Surprise!

I've been keeping a very big secret. I may have mentioned on this blog before that since we began our farm, I have wanted a black male. Not any black male, but a very nice, true black, that we could use as a herdsire.

While we have quite a bit of black genetics on our farm (most of our animals have a black secondary color), so we could easily have a black alpaca born on our farm, it hasn't happened yet. A few months back we decided that instead of waiting for a black male to be born on our farm, we would seek one out. We found:





His name: Gabriel Star of RobAsia

And he is now ours!!!!!

Today he won:



A second place in a very tough class of juvenile black males. We are very excited about his placing!!

Of course I know this means we will have a whole bunch of black boys born this year on our farm (it's possible from several of our breeding choices). But I don't see how we will regret having Gab. He's incredible.

None of the 6 alpacas that we took with us got into the show ring today. Shows are run on a schedule, where the alpacas show in a set color order: black, brown, fawn, beige, white, then greys and indefinites. Only the blacks, browns and the male fawns made it into the ring today. Our six left to show:

female fawn
male beige
male white
male rose grey
female rose grey
female indefinite dark

Sunday is going to be a very busy day for us.

We made it!

Today we drove 7 alpacas to Madison, Wisconsin, to attend The Great Midwest Alpaca Festival.

It's late (for me anyway). But I know many readers knew we were going to this show and I wanted to check in and let everyone know we are here. It's been a good day, but busy, so I haven't had time to write up a proper blog post tonight. I will try to do so tomorrow. I also have a surprise to share :)

8 alpacas and a vet

Tuesday was made a trip to take 8 alpacas to the vet, to get three separate Certified Vet Inspection (CVI's). We need one for each of the two shows we are headed to in the next two weeks: the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival in Madison, Wisconsin, and the Michigan Alpaca Breeders Show in Davisburg, Michigan. We also need one so that we can transport a couple alpacas that are involved in a trade.

I think we are getting better at taking so many animals to the vet, but it still worries me that one will escape at some point during the transition. We also wonder if all the animals will pass the vet's inspection. If not, we have to change around plans.

This trip went well, other than the fact it was raining like crazy when we packed up the animals. All of them passed the inspection and are ready for their shows.

The Mountains

Alpacas can be kind of picky eaters and will eat the hay they like, then cast off the stalks they don't want. During the winter months, we let this cast off hay lay on the ground for them to use as bedding. We find they love to cush on top of this hay, and actually seem to stay warm by doing so. I've read that if the hay piles get deep enough, and it is warm enough deep inside the pile, it will start to compost, creating even more warmth.

This winter was longer than usual, with really no thaws in between big snow storms. We also have had a very cool spring. This means that we didn't clean up these cast off hay piles until this past week. J spent the better part of last week and I spent some time this weekend digging up these piles to move them away from the main pasture area. While it would be possible to leave them where they are, I'd worry once the weather warms up the piles will attract bugs and start to smell as they decompose more.

We had two big mountains of cast off hay in our girls area. It took several days of work for us to move all of it to the back area.

I think of this as farm "spring cleaning."

Challenger's 2nd Place Ribbon

At the Indiana Alpaca Invitational a couple weeks ago, our own OHVNA The Challenger won 2nd place in his class. Here is his official show picture:



And a cropped version:

Technical Difficulties

I haven't written much for blog posts this week because my camera is still not working, and I believe it's the pictures that make this blog what it is. Unfortunately, I'm at a point of either not posting at all, or going without pictures.

I also have been extremely busy lately, and it seems posting on the farm blog is one thing that did get pushed to the side. We are right in the middle of spring show season, two shows down, two to go. I'm training to run a 10K on May 15th (my first 10K ever). It's only three weeks away! I think I'm ready, now it's a matter of keeping up my stamina until race day (with being gone to two shows in the next two weeks).

I do plan to get a few posts up on the blog this coming week. Then next weekend we will be in Madison, Wisconsin, for an alpaca show. I will be sure to post show updates throughout the weekend. I have a bit of a surprise that I've kept under wraps in regards to that show.

Fiber Fiesta

Last fall I entered two of my home spun yarn skeins and we entered fiber samples from two of our boys in the Fiber Fiesta. I know I posted the results awhile back, but I wanted to brag again, now that we got the ribbons in the mail.

I wish I could take a picture of the yarn skeins and the fiber, but my camera is not working.

