Guarding the Night

Of course I always have ideas of blog posts in the middle of the night.  This one came to me sometime deep in the night as I heard my faithful dog barking at the unknown entity in the darkness, keeping watch.

There are many dark and scary beings that roam the countryside.  Many people have visions of the idyllic country life and all the fun farm animals that are raised in green pastures with white trimmed fences, but at night the landscape changes quite a little and now the advantage goes to those animals that were bred for the night.  Around here we have it pretty easy - coyotes, raccoons, skunks, opossums, fox, eagles, owls and the very occasional mountain lion that roams through.....those comprise most of the predator animals that we have to contend with.  Deer, although technically not a predator animal, are fairly predatory when it comes to vegetable gardens.   We, however, have a secret weapon against those beings that reign in the darkness. 

Gina.

Gina came to us under some amount of duress - Keith didn't want her around and I did - and so has it continued for the last four years, but with some amount of compromise, it all works out.  Gina works the third shift around our farm.  When the rest of us are heading in for the night, she goes on duty and then, as the sun comes up, she heads for her kennel where she sleeps the day away in the straw and sunshine.  She is a breed of dog that was bred for guard duty - half Pyrenees and half Golden Retriever she has a thick coat that protects her even in the worst of the weather.  She is at her happiest when there is new snow on the ground. 

Unless it is raining, I really have no idea what Gina does all night.  I know that she probably goes walkabout once in a while and I know for a fact that she sometimes brings home what she considers a tasty treat, but by any human standards (including mine) it would turn your stomach.   Once I even came across a raccoon that apparently met its doom at Gina's jaws. Many times she will be asleep on our porch, but any noise at all will send her rocketing off in full alarm mode any hour of the night....unless it rains.    When it is raining, I know right where she is....under the porch.

Gina hates thunderstorms and has carved out quite a den for herself under our porch where she rides out the flashing and booming.  When it is really cold out, she crawls under the porch and sleeps in the window well next to the wood burning stove - the window there likely stays very warm and it isn't unusual to see her and a few cats piled up enjoying the warmth.  On the very coldest of nights, when it dips into the double digits below zero, Gina gets to spend the night in the shop in the garage where the temp is kept a stable 32 degrees throughout the winter. 

Being a veterinarian, I personally know several people that would consider this horrible treatment of a dog.  I know many a pampered pooch that gets the prime sleeping spot on the bed and gets fed entirely too many table scraps.  I know dogs that are people's children and, from a business perspective, this is just fine by me, but dogs and humans have a very long, complex and symbiotic relationship that has allowed both of us to move forward. 

Wolves, in their domestication of man....because yes, it really did work that way in my mind....they trained us that if they hung out and kept danger away and worked to help us round up animals while hunting, then they too would benefit by having a place to sleep and some food tossed their way once in a while. Suddenly, dogs opened whole new avenues of life up for people - we could hunt better, we could control grazing animals better, we could avoid being eaten by cave bears better. But don't get me wrong - these were the dogs that could take or leave us - they didn't need us to survive, we were just a helpful ally with opposable thumbs to them.  Today's dog is much more dependent.  We have bred them to maintain their juvenile qualities longer, thereby never gaining their complete adult independence from us.  We have tamed the wildness down quite a lot.  In the case of the Pug....maybe a little too much.  But then again, they have domesticated us as well - we now have dogs that are members of the family and enjoy all the privileges that go along with that.  Good food, soft bed, warm house, drives in the car, walks in the park........  Something gained, something lost - there are always trade offs.  Gina, however, has a fairly good mix of domestication and wildness about her.

Gina has a job to do.  This is important in the dog community.  All too often I will see pampered pets that have every convenience given to them get themselves in huge trouble with their happy homeowner because they destroy things in the house, or eat things, or jump on people, or bark.  This is a dog's way of saying "I'm bored and I want something to do."  Gina takes her job very seriously - she is the mobile fence on our farm.  If I had to build a 6 foot fence around everything I grow to keep it safe from the deer - the farm would look like a penitentiary.  Just having her around to let the riff raff know
there is a dog on the premises is enough to make them keep a respectable distance.

The cats, however, take some liberties and move in for a quick bite at the kibble bowl once in a while.  Gina tolerates this with a certain amount of aplomb.  She acknowledges the cat while quietly wagging her tail and then promptly eats the entire bowl of food to prevent any more cat shenanigans

She has free reign.  Dogs are smart - very smart.  They know where home is - where the food bowl lives, so I don't worry about her wandering off too far. But she does love to ride in cars.  Recently, one morning when I was due to put her in the kennel for the day, I couldn't find her anywhere.  Walked and called, walked and called.  Drove around the block looking for signs of her.  Walked through the woods looking for her.  Nothing.   Finally, just about at the point of calling the shelters, neighbors, and surrounding vet clinics, I realized that my sister's car was parked across the road at her business and that the back hatch was open.  On a whim, I went to inspect.  Sure enough, she was sitting up in the driver's seat looking at me with her dog grin, panting, "Come on! I have been waiting to go for ride for hours! What took you so long." 

Gina also gets to commune with the wild side of the canine family.  We have entirely  too many coyotes that roam the area, but thankfully, she is large enough that no coyote in its right mind would take her on in a fight, and they give her wide berth by staying out of her territory, but they do have an odd sort of communication.  Listening to a pack of coyotes on any night is enough to give a person the chills, but listening to your own dog raise her nose to the sky and howl in one long, plaintive cry back at them will make every hair stand on end - it is so eerie, primordial and, in some ways, heart wrenching. 

I believe that a dog, at least once a day, should be told that they are a "good dog"  - it keeps their tail limber with the wagging that you receive in return.  My kids have a chore (although it hardly classifies as a chore) to go out and let Gina out during the day for a while so she gets a little human interaction.  Watching her romp and play with the kids and watching them throw their arms around her shaggy neck and bury their faces in her fur is one of the highlights of my day....and her's....and my kid's.  Dogs have a wonderful, sponge-like ability to absolve you of your worse moods.  They are always happy to see you no matter what a rotten day it has been.  They don't notice the scowl that you might wear on your face that sends your family running the other direction - or if they do, they don't care.  They still come up to you, tail wagging and eager to give love and attention without  expecting anything in return.  I think it is this guilelessness, this simplicity of a dog that makes them the object of so much attention and love - people always want something in return.  If only people could learn one more thing from a dog...become just a little more domesticated themselves....this would be a good thing to learn.

It is getting late.  My dog alarm has set out barking several times already as I have finished typing this up, no doubt to send whatever small carnivores scurrying in the other direction away from our farm.  I will rest easy tonight knowing that we are guarded faithfully by my furry comrade and that, come morning, I will be met with a wagging tail and excessive gratitude at receiving her bowl of food and the five small words that make her day...."Good dog, Gina.  Good dog."