I’m going to be honest with you — last week wore me out in the best possible way. I wrote all about it here, but I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version:
Five Maremma Sheepdogs left for their new homes in one week.
Four of them in a single day. I bathed and blow-dried four dogs the night before. (I used to groom 20–30 dogs a day when I was young. That was a long time ago. My body had some opinions about that Thursday night.)
But here’s the part I keep thinking about.
Early in the week, a man named Jacob drove eight hours to pick up a puppy he named Shep. He had actually come to me a couple of weeks before, pushed back on my pricing, and decided to go with a cheaper breeder — she was charging $1,800 versus my $3,500.
A couple of weeks later, he texted me again. That other breeder had told him he was asking too many questions.
Excuse me, what?! 🤷🏻♀️
I could feel the difference in how he reached out this time — more careful, almost like he was bracing for me to react the same way. He was asking me more questions than before.
I answered every one of them. Gladly. That’s what I do.
He reserved his puppy, paid right away, drove eight hours to pick him up a few days later, and the day after getting home, sent me this:
“Worth every penny, thank you, we love him.”
After all that. That’s the whole story.
(Bonus details: Shep is not afraid of gunshots but is nervous about ATVs. His companion dog is, in Jacob’s words, “a biznach which is actually good” — because she’s teaching him farm manners and basically training him herself. Honestly, that’s a team. Even though she’s not an LGD, she’s great with livestock, so it works. And when he’s bigger, he’ll be her bodyguard. LGDs can and do protect other dogs and pets, as well as livestock.)
Also last week: Julian (115 lbs, 3 years old) and Mabel (88 lbs, 7 months) made it to their new sheep ranch in Pennsylvania.
They went via ground transport— something I haven’t done in a few years, but had to try because Julian is simply too large for an airline crate. I vetted the transport company carefully, booked a private run just for them, and got photo updates the whole way. They arrived ahead of schedule.
They’re settling in. Mabel tried to dig out on day two — because she’s a dog, not a robot, and she was confused and stressed in a completely strange place. That’s completely normal with adult dogs. Patience is everything. They’ll be at home there before long.
And on that same Friday, Meredith picked up two puppies from my November litter for her goat and horse farm.
She told me she had been picturing hours a day of redirecting and training. Instead, her puppies just walked in and acted like they’d always lived there. Her kids rode bikes past them — they barked once and never again.
Her summary:
“I really wasn’t prepared for how easy this would be!”
And her personal favorite challenge: “Honestly, the hardest part is getting them into the barn at night!!”
That’s it. That’s the whole difficulty. They love being outside with their goats. She’s keeping them safe until they’re older. Perfectly normal, perfectly wonderful.
One more thing: stay tuned, because I’m starting a grooming series just in time for spring. Ears, skin, parasites, foxtails — the topics I get asked about constantly, broken into focused posts. Email list gets first access, as always.
And for my puppy clients and future puppy clients: this kind of content is going to live in the membership community I’m building specifically for you. Blog posts are always free for everyone — but there’s a dedicated Prancing Pony Maremma client space coming with deeper resources and support. More soon.
The Best Time to Get on the List Is Before You Need To
You don’t need to be ready for a dog to reserve your spot. The Master Reservation List holds your place in line and starts our relationship now — for $500 applied toward your purchase, with no expiration and no commitment to a specific timeline.
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