My skein of yarn from fiber off our male, SA Peruvian Greyt Exxpectations, won first place in his class, and Judges Choice!!! The number score was 91 out of 100. The judge stated:
"good yarn weight" (for cohesiveness)
"very consistent" (for consistent app. of tech)
and
"Well Done!"

For the skein I made of Cafe's fiber, she received a 2nd place. The number score was 88 out of 100. The judge states that it is "well done"

The only critique is that the twist is a little tight, making the yarn not as soft as it would be otherwise.

Then for the fiber contest, we entered a sample from our male, SA Peruvian Greyt Exxpectations, and a sample from Sancha's White Lightning. Greyt received a 2nd place, and Lightning recieved both 1st and Highest in Color Group and Best Crimp. Lightning's number score was 77 out of 80.

Exhausted

Despite my best of intentions, I neglected getting any blog posts up throughout this week. Both J and I have regular jobs outside of our alpaca farm. J works odd hours, nights and weekends, so he never knows what his schedule will be. I work a typical day job Monday through Friday, though my job offers a lot of flexibility. I can flex my time and work from home. Typically I take off work on the Thursday before an alpaca show weekend so that I can pack and get the house and farm ready for my absence. Then Friday we leave first thing in the morning for the show. We are busy at the show all weekend. I usually also take off work on Monday to recover from the busy weekend and try to get the house and farm back on track. This past weekend I was not able to take off on Thursday or Monday. Much of my day job is flexible, but some things are not. On Thursday I had a court hearing I had to attend. Then on Monday I had two home visits that were scheduled across the state that I had struggled to schedule as it was. I hoped to take another day off throughout the week to give myself some much needed rest, but that didn't happen either. This means I've been running on empty all week.

Most weekends I'm rather indifferent to the fact it's the weekend. I think that comes from years of J working all weekend, and my taking on the role of single parent. In many ways the weekdays are easier. The routine and schedule of the week makes it easier. But this weekend I am happy to sit back and relax. Thankfully my kids are old enough they don't require constant care so I can get a much needed break.

I thought I had a rough week until I came home today and found J had had an accident. While fixing a fence, he accidentally knocked himself in the head. He hit himself so hard he almost knocked himself unconscious. He has a huge bump on his forehead. He works all this weekend and I can just imagine what his co-workers will be saying about his injury.

Hurry Up and Wait

After Saturday's rough day at the show, Sunday arrived with low expectations. I even left my camera in the truck, not only would I not take the camera up to the ring, I wasn't even taking it in the building. (At our first few shows it seemed whenever I took the camera up to the ring our alpaca did not show well, so I started not taking the camera up to the ring at all). I'm not superstitious but something about alpaca shows brings it out in me.

Our first animal to show on Sunday was Chaska. Chaska is a beige juvenile male. I don't remember how many were in his class and I can't find our show book right now. I do remember that he took 3rd place. We were quite happy with this placement. The judge called him "robust" stating that he has a solid frame, a nice consistent bold crimp, he is dense, but might lack a bit for fineness. What I appreciate about the judge's comments is that I can see what she is saying and I agree. While I'd love to say all my animals are the best, there is no perfect alpaca, every one has something that could be improved upon.

Our second animal to show was Harley. Harley is a white yearling male, a class I would consider the most competitive class that there is. White is a tough class, and when you get into the yearlings, you are looking at Herdsire potential. Prior to coming to the show, Harley got into a batch of burrs and we had to cut back his top knot. Now, the judge isn't supposed to hold that against him in the ring, but, he looks pretty pathetic, it's hard not to. He was in a class of 11, and we were pretty sure he'd "get the gate" and not place at all. We were thrilled to have him put into 4th place! This puts him in the top 1/2 of the class, which is considered herdsire quality. I don't remember what the judge did say about him. I wrote it down, but I misplaced the show book. It is important what the judge says, because if he's dense but not fine, then you wouldn't want to breed him to a female that struggles with fineness. Once I have a chance I will find that show book (I'm sure J remembers what she said because he was talking about breeding choices based on something she said).

We then had a long break after Harley showed and before they began the grey classes. It appears that when they assigned the judges, they miscalculated how long it would take each judge to complete their classes. One judge was completely done near lunch time on Sunday, the other judge went until after 6 p.m.!! That's a long day of showing, especially when many alpaca farmers have a long way to drive home that night. We were a bit frustrated at having to stay so late. But, we love our grey alpacas.

