11 months old

A cute picture

I took this picture back on April 2nd. I thought it was cute of Arie and a sheep peaking through the fence.

Fencing

Fencing~ As of yesterday we've nearly completed reinforcing the entire perimeter of an existing paddock with cattle fencing, to be more secure for small livestock and Arie. We originally built it to keep in horses. It's approximately 350' x 130' , just over 1 acre, and is enclosed with 4 strands of high tensile electric wire. Later we added 3 more strands of low tensile electric to keep in sheep. This was good until a few of the woolly creatures found out that if they pushed through quickly they could escape without getting zapped. So a couple years ago we stopped using it for the sheep since every couple days we'd have to round up a few renegades who thought the grass was "greener" on the other side.

All we need to do now is re-string some of the low tensile electric and add a strand to some low spots, check the electric connections and it will be ready to go. This should keep in any dog as well. Even if the electric quits working it would keep Arie in long enough for me to find the malfunction. Our experience with electric fencing is that it is not fool proof. A number of factors can cause it to stop working, bad connections or even dry conditions can make it fail. We have pure sand under our top soil so drought conditions will cause a bad ground. During those times we pour water on the ground rods.

So yesterday after I installed a new gate I immediately took Arie out there for a good run. I have read that Kangals will explore the far perimeters of any enclosure and she held true to the what is said about them. Right away she trotted down around the pond and followed the very edge of the fence. I was happy that every little bit she would look in my direction keeping aware of my whereabouts. She explored the other side of the pond. Soon she worked her way back toward me and I got to see her run at or near full speed. Very impressive! I've heard that Kangal Dogs are fast but, I finally got to see it first hand. I've seen her run in a smaller 100' x 100' corral, but there isn't enough space to go full out.

We had to go some place so I only let Arie stay out there for about 20 minutes. Later today I plan to spend some more time with her out there. Today we are getting another snow storm so we are taking a break from working on the fence.

Before anything we had to clear out the weeds.

The paddock is just over an acre. The spring fed pond is in the low spot at the tree line.

Shedding

About a week ago our snow finally melted with temperatures in the 6o's. And corresponding to the melt Aire has just begun shedding her winter coat. Last week I noticed a change in her coats appearance and texture. This week it is beginning to form little clumps that can be easily pulled out. The shedding process is starting. From pictures I've seen of Kangals that are shedding they look very similar to how my Siberian Husky used to shed. Kind of wolf like and in clumps. Come summer my husky took on a more sleek appearance. I think Arie's coat will be similar to that.

Spring time snow storm

We have quite a bit of deer bones and scraps that I have been feeding Arie all through the winter. In the below pictures she is enjoying cleaning up any left over meat sticking to a leg bone. These pictures were taken just days ago after we got a big spring snow storm here in the northwoods.

Arie gets every bit of meat off the bones as shown in this picture. And eventually will gnaw the bone down to pretty much nothing.

Here she is relaxing after having gotten her fill.

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Last week I heard Arie howling for the first time. Some fire engines were going on a call, sounding their sirens which made her howl. I was surprised at how much she sounded like a wolf. She had a long, deep and drawn out howl which sounded remarkably like a wolf.

And speaking of wolves I have been hearing reports that the wolf pack is back in the area as people have been hearing them in various places. They had moved on the better part of last year and now they are back which makes me glad we have Arie. I realize she alone would be no match against a pack but, she can at least alert us if any comes anywhere near the animals.

I noticed something recently as Arie is spending more and more time with the main flock. She likes to lay amongst the sheep when I throw down fresh hay as shown in the picture from the last post. The thing I noticed is she almost mimics the sheep when they munch on the hay. She sees them doing it and now she has begun nibbling on it too. The first time I saw it was on a night like in the below picture, Arie was all stretched out being lazy, she worked her self over towards some fresh hay and began chewing on it. She wasn't eating it but, it sure seemed like she was imitating what she saw. I thought that was a very interesting thing. I've never seen anything like that, up until now that is, since she has done it numerous times since.

Doing great

I've been thoroughly enjoying watching Arie behave well with the sheep. I've always enjoyed seeing ruminants out grazing and it is the same for me to see Arie hanging out with the sheep doing her job with her naturally protective instincts.

She has been doing very well. Yesterday a sheep came up to her which made her a little playful. The collar is equipped with a warning tone so I briefly activated that and she instantly refrained from her playing posture.

So far so good! I can hardly wait until she can be fully trusted and spends her first night with the main flock.

On duty

In the below pictures Arie is only alerting to a cat but, she needs to be watchful to keep our animals safe from predators. She is a fine watch dog!