The image of a livestock guard dog that comes to mind for most people is that of the Great Pyrenees, and it isn’t wrong, but there are more of those fluffy white breeds than you might have known. The Kuvasz, Komondor, and Maremma all have similar looks but slightly different personalities.

Maremmas are becoming increasingly common as farmers re-discover their wonderful traits and smaller size. Maremmas get along with a wide variety of animals, large and small, including cats and other domestic pets, and they are known to be very affectionate with their families and children.

Senti had a little lamb

Eva Smith* of Norwich, VT researched the breed heavily before investing in her first puppy when she was still living out west. In her research, some of the most critical things Eva found were that they bark less, roam less, and are more accepting of visitors. They may remain aloof but not aggressive. Sentinel “Senti” came to her from Texas in the spring of 2016 and went straight to work.

One of the ways to raise livestock guard dogs is to put a separate pen inside the sheep pen so that the puppy and the sheep get to know each other first. Senti ended up at the mercy of two sheep who coveted his food and broke down his fence many times. However, it sent him patrolling early.

“I was losing sheep like crazy to coyotes out west. He was the best investment I ever made,” Eva noted.

Eva described the Maremmas’ personality as having wolf-like independence and ability to make decisions. They aren’t dogs for the obedience ring! While they will follow the commands of their leader, these dogs aren’t likely to listen to anybody else.

That’s an instinctual trait bred into these dogs over centuries. A shepherd would need to be able to trust that his dog would only listen to him and not a potential thief, the dog needs to trust its instincts and make decisions at the moment, and the human needs to make sure that the dog is always set up to have positive experiences from the beginning.

Eva decided to move back to Norwich, VT in late summer 2016 and brought – along with her children, house pets, home furnishings, and the rest of accumulated stuff from 12 years of life out there – 16 sheep and Senti in a trailer.

Sheep aren’t the only animals Eva and her family have, of course. She also has two alpacas, a mini horse, goats, and chickens. Last winter, she acquired a second Maremma, Ginger, who is driven to be with the lambs. Eva now summers her sheep at Sweetland Farm in Norwich, VT.

Ginger

Right now, while the lambs are being born, Ginger is in with the alpacas and the mini horse as she is just about to turn one and still in training. Ginger does make daily visits to see “her” lambs and sheep, though.

Senti, on the other hand, still hates being inside, but seems to enjoy being a family farm dog. He loves his family and protects the area around the house, the sheep in the winter, and the other animals in the summer. Unlike their neighbors, Eva and her family haven’t had a single bear problem at their house, though Senti will bark for much of the night if a bear is around.

Later this summer, Ginger will get her chance to actively guard her flock, when Eva’s lambs are old enough for the sheep to move to a different pasture at Sweetland Farm. It will be a good move for all involved. Sweetland Farm will get a new pasture grazed, allowing the older one to come back, the sheep will have fresh grass, and Ginger will be out and able to do her job. When small agriculture works cyclically like this, even if it means involving a few farmers, we get back to a more environmentally friendly agricultural system, one that has been practiced for centuries.

*Name has been changed by request

Throughout August and continuing through September, White River Animal Rescue (WRAR) is running a campaign called the #50/50 Campaign. The #50/50 Campaign is based on the idea that a puppy born in the US has a 50% chance of survival, and that many rescues in the local area and beyond have a lot on their plates trying to pull dogs from the south as fast as possible. The goal is collaboration among rescues and shelters to save as many dogs’ lives as possible.

Amy Knight, the founder of WRAR, emphasized the need for collaboration among rescue organizations to take that 50% chance of survival and bring the number as close to 100% as possible.

Amy began rescuing dogs unwittingly seventeen years ago when she took in Shiba, a Belgian Malinois puppy who was about to be killed by the farmer who bred it. A teenager who was on the property managed to rescue one of the litter and brought it to Amy. While she intended on keeping this sweet, wriggly thing which showed up, Amy was concerned for the other pups that remained on the property. She called the neighbor, who turned out to be the farmer’s sister-in-law, and the woman collected the rest of the puppies.

Amy also didn’t know she ended up with a pure Belgian Malinois until she took the dog to the groomers. Shiba ended up being quite extraordinary and sadly passed away this previous winter.

When Amy moved to Vermont, she ended up on an email list for rescue volunteers where she was asked if she could help transport three dogs from White River Junction to Burlington. Once people have a line on you, especially from down south, they start calling.

All signs pointed to her need to be involved in animal rescue, so in 2009 Amy decided to start White River Animal Rescue. She also works as a college professor, teaching psychology part time. Her focus is on bringing dogs from dangerous situations in the south up here where they live with foster families with the goal of finding forever homes. Many of the dogs are pulled from overcrowded southern shelters with anywhere from 24 hours to 3 minutes to live, but some come from other places as well.

