A Dog for our Farm

We have lived on our farm for eleven years, and in that time have added all sorts of animals to the mix: hens and roosters, honeybees, sheep, goats, pigs, bunnies and many a kitten. The three that we seemed to shy away from were cows, horses and the farm dog. Our thinking was that a dog is more work than a barn full of animals as they have to be taken out to go potty, trained for behavior and taught the boundaries of where they can go and who they shouldn’t bark at.

But the conversation kept coming up. Rory had told Ivar long ago (I have it documented in an old blog post!) that he could get a dog when he turned eight. But then we kept adding other animals, or human babies to our family, and it just never seemed like a great time for a puppy.

But this fall Ivar turned 13 and it was obvious that he had earned a pup. He does the farm chores so faithfully, so we wanted to get a dog that would be his companion around the farm, as well as a dog that would scare off raccoons from our broiler chickens in the summer, and bark back at coyotes

We looked into a number of different breeds over the past few years. For a while we thought about a big white dog, a guardian livestock dog. But that seemed almost too much dog for our small farm and flock. Plus we were told they bark nonstop, as they are supposed to do. But we have neighbors close by, which made that feel like not a great fit.

In a fantastic twist, we had the Grant family from Oklahoma sponsor our Self Sufficiency Summit. They sent up a stack of brochures for that event, and afterwards, these brochures kept surfacing all over our house. And they were compelling! We’d say, “did you know that Old Scotch Collies were a favorite homesteading dog in the 1800’s, but then were bred for looks instead of behavior?” “did you know the book Lassie was written about an old Scotch Collie, but then the tv show and movie cast a Rough Collie with the long hair and pointed nose?” And “Did you know that there is a movement trying to bring these intelligent, hard working dogs back to small family farms?”

And lo and behold the brochures worked on our family! We started talking to the Grant family in Oklahoma and they let us know when the next litters were to be born, and we told them what we were hopeful for in a family farm dog. We asked so many questions and they taught us so much.

The trick was that two litters were going to be ready for pick up at the end of December. And Oklahoma is ten hours away. And getting a puppy in the winter didn’t seem like a great idea. But do you know how many things came together for this dog? We had friends in Texas who offered to pick up our puppy for us and then drive it here on their way to Wisconsin! Hello! I believe that is a category of friendship all on its own. And then this winter has been so mild and without snow. In fact, as it turned out, what our family really needed this winter, was a darling puppy to come and fill our days.

Her name is Mayflower and she is so wonderful. She has had her accidents to be sure, but I would put her in the category of very bright. I have not been a dog person, but I have been won over. Mayflower is a dear soul—I feel like she likes us, and we like her right back.

Yesterday morning Ivar and I got up very early. I took Mayflower outside while Ivar built the fire. And then we came back in for our quiet time. I took this picture: Ivar reading his Bible with his pup at his feet on a cold winter morning with a roaring fire. A pretty perfect way to begin the day, I’d say. And a pretty wonderful dog to add to our farm.