During this time, it had gotten very warm outside, yet inside the venue was cool. However, as people were packing up and leaving (farms that didn't have any grey animals packed up and left as soon as they could), they opened all the doors. This let in the hot humid air, which caused our alpaca's fiber to whither. Humidity does a terrible thing to crimp. While it could be said that everyone had this disadvantage, the denser the animal, the more the heat and humidity hurt them. The denser animals got more hot and that in turn made them sweat and really messed up the look of their fiber. Our animals tend to be dense, and I know for a fact Challenger's fiber did not look near it's best by the time he showed.

Challenger took 2nd in a class of 6. While 2nd is certainly exciting, the interesting thing is that at the last show he got 1st and the one that took 1st here took 3rd at that show. It just goes to show:

a different judge, a different day

It really can make all the difference. We aren't upset, a 2nd is still a great place to be. We'll be anxious to see how it balances out at the next two shows we go to.

Rose showed in a class of 6 where she took 3rd. Once again she placed behind one of Stachowski's grey girls (I don't remember who took 1st in this group). I told him he produced too nice of animals! He better not show up at the next show we go to, so that at least Rose has a chance to place better. I admit, I was so busy getting Twilight ready for the next class, I didn't pay attention to what the judge said about Rose.

Twilight showed in a grey class this time. The disadvantage to this is that Twilight has mostly black fibers, and typically the darker the color the harder it is to be fine. The animals that are mostly white and grey would have an advantage with that. We were quite pleased to have Twilight placed in 3rd in this class of 6. She was also beat by one of Stachowski's grey girls. The judges comments were that Twilight's fiber is bright and dense, but not as fine (which I predicted would be the outcome).

This means that all our animals, except for Ginger, placed in the top half of their classes. For such a competitive show, we are extremely pleased to be in the top half.

I really enjoy going to shows, usually there is a good balance between having things we need to do, and having time to network and catch up with fellow alpaca farmers. Something about this show, the timing felt off. Maybe it is that we have 3 grey alpacas, half our show string, all clumped in one part of the show, at the end. Also, in the past we usually have at least one black and a brown, to get us started early on. Now we have all lights and greys, so we don't show until further into the show. This changes every year, based on what color cria we have born (and since we breed for all colors, it changes a lot for us each year). I'm not going to start breeding for blacks just to change this :) While I'd love some blacks, I also love my greys, but it is interesting how what color animals you have can change the way the show flows for you.

I felt like all day we were trying to hurry up for this or that, but then we had to wait. We had to hurry to the venue to show Chaska and Harley, then sit around and wait for hours. For some reason we had a lot of down time at this show, more so than we typically do. Then we had to hurry up and show Challenger, Rose and Twilight, all in a row right after each other. It was crazy busy. Then there is the hectic time of packing up. The flow at this show was off for us.

I will say that as usual, I think the Indiana Alpaca Invitational is the most competitive show we attend. It can be brutal at this show. At times I've said we shouldn't even go here, why put ourselves through it. But J points out, if we can't take the heat, why are we breeding show quality alpacas? We have to know how we stack up, and what to strive for. It's these shows where we learn and grow and push our farm to the next level. One day we'll get a color banner at this show, and it will mean all the more to us.

Rough Day

My day started at 5 a.m. when I woke up and realized I had some pretty bad heartburn. I knew I needed to get up, because if I stayed laying down it was just going to get worse. I suffer regularly from heartburn and do take a prescription medication. I usually do ok managing, but I have a more difficult time when we travel. The combination of different foods, eating more than usual, and drinking more pop than usual is the perfect combination to set off some problems for me. Thankfully I fell asleep pretty quickly at 10 p.m. and slept solid until 5 a.m. So, while it was an early start to the day, at least I had gotten several good hours of sleep. J, on the other hand, did not like the hotel bed and reports he hardly slept all night.

While we had not planned to attend the exhibitor's meeting at the show this morning at 8 a.m., we were up and ready and had even already gone out to breakfast in time to attend. So we went. These meetings are very important to alpaca farmers new to showing, but once you've been to several of these, they all sound the same. We know the drill at this point.

