Phoenix Farm

10/13/2026

Sharin from Heritage Meadows Farm Page.

I find it very frustrating the amount of people that are reccomending to get a second dog to fix their dogs problems or to "help train" their dog. I can tell you this is simply not true. On a very rare occasion a trained dog may correct another dogs behavior, but this is very very rare. At most you can expect a 2nd dog to maybe play with, help teach dog communications, and socialize, but it is very rare they will fix anything. In truth often times it makes the problems worse and can simply mean you now have double trouble. Getting a 2nd dog just means now you have 2 dogs to train and adapt to your farm instead of 1. Both dogs needing individual attention. It takes at minimum 3 months for a dog to decompress, adjust and learn a new farm(new people, new land, and new animals). So, during that initial three months you now have 2 dogs to be training, and sometimes during that time the new dog could actually learn bad behaviors from the first dog. That is just as likely or more to happen then the 2nd dog to train the first.

I am a farmer with my own LGD, and then foster, rehab and train LGD's. None of my well trained working LGD's help "train" the new dogs. Some of them actually do everything in their power to avoid the new dogs. Now they are helpful with some things, but as far as correcting bad behaviors that is my job not my other dogs.

So, please on ( Livestock Guardian Dog training and Resources Page) do not ever reccomend to others that getting a 2nd dog is somehow going to magically fix their problems as it isn't going to. They need to first get their first dog trained and settled. Then, if they need a 2nd dog, add it in after the first one is doing well.

10/10/2026

Can I just say how much I love my Karakachan's??

10/07/2026

They Mentioned Great Pyrenees However all livestock guardian dogs will do the same thing Casper did. The most Popularized are the Great Pyrenees but other breeds in the United States are Anatolian Shepard dog, kangal, Akbash, Karakachan, Boz Caucasian Shepard among others

In November 2022, a Great Pyrenees named Casper killed eight coyotes in a single night on a sheep farm in Decatur, Georgia. He fought 11. He killed eight, then he disappeared for two days. He came home covered in infected wounds his owner did not think he would survive.

John Wierwille, Casper's owner, told the Georgia Farm Bureau what he saw. Three coyotes made it inside the pen where the sheep were kept with Casper's pregnant partner, a Great Pyrenees named Daisy. Casper hit them before they reached the flock. He just charged them, Wierwille said. Maybe in 10 seconds he had the first three dead. Methodically. Just one, two, three.

Then he jumped a four-foot hog wire fence in a single bound and went after the rest of the pack. He chased them through neighbors' yards and carports for roughly 30 minutes. The next morning, Wierwille found dead coyotes along the railroad tracks behind the property. Eight total.

Casper was gone. He did not come home that night or the next day. On the second day he came back dragging himself up the driveway with deep lacerations across his body. Wierwille rushed him to a veterinarian. The wounds were badly infected. Wierwille told reporters he did not expect the dog to survive.

Casper survived. A year later, the American Farm Bureau and Purina nominated him for the People's Choice Pup in the national Farm Dog of the Year competition.

A Great Pyrenees does not herd sheep. It lives with them. The breed was developed in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain to guard flocks against wolves and brown bears. A puppy is placed with the flock at eight weeks old, during the critical socialization window when a dog forms its primary bonds. It eats with the sheep, sleeps with the sheep, and grows up believing the flock is its family. By the time it is full grown, 85 to 120 pounds with a thick white coat that makes it nearly invisible inside a flock of white sheep, it does not protect livestock on command. It protects its family by instinct.

The breed is nocturnal by design. It was developed to guard the flock at night while the shepherd slept and the predators moved. A Great Pyrenees on a working farm spends the dark hours patrolling the perimeter of its territory, scent-marking boundaries, and barking. The bark is deep, constant, and carries across open ground. Most predator encounters never reach contact.

A coyote that hears a Great Pyrenees barking in the dark between itself and a flock of sheep turns around and finds an unguarded flock instead. A 2010 American Sheep Industry survey found that 90 percent of producers using guardian dogs reported a 62 percent average decrease in predation losses.

The approach is escalation, not attack. The dog barks first. If the predator continues, the dog positions itself between the flock and the threat. If the predator still does not leave, the dog charges. The sequence gives the predator three chances to walk away. Most take the first one. Casper's coyotes did not.

Image is for illustration purposes only

Source: Georgia Farm Bureau / John Wierwille / American Farm Bureau / Purina / USDA APHIS / American Sheep Industry Association / Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.

10/07/2026

The ladder of agression: The Green and yellow is a dog giving you calming signals. Getting into the red needs to bring into the green to give him/her calming signals ie, yawning, eye blinking, turning you head sideways, turning to the side or turning your back to and walking away Cortursey Cindy Benson/Turg Rugass

10/03/2026

Meet the REAL Swampy Marsh.

A guardian dog for penguins? That's right! Oddball, the Maremma she...

10/02/2026

https://youtu.be/IFO8vsJRm5Y?is=x7UrUD_agy9r7olJ

I think the real question is: why do people keep having to relearn the the same lessons over and over again.

Our Ancestors realized that their relationship with dogs was important enough to breed certain dogs with certain natural tendencies some guarding, some hearding, some hunting etc. Swampy Marsh, like Millions of livestock farmers who recognize the value of employing traditional LDG breeds to protect their livestock, their livelihood recognized this and just took it to the next logical conclusion.

A colony of little penguins in Australia dropped from eight hundred...

10/02/2026

Doesn't mean there's not a cure or treatment out there, it's just the scammers are alive and well, and the authorities nor Facebook are doing anything about it.

09/27/2026

Be sure to watch Meet the Press tomorrow, Kristen Welker is interviewing Bill Gates.