Tag: great pyrenees

Morning Walks

~ Crystal Sands ~ 1 Comment

When my health problems started in the spring, I set out to be on my computer less and to be outside more. We started walking the dogs every single morning after the morning chores. Because we have Great Pyrenees, in the summer, we had to get up very early before it was too hot for a Pyrenees to be out for a walk. Now that it’s cold outside, the dogs are in their element on these morning walks. It’s very cold outside, and it’s perfect Great Pyrenees weather. The joy from our pups is contagious.

Every morning, pretty much without fail, we take Bairre and Boudica for their walk after morning chores with the chickens and ducks and a cup of tea for me and coffee for Ron. It’s adorable. Bairre loves these walks and gets very impatient while we drink our tea and coffee. He comes to the table and stares at us with the most impatient looks. Ron holds up his coffee cup and says to him, “You have to wait until I finish my coffee.” Bairre understands, walks away, but comes back after a while if we take too long.

These walks are pretty much the best to me. I love the time with Ron and the dogs, especially Boudica. I walk her because, for the most part, she’s easier to walk. Bairre like to explore way too much, so Ron walks him. Boudica is pretty chill–unless a neighbor dog barks at her even once. Then, she turns on a werewolf bark, and I grump at her about this. Still, she assures me her vicious bark is needed to keep me safe.

Mostly, Boudica and I have the best time. She’s magnificent, like the most beautiful dog I have ever seen maybe, and she reads my mind. Just the other day, there was ice on the road, and I was slipping a little and feeling a bit nervous. Last year, Bairre ate my winter boots, and I haven’t replaced them yet, so I was sliding around. Boudica walked so, so slowly, so carefully. She worried about me the whole way. At first, I just thought she didn’t want to walk that morning, which seemed odd, but when Ron took her to walk, she would go back to walking normally. When I took her back, she would slow down again. That girl is the best.

She is sitting next to me on the sofa right now as I write this. I give her pets between thoughts and tell her how magnificent she is. I hope she knows how much I love her. She can read my mind, so she has to.

I hope to have many more years of morning walks with Ron, Boudica, and Bairre. They are good for me in all the ways.

On Boudica, in Honor of National Dog Day

~ Crystal Sands ~ 3 Comments

Boudica is my friend.

I used to say about my dogs, “I have a dog.” With Boudica, this language doesn’t seem right. It’s more like “I have the honor of living with a dog named Boudica.”

Boudica was our first Great Pyrenees. Before we got her, I researched the breed for years. I checked out every book available in our public library. I read information online. I understood that Pyrenees were smart and difficult and loved to bark. I understand they are picky eaters. I understood they were very independent thinkers. But didn’t really understand these things until Boudica came to live with us. It was all of this and so much more.

I remember the first time I understood her capacity for language, for example. I was telling a story about something she had done that was kind of bad but still really funny. Because it was funny, my voice was uplifted, so I was surprised when Boudica came to me looking so ashamed about the story I was telling about her.

I said, “Oh, baby, no! It’s a sweet story,” and gave her love. Then, I wondered how much language she was understanding. She was very young when this happened, so I was really surprised. After that, Ron and I both just emphasized language learning with her. Ron does it extra with our puppy, Bairre. It’s adorable watching Ron pull something out of the oven and tell Bairre, “Hot. That’s hot.” Of course, we don’t know if he will share Boudica’s amazing capacity for language, but just in case, it’s good to give him a head start.

When we met Boudica in 2016 and brought her home, it was just love at first sight. She seemed so ready to just be with us. When the man put her in my arms, she just leaned in. I was madly in love with her. She was so beautiful. I couldn’t believe she was ours.

Of course, I had no idea what I was in for. I hoped I was getting someone to help us on the farm. I didn’t know I was getting a helper in life.

She comes from ancient breed. I read the Great Pyrenees breed goes back to about 1800 BCE and is so old there have been fossilized remains found. In those thousands of years, these dogs were bred to be independent and critical thinkers. Apparently, the shepherds could just leave their flocks with the Pyrenees for extended periods of time, and the Pyrenees would take care of things. They didn’t need the humans around to tell them what to do. They knew. I feel like that says everything, and I am in awe that I get to witness this kind of beautiful intelligence every day from my girl.