Most shows we've attended start with the black classes, some even hold the exhibitor's meeting the night before so the black alpacas are hitting the show ring right at 8 a.m. This show instead started with the production class. This is where you can take three animals by your sire, for Get of Sire; or two animals out of your dam, for Produce of Dam. There are also the classes of Bred and Owned and Breeders Best of Three. We have participated in these classes in the past, but chose not to this year. So that meant basically sitting around while these classes took place. It was pushing 11 a.m. before they even started with the black classes. We do not have any black animals at this show, nor do we have any brown. Our first alpaca to show was in the fawn class. Throughout the day we weren't sure we'd even show our fawn girl, things felt like they were moving very slowly.

I don't want this to sound like we didn't do anything this morning. For one, we got the show book, and we looked up each of our animals to see what competition we will be facing. We did walk around the venue and we had a chance to catch up with a lot of people. It is fun to see people we haven't seen in awhile, and to look at other people's animals. We also spent some time watching what was going on in the show ring. However, when we have 6 animals here, we wanted to get started showing these animals.

Our only animal that did show today was Ginger. She was in a class of 11 medium fawn juvenile girls, and unfortunately she "got the gate" ~ which means she didn't place. They only give ribbons out to the top 6. The rest leave the ring without a ribbon and more importantly without any feedback. So, we don't know why she got the gate. This isn't the first time we've gotten the gate, but I really expected her to at least place. I think she's a nice alpaca, her fiber is fine with average density, nice crimp. The only thing we can figure is that she is smaller boned, and that may have been why. Many of the judges prefer bigger boned animals. I could hypotheses other reasons, but honestly, we aren't sure.

This lack of feedback can be extremely difficult for new breeders. I remember our first few shows we were caught off guard anytime we got the gate and only took guesses as to why. We were lucky that early on some well established and experience breeders took us under their wing and helped us see why our animals might not have placed well. We've learned so much and gotten so many helpful tips over the years. It has made me very sympathetic to new breeders, I do remember what those first few shows are like. This is a hard industry to break into. Even though we've learned so much, there is always room for improvement. We will need to seek more feedback on Ginger so that we can figure out why she placed how she did.

Tomorrow we will have a very busy day. Harley, Chaska, Challenger, Rose and Twilight all still need to show. Chaska has never shown before, and we have no idea how he might do. While we do assess our own animals, it's often times hard to be objective. Chaska also has a different type of crimp and fiber structure, which we do not know how it will go over with the judges. Harley has a rough class of yearling white males, and could easily get the gate also. White is an extremely difficult class. While Rose, Twilight and Challenger have shown well in the past, you always need to keep in mind "a different judge, a different day." It comes down to what the competition is, so you can't make any assumptions.

Classic Dark Silver Grey

We arrived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, early this afternoon to check in for the Indiana Alpaca Invitational. We transported 9 alpacas in our trailer, 6 of our own, and 3 for Ashton Stone Alpacas.

Here they are peeking out the back gate while we unload the truck (don't worry, when we are driving we close the solid doors):



All 9 of them fit in there, with room to spare, though it's hard to see them all:



We had a lot of work to do so I rushed taking pictures, and those are the only two I managed to get in.

We set up our stall in record time. I don't know if we are just getting better at all of this and that is why it went faster, or if it was because we arrived here earlier than we usually do and there were no lines for anything.

Just like at the last show we decided to have our girl, Twilight, color checked by the judges. There are three levels to deciding what color class an alpaca shows in. The first decision is made by the alpaca owner. When you sign the alpaca up for the show, you register them for the color class you believe they should be in. We do our best to get this right from the start, and only ever had have changes with a couple of our animals that aren't a clear color, such as Twilight. Then at the show, all animals are color checked by a team of people who make sure the color the alpaca is registered as matches the color chart. (I've done color check at a show before and it's amazing what color some alpaca farmers *think* their animal is). The color check people hold a color card up to the animal, to their fiber right up next to the skin, to verify the color. Just like at the last show, the color check team suggested we have Twilight checked by the judge. She has grey fibers throughout her black blanket, but is it enough grey for the grey class? Or not enough grey, and she's an Indefinite Dark? At the last show the judges felt she was right at the borderline between the two and decided to put her in the Indefinite Dark Class. We were fine with this decision. We feel the animal will do best in the class the judge would most like the animal to be in anyway. Twilight received a 1st place in that class!! This time the judges discussed her at great length. We were not allowed to be a part of that discussion, I would have loved to hear all their insight. But we were told the final decision is that she will show as a Classic Dark Silver Grey!

