Meet "Zoe", also known as Beechtrees Flock to Me, our new baby Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian Dog. 

Her registered name has a double meaning.  The litter had a sheep-theme for the registered names, but it was tricky to come up with something that sounded like a sheep guardian dog and not a herding dog.  Other than the obvious meaning that the job of a sheep guardian dog is to stay with the sheep and protect them from predators, the other meaning is historical.  According to my history-buff husband, in olden times, military commanders would command their troops, "To me men; to me," which mean that they should fall in behind him as he led them into battle.  This is exactly the way our sheep all gather behind Rio when she is barking at a threat.  Originally, Rio would place herself between the threat (or perceived threat) and the sheep.  In time, she could stand nearly anywhere and bark, and if the sheep were in that pasture, they would flock up and get behind her.  Somehow she has trained them to do this over time.

Zoe arrived here about 3 weeks ago on June 21st.  She was 8 1/2 weeks old at that time and looked like this:

I took this photo at the breeder's farm the day I picked her up.  I drove to Michigan on Sunday, June 20th and stayed at my friend Kila's house.  Kila is a dog friend I have known for about 16 years.  She was nice enough to take Monday off work and drive the hour west to Beechtree Farm to help me select my puppy.  I had my choice between female #2 (now known as Cleo in AZ), male #3 (still available) and female #8 (now known as my Zoe).

When I arrived at the farm, there were 5 puppies playing and napping in a nursery pen in the grassy area next to the barn.  This pen had a tarp partially covering the top of the pen for shade, but it did not have a complete "roof" over the entire top.  A quick count revealed that one puppy was missing.  Brenda informed me that female #8 had "let herself out" of the pen earlier that morning and was napping in the barn.  She said that this puppy was the most laid back of all the pups, was not worried by the sheep, was curious but respectful of the barn cats, and liked to hang out at the barn.  She let out all the puppies so they could go potty and run around a bit, then returned the 3 that were already taken by herself or others to the pen.  In hindsight, I should have asked more questions about how an 8 1/2 week old puppy let herself out of a pen with 4 foot tall sides! 


When looking at the puppy photos on Brenda's Beechtree Farm blog, I had sort of had "a feeling" that puppy #8 should be mine.  I think it was the colored ears and white face that reminded me of Rio (our adult Great Pyr) and also Frolic (my beloved Border Collie who died at the end of May).  But I firmly decided that I was not going to make up my mind until I had met all of the puppies.  I wanted to be sure I selected the right one for our farm situation.  After meeting all of the puppies, it seemed that puppy #8 really was the perfect one!

Based on my discussions with the breeder and everything I had read in my LGD books, Zoe would be spending the first couple of weeks at our farm in a pen in an area near where the sheep like to hang out.  This would allow her to bond with the sheep, but not get stepped on, since an 8 week old puppy doesn't have the coordination to get out from under a moving sheep.  Then I would go out several times a day and let the puppy follow me on little walks around the farm to learn the pasture boundaries and allow the sheep some time to come up and sniff her if they wished.

But after setting up a pen under the lean-to on the back of our barn (good shade, near the sheep's daytime resting place, nice breeze) on the first evening that I brought her home, it was clear that she was able to easily climb out of a 4 high pen.  And if the tarp roof was not completely taut, she could squeeze through a tiny space in the corner too.  Great Pyrenees have a reputation for being Houdini dogs (escape artists), I just didn't think those behaviors would emerge so quickly!!  Fortunately she only wanted to go find Rio and hang out with her.  So eventually I decided that it was best to just leave her in the pasture during the day with Rio while keeping an eye on her, rather than risking an injury from her repeated escape attempts.  Usually, I tend to be a bit of a "smother-mother" when it comes to raising my puppies.  But Zoe seemed to be "an old soul" who just knew what to do.  And Rio immediately took her under her wing, watching out for her and "showing her the ropes".


Zoe was wary of the sheep and they were wary of her.  (A 120 pound dog is not scary, but who knows what a 15 pound puppy might do?)  So there was little worry of them getting close enough to step on her.  I had been told a few years ago, by Rio's breeder, that the Finnsheep were more flighty and "wimpy" around the dogs compared to her Lincolns or Suffolks.  So I suspected that my Finns might be quite a lot more "wimpy" than Brenda's Blue-faced Leicesters. 

Fortunately, because of the construction of the night pen we set up for her in the barn, she was not able to escape from it.  All the Premier panels that comprised it were the same size and height and the tarp fit more tightly.  So we were able to secure her in that pen just before dark each evening.  I have been bringing the sheep into the barn and attached paddock at night so that Zoe would be around them more and would have some friends in the barn overnight since Rio is out patrolling the pastures. 

Zoe hates her night pen and gives me a look like, "This baby pen demeans us both," every evening when I lock her and her dinner inside it.  But I do not want her out roaming the pastures after dark yet for safety's sake.  My thought is that when she is too large for me to physically put in the pen, then she will be large enough to fend for herself (with Rio's supervision) at night.