I can count on Boudica. I have hard time counting on people, but Boudica can be counted on.

She senses everything. Boudica had always been a daddy’s girl, and Gus was my baby boy. When Gus died so tragically, I leaned into Boudica, and she took care of me. We are incredibly close now. She knows what I need before I know it. She wakes me up from bad dreams. She watches the animals. She knows exactly what I mean when I tell her I need her to protect the ducks from the owls because I am running late with the peas. This summer, when we put the meat chickens out in their new home, they were very little. Ron said, “Boudica, take care of dad’s chickens,” and she ran out to them and started patrolling, weaving in and out of the chickens as if to say, “I’m here and will handle this.”

Interestingly, the chickens were not scared of her, and they had never seen a dog before. Wisely, they were scared of Bairre. He so wanted to play.

Boudica is a worrier like me. I worry about her for being a worrier, and I have no doubt that she worries about me for being a worrier. I’m pretty sure she’s convinced we can’t make it without her. She feels such a strong need to care for us. Truly, she helped raise our son. When he was little and would go outside for his walks to clear his head, we would tell her to “go watch her boy,” and she would. She wouldn’t take her eyes off of him.

I’m looking at her right now as I write this. She is sitting next to me, mostly relaxed, I think. I am going to go brush her because I have found recently that brushing her seems to help both of us relax, and as worriers, we really need that.

My goodness, she is beautiful. And I don’t even deserve her. Of course, do any of us deserve dogs? I guess all we can do is keep trying.

A Bairre Update

~ Crystal Sands ~ 2 Comments

Bairre is now a little over ten months old, and his personality is developing further. It’s fascinating to see who he is becoming, and I am finding that he seems to be a fairly unusual Great Pyrenees.

Mainly, so far, he seems to be a city boy who doesn’t like bugs, like in a big way. He seems to have been traumatized by having a few ticks on him, so he avoids tall grass and doesn’t seem to like outside in general. He also had a bad mosquito bite on his nose that really seemed to bother him. Bairre is very sensitive to everything. He’s still a baby, of course, but I am surprised that he seems to have little to no interest in helping Boudica work. I think it’s because he prefers not to be outside right now.

Instead, we have discovered he loves to hang out in the air-conditioned music room as much as he can. It’s been very hot, and we do not have air conditioning. It’s pretty miserable, of course, but we are generally against air conditioning if you can at all help it. Well, Ron is, and I agree in principal. Still, we have some cellos (or celli) that have to have some humidity and temperature control, so we have a little window unit air conditioner in the music room. Bairre never wants to leave the music room. Oh, I take that back, today, he heard me giving Boudica a treat, wanted out, and then barked to get back into the music room.

He’s also still very, very sweet. He still wakes us up every single morning with kisses. It’s like he loves us so much and is so happy to see us in the morning. It’s especially great that Boudica has kind of joined in this morning routine, even though she’s not much of a kisser. So every single morning Ron and I wake up to Great Pyrenees kisses.

But here’s the most unusual thing about Bairre, I think.. We have been having trouble getting him to eat. Pyrenees are notoriously picky eaters. Our son described it well: Most dogs are just grateful for kibble. Pyrenees say “Oh, grilled steak two nights in a row? No thank you.”

It’s true. I have never seen anything like this, and normally, it’s not a worry but when they are puppies, you worry a little about them getting enough nutrition. Well, we worry. Well, mostly Ron worries. He worries a lot. Bairre is definitely his baby–though I should add that Biarre has been somewhat of a mama’s baby of late. Anyway, we found out that Bairre doesn’t like to eat in a dog bowl. We wash it every day, and it’s really just a large glass storage bowl, but it’s the “dog” bowl to him–he doesn’t like that.

He wants to eat on a plate like us. So we put his food on a plate now, and he eats it. Bairre is that dog. It’s going to be very interesting to see how he develops as a personality. Ron has been teaching him everything he can. It’s a adorable.