I am excited about this for a couple reasons. For one, I don't agree with separating out the indefinite vs the grey. I believe the same genes create both, just some of the animals have more of the grey fibers than others. It's a matter of expression (how many grey fibers), but the same gene is at work. Therefore I believe they are the same and should be shown together. I know this isn't how the rules are set, and therefore when we do have an animal in the indefinite class, I accept that. But, I don't necessarily like it or agree with the way the rules are. I also am excited about this because then I can call her a "Dark Silver Grey". Not only does "grey" have marketing abilities (for people looking for grey animals), but also because people know what you mean when you call an animal a grey. To call an animal "indefinite" usually needs more explanation.

Leaving

We hope to leave around 8:30 a.m. to head to the Indiana Alpaca Invitational in Fort Wayne, Indiana. While you can check in at the show venue anytime before 7 p.m., we've found that if you get there at 3 p.m. or later, you end up waiting in a pretty long line for everything. We aim to get to a venue between 1 and 3 p.m., hoping for earlier rather than later.

Once you arrive at the venue, the first stop is vet check. Each show does this a bit different. Some shows the vet comes into your alpaca trailer and checks out the alpacas in there, other venues require that you take the alpacas out of the trailer. Sometimes you just need to lead them over to an area set up outside, other times it's inside the venue. From what I remember of this show, the vet comes into your trailer. We'll be hauling 6 of our own alpacas and 3 for Ashton Stone Alpacas, so with 9 alpacas in tow, it will be very nice not to have to lead them all somewhere.

After the vet check in, you find out which stall your farm is assigned to. Every farm does their set up a little bit different. We prefer to set up our stall, then bring our alpacas into the stall. Though I've seen other farms do the reverse. It comes down to a personal preference.

After we have our stall mostly set up and alpacas inside, we take a look at the line for color check. We try to hit color check early on to get it done before that gets too busy. At color check they look at your alpaca's fiber right next to the skin to see which color class that animal will show in. When you register for the show, you already have picked the color you think your animal is, but color check can overrule that. If you disagree with the official at color check, or if your animal's color is a bit unusual, then you can have the judges check the animal. We have does a judge's check on our indefinite animals, to make sure that is the class they belong in.

Usually by the time this is all done it's late, usually passed dinner time. At our last show we left a bit earlier so that we could check into our hotel and grab a decent dinner, then come back and finish up. At that show, the exhibitor's meeting was that evening. By the time the exhibitor's meeting is done, and the stalls completely set up, it's usually quite late. The show usually starts at 8 a.m. on Saturday, so it's often a short night for us. Some shows have the exhibitor's meeting first thing Saturday morning.

We are very excited to go to our second spring show of 2011. I can't wait to see how our alpacas do!! But, that's not all that happens at a show. There is a lot of networking, and learning from other alpaca farmers. It's so much more than just ribbons.

Show Boys

To the Indiana Alpaca Invitational, we are bringing three boys ~ ATA Peruvian Harley, OHVNA The Challenger, and OHVNA Chaska. Harley has been to a few shows before we got him, and we've only taken him to one so far. This will be our second show with him. Challenger won 1st place at his first and only show (so far). This will be Chaska's first show, and we are very excited to see how he will do.

Harley:



Challenger:



Chaska:

Show Girls

We are bringing three girls ~ Enlightenment's Rocky Rose, Smokey's Twilight, and Eclipse's Ginger Ale to the Indiana Alpaca Invitational this coming weekend. This will be Ginger's first show, she just turned six months old (the minimum age to show). This will be Twilight's second show. She already received a 1st place at her first show. This will be Rose's 3rd show, she received a 1st at her first show, and a 3rd at her second show. This will be the last time she shows as a juvenile. By the next show Rose will have her birthday and will be in the yearling class.

Rose:



Twilight:



Ginger:

Our second spring show

On Friday we leave for Fort Wayne, Indiana, where we will be attending the Indiana Alpaca Invitational. We are so excited to be headed to another alpaca show!