Amy and Justine at Revolution

Amy said, “We don’t only rescue dogs from shelters… Because not all dogs are in the shelters, some dogs are on the side of the road. Some dogs are way out in the country. Some people, they don’t want to bring the dog to the shelter, they dump them wherever, in whatever state. People say, ‘Oh my god! That dog’s not from a shelter?’ And I say ‘no, it’s from the side of the road or a ditch, or in a drainage culvert…’ But it’s still a rescue because they are living on the side of the road.”

Justine Kohr is a WRAR volunteer and self-proclaimed foster failure. She spends her days working as the assistant director of marketing and communications at the Tuck School as well as being a writer and editor. As a volunteer, Justine has utilized her work skills to assist with the marketing of WRAR. “Everyone who volunteers is a little bit involved in everything.”

She has worked with transports, new arrivals, and other aspects of the rescue, as well as training her rescue dog and previous foster, Pepper.

Justine is heavily invested in the #50/50 Campaign as well. In a prior interview she shared, “We know that other rescues and shelters have a lot on their plates and they have a lot of animals that they are bringing into their spaces, and we want to partner with them and help when we can.”

According to Amy, there are currently seven other rescues or shelters participating in the campaign. On the website, the first dogs highlighted are the ones who need the most donations to fight health problems. Then the list continues.

For WRAR they ask that the rescue or shelter send them a video, photo, and description of the dog in need and they will promote it. Half of the donations stay with WRAR, but all of any adoption fees go directly to the original rescue.

The final hope of the #50/50 Campaign is that rescues will continue to collaborate rather than trying to do everything individually. Helping each other, in the end, means helping more dogs.

Meet Callie, a six-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who was rescued last October. We – my family and I – adopted her on October 20th and just passed the sixth-month mark. We have been so lucky to have Callie come into our lives. As my daughter said to me early on, “Mom, I feel like something just snapped into place when we got Callie; like our little family fits right, now.”

Callie came from a puppy mill. She had what I call ‘whoa’ eyes in her picture… major whoa eyes. We could see the whites of her eyes the whole way around. My wife felt a connection with Callie; she loved the puppy’s “wooly-bear eyebrows,” serious expression, and her beautiful coloring. I wish I had saved a copy of her rescue photo.

She was a breeding dog at this mill, so from the time she had her first heat until approximately seven weeks before we got her, she was either pregnant or having puppies. A puppy mill tends to be a large-scale breeding facility – although they can be smaller breeders – where female dogs churn out puppies for profit with little to no genuine care for the health and welfare of the dogs.

These dogs are left to live in kennels for their entire lives with minimal human contact. The females are bred every heat starting at 6-10 months, and their puppies are either sold locally, online, and at pet stores nationwide. There are a few things that can get a dog kicked out of the puppy mill: 1) Being too old to have puppies; 2) hitting age two without getting pregnant; and 3) not being sold as a puppy.

Those dogs, the ones deemed unfit for the mills, are either grabbed by rescues ahead of time or sold at breeder auctions where rescue organizations try to purchase as many dogs as they can possibly rehome. Lucky for us, Callie was one of those dogs grabbed ahead of the auction block by a Vermont rescue organization.

There can be unexpected differences between adopting a rescue dog and adopting what is sometimes referred to as a ‘puppy mill survivor.’ All rescues will have had different life experiences that will color their reaction to their adoptive families and new life. Usually however, rescue dogs in general are excited to meet their new people, their house, toys, and love. Puppy mill rescues tend to be very shut down when you first adopt them. They don’t understand the concept of love, playing, toys, or humans that touch them kindly.

It took Callie about two months to start reacting excitedly when our daughter arrived, about four months before she began really reacting to me, and recently until she started behaving like she is one of the family, sometimes.

She still doesn’t understand what toys are for or how to play. We’ve introduced her to a few safe dogs, and my favorite, a Lab, scares her a bit because he’s too bouncy. She can’t figure out what he is doing when he is playing with us, with the cat, or trying to play with her. He’s learned to leave her alone.

Callie is a relatively happy dog now. She still has her oddities, but every dog does. She will always have the trauma of the puppy mill behind her, but every time she goes on a new adventure, every time she gets to cuddle up with our daughter, every time Callie gets a bone, she settles in a little bit more.

We work very hard to accommodate some of Callie’s issues that we know will never go away. For instance, we know that the only time she saw a groomer was when she was rescued. That groomer had to do several of the rescue dogs that day, so she had to work quickly, she shaved her down (likely due to mats in her fur from being stuck in a cage), clipped her nails very short, and the next day the rescue organization took Callie to be spayed.

Due to this experience, we are aware that Callie is scared of going to the groomers. There would be several other dogs there waiting and stressing, it is an unfamiliar place, and I wouldn’t be there with her. Instead, we chose to hire an in-home groomer. The groomer, Dirk who owns Fresh & Furry Pet Grooming, was fantastic. He spent about 15 minutes on the floor with her first, just talking to her and letting her sniff him, his equipment, and such.

