Harriett on Duty
It's been amazing to watch Harriett grow into a wonderful guardian dog. She's only 10 months old and already doing her job.
Simon, our Australian "eyes on the lambing barn," is visiting us and getting to meet the sheep he watched virtually. It's quite exciting for him.
After dinner one evening, he stopped by the sheep barn and heard Harriett barking like crazy. Looking in her direction, he saw a coyote just outside the sheep corral. After a long hard winter, the coyotes have become very bold. They also got a taste for lamb last summer when they snatched one of ours, which prompted us to look for a guardian dog.
Harriett was not going to let that critter near her sheep, but she also was not venturing out of the corral into the danger of a coyote pack. She knew what to do.
Harriett not only keeps her sheep safe. As Jonathan was driving out of the farm, the neighbour's little chubby old Beagle was about to run out in front of him.
"Mom, do you know what Harriett did?! She ran up beside the Beagle and put her paw on his shoulder to keep him from running out onto the road in front of me. It was amazing!"
But, Harriett's not so considerate of strangers. Martin relates how she deals with those.
"I had some travelling folks visit our farm the other day. They had had their larger dog cooped up in their truck for some time already and were hoping we would let it be free to roam around. I conceded to letting them tie up their dog to the post in front of the store, but warned them that Harriett, our 10-month Great Pyrenees, was not friendly with other dogs. They were quite certain their 4-year old white Lab, an alpha dog and 1 ½ times larger than Harriet, was more of a threat to her.
"Their Lab happily laid down outside the door in Harriett's favourite sun-tanning location and even found her latest bone. Harriett was away on her usual mid-afternoon walkabout.
"While the young fellows were looking around the store, I saw Harriett through the window speeding to the 'crime' scene. Evidently, she had caught wind of the invasion.
"Harriett had tackled the unwelcome guest without pausing in the least to negotiate. In an instant there was a loud crash, snarling, and yelping.
"Quickly running out the door, I found Harriett on top of the poor thing with her jaws tight on its neck. I pulled her off before any damage was done, while the guys quickly grabbed their terrified dog and locked her back up in the truck.
"Harriett stood watch outside the truck, barking and pacing, making sure there wasn't going to be further challenge to her domain.
"After they left, Harriett laid down for a nap, looking quite pleased with herself, with her paw resting on her bone. She had made her message clear: No interlopers allowed!"
Konstantijn also had quite an experience one evening. She came running into the store anxiously exclaiming that she saw Harriett chasing a coyote on the road beside the corrals. Here's her account of Harriett doing her duty.
"It was 8:00 p.m., and I was outside playing with Harriett, hanging out with the sheep, and sitting by the dugout, as you can see in the map below.
"Suddenly, as if from nowhere, Harriett was running along the road chasing a coyote! It was no bigger than her, although Harriett is mostly fluff and fur, so it was probably a bit bigger.
"Harriett blocked off the way to the sheep, and as you can see on my map, the coyote ran as fast as it could towards the strawberry fields.