Oh, and one more adorable story. This afternoon, I was working on some students’ dissertations on the couch, and Ron came through living room asking for soft strawberries. I told him I had a bowl in the fridge for jam, so they would be soft. He came back through the house with a handful of berries. They were for Lucy.

“Lucy likes when I feed her strawberries,” he said. “She likes it best if you hold them for her.”

Ron loves Lucy too. He’s going to be pretty broken up when she passes.

A Boudica Story

~ Crystal Sands ~ 6 Comments

Yesterday, early in the evening, we had either a hawk or owl attempt to get one of the ducks. I didn’t see enough of the incident to see what happened. I just heard the epic quick (I have learned what some of the quacks mean, and you just know the epic one) and dropped what I was doing and headed outside.

I was slow, but Boudica was already on the case, as she was outside working. I couldn’t tell if it was a hawk or an owl, but I saw the ducks make way for the shrubs and the porch as fast as they could. Interestingly, Anna Maria spent the rest of the evening under the elderberry bushes. She never came back out until I got her at bedtime. I wonder if she had been the target.

Anyway, Boudica chased the hawk or owl into the trees, barking all the way, and then just kept looking into the trees for a good bit. As soon as I counted all seven ducks, I made a big fuss over Boudica. I am so grateful to that dog, and I told her all about it. How magnificent is she?

But here’s the most interesting part of the story: When Ron came outside and I told him what had happened, Ron was like, “Huh, that’s interesting.” I asked him why, and he said that Boudica had been trying really hard to get him to come outside for the last 15 or 20 minutes. He just thought she wanted him to come outside to play, so he told her he was busy.

He said she did that exact same thing the last time there was a hawk attack on the ducks. I guess she knew it was there both times, before the attack, and was trying to alert Ron. I don’t know if all dogs have senses that seem supernatural to me, but Boudica sure does. She has a senses like Superman.

How magnificent is she?

The Face of an Egg Thief

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

Day 363 of 365

I haven’t updated about Bairre in a long time, and I have to tell you he is a GIANT! He’s still puppy lanky, but he’s bizarrely tall for a Great Pyrenees. Pyrenees fill in between the ages of 2 and 3. When Bairre does that, he’s going to weigh 130 pounds. I can’t believe how giant he is.

Thankfully, minus his penchant for digging, he’s a fantastic boy with a big heart. Such a big heart. When he wakes us up in the morning, he wakes us up with kisses. Boudica gets up in the bed and bonks me in the face with her paw. It’s not pleasant. Bairre gives me kisses on my arm or face. You just feel his love for you. It’s kind of amazing.

But Bairre is also an egg thief. I think he’s mostly trying to help or be a part of what we are doing, but he accidentally breaks the eggs. As soon as the ducks come out of the duck house in the morning, Bairre jumps in to take the eggs. This is Ron’s fault. Ron still spoils his boy, and he taught Bairre to help him collect the eggs. Ron just laughed as Bairre took off with his first egg.

Now, it’s Bairre’s thing. I have to run around and get to the eggs before Bairre does every morning now. This morning, he beat me to one. I’m like, “Ron, Bairre’s getting the eggs again!” Ron’s just like “oh, he is?” Yes, Bairre is Ron’s baby.

Bairre is so sweet and charming that Bairre is kind of everyone’s baby. Even Boudica likes him a little bit now. He gives her kisses too. One time, Boudica and I made eye contact while Bairre was giving her kisses, and she grumped at him, like she didn’t want me to see that she maybe liked getting Bairre kisses.

Bairre has even won over our teenage son. It does my heart so much good to see that grumpy kiddo giving that sweet dog hugs and kissing him on the nose. What in this world is better than that?

Chickens like duck eggs too.

~ Crystal Sands ~ 1 Comment

Day 319 of 365

Tonight, I am still working, so I thought I would just share a little farm update and this picture of Bairre in Ron’s lap. That dog is beautiful. He’s a fantastic brat, but he’s so beautiful. It’s adorable to me that he still makes himself fit in Ron’s lap. Bairre relishes his role as the baby of the family right now.