We have attended this show since it began, three years ago, in 2008. While we did not bring our own animals to show that first year, we assisted our mentors, South Haven Alpacas, in showing their animals. Unfortunately South Haven Alpacas is no longer in the business, and I have to say every show we attend we think of them and miss their input. It's not the same without them. In 2009 we took our own first show string of Victoria's Shelby, Kateri's Tehya, and Sancha's White Lightning. Oh the memories! Last year, 2010, we were enthralled with our champion, OHVNA Pocahontas.

I have always said the competition at this show is the most fierce of any show that we attend. I don't know why I feel that way, because J has pointed out to me that we've come home with similar ribbons from this show as we do at other shows. Something about this show always makes me feel like we really need to step it up.

strange behavior

Friday when I was running outside on some country roads, I was dismayed by the fact so many people allow their dogs to roam free. I know I have three dogs, so you would think it would follow that I like dogs, but the truth is that I don't. I like my dogs, but not so much other people's dogs. And I am terrified of dogs chasing me when I run. I know dogs sense fear, and I know my fear only makes it worse, but none the less, it's a feeling I haven't been able to change. After more than one dog scare on my run on country roads, I decided to cut through the woods to get home. I knew the woods and I've never run into a dog in the woods. I wasn't having such luck on the roads. I know the paths in the woods well enough that I wouldn't get lost. And while I knew there was still some snow and ice on those paths, I decided I'd rather risk falling on the ice than dealing with another dog on the run.

So I left our house for my run out our front door to the main road. I came back through the woods, out behind the alpaca's pasture. When I came out of the woods all of the alpacas were on alert, staring at me. I know this is their safety mechanism, this is how the herd functions. But I am always amazed how long they stay on alert. Even after I talked to them and let them know it was me, they were still staring. Even after I got into the house, and looked out at the back yard, they were still in a group, staring.




I was reminded about an excellent speech I heard in Janauary by Dr. Temple Grandin. She is an amazing woman who not only has autism, but has become a voice explaining what it's like to cope with autism. She also has done tremendous work with animals (building chutes for cattle and such). She gave me insight not only into children with autism, but also into animal behavior. So much of what she said about cattle fit for alpacas too.

Animals expect the same routine. And I know this is especially true for alpacas. When I do my daily farm chores, if I make any change or adjustment to what I do, it throws them all off. There have been times I put grain out in a different order and it threw them off so much none of them could cooperate with me. I've literally had to pick up all the grain bowls, walk back into the garage, and start over. J and I have found that if we feed them differently, that it messes it up for each other. There were times that J would feed them differently once, and it would take me three feedings to get them back into the routine. We've learned how to keep things as similar as possible.

I think when I came back from a run from behind them, when they never saw me leave, was really strange behavior to them. They didn't know what to make of it. I also know it's been at least since last fall that I was back in the woods, so it's been months since they have seen me over there.

run away

You know you live in a small town when you can't even run away from home



This morning when we were getting alpacas ready to go to the vet, we had an escapee. Our guardian dog, Spot, got loose. As is typical for Spot, he is very friendly and always wants attention when we are out in the barns and pasture. But if he gets loose, he is on the run! This morning he took off at such a pace I could not catch him. We had to leave for the vet, so my Father-in-law said he'd keep his eye out for Spot.

When we got home from taking the alpacas to the vet, we heard that someone had taken Spot into the local vet's office (the vet we were at is in Coopersville, several towns away, the local vet does not care for alpacas). As it turned out, a family friend was at the local vet's office and happened to see Spot come in with these people who said they had found him. They had him at the vet to see if he was micro chipped. It turns out Spot is micro chipped, but he was still registered to his former owners. Our friend was able to tell them that Spot now belongs to us. The people who found him live just down the road from us, and were kind enough to bring him back home. Our immediate neighbors already know Spot, unfortunately now it appears neighbors further out are meeting him too.

This has made us come to the realization that Spot needs more land to run on. Our farm isn't very big and the area that Spot is in is only a portion of our land. He's a big dog, he needs to have a job, to have work to do, and we aren't providing him with enough to keep him happy. He's an excellent guardian, but he needs to be needed, and our small area doesn't really require his work. For this reason, we are actively seeking a new home for Spot. He has to be on a working farm with herd animals. While he has always been around alpacas, I think he would do fine with sheep also. The essential thing is that he needs a large fenced in area where he can run and work and be happy. He is absolutely not a house dog. If you or anyone you know are interested in an experienced guardian dog for your working farm, please contact us.