Can  you guess what search term  brings people to this blog every single day? Sheep maybe? Or yarn?

Nope. Day in and day out, the number one search by far term is…dogs. Isn’t that weird? Cause a google search for the word “dogs” brings up 201,000,000 hits. And somehow, lots and lots of people who search for dogs wind up here.

Since I believe in giving the people what they want, today’s post is all about the brilliant, lovable goofballs that protect the sheep and goats at Juniper Moon Farm.

Fettucini, Sabine and Lucy are Maremma livestock guardian dogs. Maremmas are an Italian breed and have only been in the U.S. for about 20 years, but they’ve been used since the 15th century. Livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) are not herding dogs- there only job is to protect their flock from predators. In our case, the predators that threaten our flock are coyotes, bears, but mostly domestic dogs.

The dogs are with the flock 24/7 from the time they are born. This is upsetting to some people who don’t understand how we can leave the dogs outside when it’s raining or snowing. You have to understand that these are working dogs, not pets. Their reason for being is their flock and they would be miserable and antsy without a job.

That being said, my dogs are as sweet as strawberry pie. We work hard to socialize them as puppies for a couple of reasons. First, aggressive dogs are unpredictable and I wouldn’t allow an unpredictable dog anywhere near my sheep. Also, our farm is always open to visitors. We don’t want anyone to feel intimidated while they are here. Finally, aggressive dogs are a big insurance liability.

Ernie and Sabine

My dogs have very different personalities. Fettucini is my oldest dog; we call him Cini (pronounced Chee-knee). Cini is my hardest working dog by far. Nothing gets past him. Cini is motivated by praise, primarily from me.

Cini is all business.

But he’s always gentle with the sheep and goats.

Sabine is Cini’s daughter. She is lighthearted and silly, but she is serious when she feels her flock is threatened. Most of the time though, Sabine wants to be loved on. She is a people dog for sure.

Cini and Sabine

Lucy is our youngest Maremma and she is a handful. Actually, all of my Maremma puppies have been handfuls with the exception of Cini- he was born perfect. I love Lucy dearly but I cannot wait until she isn’t a puppy anymore. Unlike Cini and Sabine, Lucy is motivated by food. Also unlike the other dogs, she is a dog’s dog. Lucy would much rather be with Cini and Sabine than me any day of the week. Lucy also might be the smartest of my dogs. I think she is going to be a great guard dog when she grows up. Time will tell.

Lucy was the cutest puppy ever.

This is my favorite Lucy photo. She’s trying to get Cini up to play.

Mudpuppy

Lucy will be bred to Cini when she is two. We’ll probably keep one or two of the puppies and find homes for the rest on working sheep farms.

Sabine and Cini at work.

House guests sometimes get worried when they hear the dogs barking at night but that’s exactly when I don’t worry. Barking dogs mean I can sleep easily.

Here’s something you may not know about me: I am a freak. No matter how excited I am about going on an adventure I always get anxious and homesick even before I leave the farm. When I went out to feed the flock tonight I was on the verge of tears. How can I possibly contemplate going away for 6 whole days?

Oh how I will miss that tiny little lamb!

How can I leave Sabine and Lucy?

And Cini! He’s the hardest working livestock guardian dog in show biz.

But he also has a hilarious side. Just look at that smile!

I will even miss the pesky Hannah.

I will especially miss my sweet Gulliver. He is really a one woman dog and he gets kind of depressed when I’m away. Seriously, Maggie has to force him to get out of bed every day when I’m gone.

I’m sure I’ll have a great time at Squam. And I’m even surer I’ll be super-excited to get back to the farm on Sunday.

Check out this mud puppy next to Sabine.

As the snow melts, we move from winter into mud season, that short but seemingly-endless time between Winter and Spring.  Yuck.

Everyone is Jonesing for green grass, green leaves, green anything.

The ewes are knee-deep in mud and fed-up. How many days till Spring?

Sorry for the infrequent posting of late: our internet access has been whacked out for about a week, making it especially difficult to upload photos. The situation seems to be improving, though, so expect more pics all week.

In share news, we are prepping the undyed Fall Shares for shipment now. The first batch will be going out tomorrow!

Can I be honest? I was kind of dreading getting back to the farm today. I missed my flock and my dogs and even my bed, but the lack of electricity and company were daunting. (Paige is in California visiting her father this week.) I not in the mood for roughing it in my own home.

But once I pulled into the driveway I felt my equilibrium was restored. The farm looked absolutely beautiful and it was so quiet and peaceful.

We have a few trees down.

Our driveway still hasn’t been plowed, so I had to park by the road.

Of course, my first stop was the barn to check on the lambs and kids. Dimples was modeling some serious hay-head.

The dogs were super-happy to see me.

We brought the little lambs into the barn during the storm. They don’t have as much body fat as the big sheep and they were looking a little miserable.

They were happy to see me too,

but only because I had a pocket full of animal crackers.

I love the chicken footprints in the snow.

The snow hasn’t stopped the hens from laying.

Alabama (right) is now officially bigger than his mama, Daisy (left).

It was so great to be home that not having electricity or running water didn’t seem like such a big deal. Which is good, because it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting power back tonight. And tomorrow? More snow!

Yesterday, 13,000 of my neighbors and I lost power for about 12 hours. Honestly, it wasn’t a huge deal. I spent the day reading and napping instead of sewing and blogging. Our house is new and very solidly built, so it didn’t even cool off all that much.

Losing power at my house also means losing water and phone service. Unfortunately, I hadn’t yet called Tosh to ask him to plow when the power went out, so I was stuck at home for a bit. Because Tosh is my hero, he showed up on his own around three, but by then it was to close to time to feed the animals for me to go into Charlottesville.

It was a lovely, quiet day here. Luckily, my camera batteries were charged and I can share some of it with you.

I am so full of gratitude these days. That I get to live in such a beautiful place. That I get to live this life. I’ve never felt more at home.

I’m spending the weekend off the farm in Washington D.C. but I had to share these pics with you.This is Cini as a puppy.

Cini now.

Sabine, five minutes old.

Sabine at two days old.

Sabine at six weeks old.

Sabine now.

Lucy

Lucy again.

One of the great joys of my life has been watching these dogs grow from tiny puppies into loyal, reliable dogs whose life work is to protect their flock.

Before you know it, Lucy and Cini will be having puppies of their own.

Sometimes, I really can’t believe how lucky I am.

I left the house today for the first time since Thursday.

It was highly over-rated.

I’m beginning to think I would be the perfect candidate for house arrest.

Tomorrow I’m staying home.

Bring on the snow.

The lovely

and amazing

and speedy

Miss Luccia. Commonly known as Lucy.

Thanks so much to everyone for your suggestions. I really, really wanted to like Luna but it just didn’t feel right. I was really drawn to Wendy’s suggestion:

Then my mom called and suggested Lucy and I knew we had a winner.

Lucy is a snuggle bug. When I go out the barn to check on her, she immediately climbs into my lap, buries her head in my shoulder and snoozes. She reminds me so much of Biscotti at this age.

I can’t wait for you all to meet Lucy. Don’t forget, we’re having a Solstice Party on December 19th here at the farm. It’s potluck and all are welcome.

Thanks so much for all of your great name suggestions. I’ve actually picked a name from the comments but I want to live with it for couple of days just to be sure before I tell you.