Molly and Callie

When I put her on the table, she didn’t freak out or try to get away. She sat stoically, or stood, depending on what he needed, for a long time. I never left the room, he and I chatted the whole time – either to each other or her – and she took it in stride for a while. Dirk recognized the signs when she started to get overwhelmed, and he stopped. While her grooming might not have been entirely finished, he did a fantastic job. I was impressed with my girl and with him.

I have made a concerted effort to socialize Callie as one would a puppy. She goes into the stores where she is allowed, and she meets new people all the time. Together we walk up to ‘scary’ things so she can sniff them. And we recently took an obedience class with Caron Bronstein at the S.A.V.E.S. Canine Club.

Callie still won’t let strangers reach for her to pet most of the time, even when she goes running up to greet them. They have to go for her sides, and sometimes I have to be petting her, too. But that is only true when it comes to adults. Kids are Callie’s one true love. She can be surrounded, in a way that might make another dog feel overwhelmed, and will be more comfortable than she is anywhere else.

We had thought about training Callie as a therapy dog. Now we know we have to. There is nothing she would love better than to show up in a place like the children’s cancer wing and bring smiles to the kids there.

In the Upper Valley, members of various faith and secular communities have come together to form the Upper Valley Refugee Working Group. The Working Group focuses both on refugees coming to the immediate area, as well as helping the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program based in Rutland, VT. In January, The Upper Valley Refugee Working Group hosted Light the Way, a benefit for both the Upper Valley Haven and the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program.

Light the Way announced goals, “on a practical level, every household needs a lamp or two to brighten the home! …Light the Way will collect gently used table and floor lamps to be given to resettling refugee households to brighten the years ahead.” Also, Light the Way was intended to be “a space of refuge to raise community awareness of the needs of those seeking shelter among us: refugee families arriving in Vermont and New Hampshire during the coming year, as well as those families seeking refuge already present in our communities.”

I had the chance to speak to Julie Püttgen, the organizer of Light the Way, about the project and the Upper Valley Refugee Working Group. The Working Group was started, in part, by Paul Manganiello and Our Savior Lutheran Church in Hanover, NH. Julie wasn’t part of the original group, but she joined when she saw a post on the listserv last year.

It’s amazing, she noted, “I’m a Buddhist, I didn’t have much contact previously to being involved with this group, with the local church communities, and it’s been terrific. I feel so glad to be connected to so many people of good will and good faith.”

There are members of many different area churches that come; there are Mormons, Jews, secular Atheists, and more. Julie was amazed by this mix of faiths, because, as she pointed out, we are quite good at hunkering down in our immediate worlds, and this group isn’t like that.

For the Light the Way event, one of the members of the Working Group, Sarah Nordstrom, approached her church, The Church of Christ at Dartmouth College, to see if they would be willing to donate their space for the event. And boy were they willing!

Julie said, “I felt like I kept pushing the envelope,” as thoughts grew. Through both her own ideas and suggestions from friends, it evolved from collecting lamps to a whole weekend event. After Friday’s opening events, Saturday was full of panel discussions, tai chi, a protest march, refugee yoga, a community dinner and dance, and Sunday held a closing event. Every time she approached the Church with more plans, they responded positively, further offering up their space.

“I felt like there were opportunities for people to show up to Light the Way with whatever their gifts were… some people donated just beautiful, beautiful things. One guy came in, and his mother-in-law had been a refugee from Czechoslovakia, and she had moved to this area, and she had made this beautiful ceramic lamp base and the lamp had on it this beautiful handmade lampshade.”

For Julie, Light the Way was significant for many reasons. Julie is a first-generation immigrant from Switzerland, and from 1974 to 2006 was a resident alien in this country. For some time, she went abroad and screwed up a bit; she reentered the country on a tourist visa which ended up making her deportable for a period. Julie noted that while she had less to worry about than others, as being sent back to Switzerland wasn’t going to be horrific, but it wasn’t where she wanted to be. She said “I had the tiniest taste of what it felt like to be an illegal immigrant in this country,” and, during that time, she met several families struggling to stay together which made a strong impact on her.

She also spent a good deal of time working with refugees in various countries, struggling to make it out of dangerous situations. “[Recently] I got a message from an Iranian woman I was working with in France last year, and she was writing to tell me that she and her husband had just been officially recognized as asylum seekers in the UK and they went the most scary, dangerous way possible in that they snuck onto a truck. They paid ‘people smugglers’ to take them from Gallés, France to the UK.

When I was there, they were trying every single night to do this, and she was pregnant, and she fell off a truck and had a miscarriage. So, in this really short time that I knew her, I just had this sense of the total desperation of their case, and I couldn’t believe it, they did it, through this completely perilous route, they found refuge.”

But as much as we might hear about those horrible experiences overseas and wonder what we can do, Julie wanted to make sure this event demonstrated that refugee work doesn’t have to be about international events. Refugees are also living among and coming to our community, and there is immediate work to be done.