We got 19 eggs today, which is just great! We didn’t have a duck egg this morning, but I saw one in the yard this afternoon. Sadly, it was a soft shell egg. It worries me a little to see a soft shell egg. Of course, if you see just one, it’s not a big deal. It does just happen sometimes. But repeated soft shell eggs can be a sign of a problem. Still, I am working on not worrying so much, so I am going to let it go. Hopefully, I just won’t see any more soft shell eggs.

The chickens had a treat of it though. I took the soft shell off, so it wouldn’t feel too egg-like (some chickens can get such a taste for raw eggs that they will start eating the eggs right there in the nest boxes). I have never had this happen (I am knocking on wood), but I do try to listen to the chicken lore and avoid things that might entice a potential egg eater. However, I was not going to waste that beautiful egg yolk.

So I found a bowl and put in the egg, minus the soft shell. Three chickens came running. It was Kate, Joan, and Penelope. Somehow, they were able to eat that egg pretty much unnoticed by the rest of the flock.

And I’m telling you that chickens really like duck eggs too. I could see on their little faces they were greatly enjoying that egg. It was really cool to see.

Elvis has left the building…

~ Crystal Sands ~ 2 Comments

Day 304 of 365

Ron is loved by our animals so much, in some ways, more than I am loved. I’m okay with this, of course. I think it’s magnificent. Ron is pretty terrible with people but animals love him. Love.

That has to be the number one reason I love him. Stray dogs will find him. One time, when we were visiting my family in Texas, he rescued two dogs. We were only there four days! Bairre and Boudica think he hung the moon. They love him the most, and I am the consolation prize. Even Betty, our kitty, as much as she loves me, seems to favor Ron a bit more. I feel it’s hard to say with our kitty, Bella. She’s hard to read.

Tonight, our son has orchestra rehearsal, so Ron dropped him off in town and then came home to work on a project. He’s building a nice space for starting seedlings indoors, Anyway, Ron just left, and while he was getting on his boots, both dogs were right in his face the whole time.

When Ron went out the door, I said goodbye and then looked around at the animals: Bairre had his nose pressed against the door like he was just broken hearted. Boudica had her head down, and even Betty was sitting on the ledge by the door, looking sad that her favorite human had left.

“Elvis has left the building, folks,” I said. “Elvis has left the building.”

Mama’s Boy

~ Crystal Sands ~ 2 Comments

Day 292 of 365

Tonight, we went to a lovely classical music concert. I cry the good cry when I hear the cello in a concert, pretty much every time, so I had a good time. However, I came home to a bad time.

Bairre has only been alone about ten times in his life. He’s a big boy and can do it now, but he doesn’t like it. Several times, when we come home, I find that he has chewed up some of my stuff. Tonight, it was my wool shoes I wear around the house in the winter. I love these shoes. They are dead now. Bairre really tore into one of them. I cried the sad cry.

I also cried, “Why is it always my stuff?” Because it is always my stuff.

Then, Ron said, “It’s because your stuff smells like you, and he’s anxious when we leave.”

This made so much sense to me. Bairre is absolutely, 100 percent a daddy’s boy, but when he’s scared or worried, he always turns into a mama’s boy and comes to snuggle me. It stands to reason that my stuff would be what he gets when he’s so worried about being alone. He just hates being alone because of course he does. He’s a baby.

The other day, I was gone for several hours with lessons and errands, and Ron had been working outside all day away from where Bairre can go. Bairre could see Ron but not have real contact. Bairre needs a lot of contact. When I came home, I was talking to Ron, and Bairre barked at me to come see him. Bairre never barks, unless he’s not getting his way, so I went into the house and called him in to see me. That giant puppy came in and sat on top of my feet while I worked.

I was still sad about my shoes, but I felt less sad. I mean, he has destroyed a lot of my stuff of late, but I can replace them, thankfully. And, while I look for more shoes online, I am going to remember that, when I’m gone, Bairre really misses his mama.