You guys might remember a few weeks back when we had that scare with Ben about a potential lump on his leg, which thankfully didn’t amount to anything. After his initial check-up and in the time leading up to his surgery appointment, I once again was thinking how we need to get another LGD (Livestock Guardian Dog) for Ben to “raise” before we lose him. I hate to think of losing him, but he is eight and a half which is getting up in age for a giant dog breed.

And for those not familiar with LGDs, they are large dog breeds that were bred and raised to live with and protect livestock from predators (wolves, bear, cougars etc). Many farmers, ranchers and shepherds will have LGDs living with their herds and flocks. Some, like us have them as general farm guardians. There are many different LGD breeds originating from different countries; Great Pyrenees from France, Anatolians from Turkey,  the Kuvasz and Komondor from Hungry, Maremma from Italy and several others, some lesser known.

Anyways, I decided to reach out to a LGD breeder that I had talked to a year prior and see about getting on her waiting list or what her plans were for feature litters. She said they wouldn’t likely have another litter until next summer, but she did have one pup left from her current litter. *insert cheesy grin*

So plans were made on the only two days I had available in the coming weeks where I could get away. (The breeder lives on the coast so it was too far to go and come back in one day).

She was about two and a half hours farther west than were my “travel” kids are now working and living. So I headed out one Thursday and drove to my kiddos place. We had a nice visit.

We had dinner at a little outdoor Mexican restaurant then went to a favorite park of there’s overlooking the bay.

The next morning I was up early and heading off to the breeder’s farm. When I arrived, the parent dogs and two remaining pups (the breeder’s are keeping one) were off patrolling the farm. They raise organic veggies, sheep, cows and free-range chickens on over one hundred acres!

Here they come! The owner had to go looking for and calling the dogs home.

These are pictures of the mom and dad that the breeder shared with me. They are purebred Karakachan dogs, a LGD from Bulgaria.

And our pup loaded up (looking a little unsure) in her crate for the long drive home.

Potty break at a (hopefully) safe spot. She’s a little big for a litter box. 😉

She’s been home almost two weeks now. Every new dog that comes here goes through a quarantine period (for Parvo) and gets tested for a communicable doggie “s.t.d.” for the health and safety of our other dogs. She is finished with that now and getting integrated into the pack.

Oh, and when I took her into our vet for her testing, the doctor looked at me and said, “are you telling me this puppy doesn’t have a name yet?” (I had a couple ideas, but no name had “stuck” yet since we were just getting to know her). When I offered my names suggestions, my vet crinkled up her nose in disagreement. (She likes different and unique names).  As I was telling her a little bit about going to get her and how when I arrived she was out patrolling with her parents, she said, “Patrolling….well, what about Paw Patrol names?!” I mean I’ve heard of Paw Patrol but really wasn’t familiar with the kids show. So one of the gals looked up the characters and started reading off their names. And the vet and I both latched onto the same one, Zuma.

So everyone meet Zuma!