Hi Reader,
I want to tell you about a Maremma Sheepdog named Hudson, because I think everyone who’s ever had a neighbor complain about a barking dog needs to hear this one. (And so does everyone who’s ever been that neighbor.)
Mary and Dan, two of my puppy owners in rural Washington, brought home littermates Hudson and Ripley about a year and a half ago to guard their homestead’s goats, ducks, and chickens. The dogs have done exactly what Maremmas are bred to do — until a few months ago, when a new neighbor moved in and the noise complaints started. The sheriff got called. Then came an anonymous letter accusing the dogs of barking “all day and night,” including at owls, which, for the record, don’t fly during the day.
Mary was rattled. Nobody wants a knock from the sheriff over their livestock guardian dogs doing their job.
Then, while she was in the middle of writing an educational letter to introduce the dogs to her neighborhood, a mountain lion jumped their fence.
Hudson didn’t hesitate.
I won’t spoil the whole story here — I wrote it up on the blog post with everything that happened next, including how Hudson is doing now, why Ripley’s been given a little extra love and support of her own, and the real lesson this whole month taught me (again) about why I tell every client to bring home two dogs instead of one.
Read Hudson’s full story here →
With all the very best,
Kim
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