Fast forward twelve  years or so and I end up living on an eight acre parcel of land. As it turns out, deer stay away from your garden if you have a dog barking at them so we ended up getting a livestock guardian dog to guard the garden (and I did end up getting chickens a few years before this) and the chickens. I also got goats to help train and keep my dog company. The desire to train this rescue dog is what got me interested in positive animal training. The only LGD training resource I could find was the Livestock Guardian Dogs and Positive Training Methods  page. I am incredibly grateful that I found this page before other more conventional training pages for reason
s I'll be sure to discuss in later posts.

I am now the happy caretaker of two livestock guardian dogs, 3 goats, and eventually I will add chickens, geese, more goats, and a few cows, and a house dog to the mix. Working with these animals has been a real joy and I hope you will find enjoyment with me as I continue to learn about how to care for and train these animals. 

Zeus (back), is an Akbash dog I brought home at age 2.
Hera (front), is a Great Pyrenees I brought home at age 5 months.

Xandie (mama Boer goat), and Fluffy and Chess (Boer/Savannah crosses) mowing the lawn.