The massive herds of elk deer and antelope that once grazed California are long gone. Without them the forests have become choked with enough brush to exclude everything but fire from this landscape. With our careful stewardship, livestock can fill the fuels reduction role in our ecosystem. However, the goats and sheep best suited to the task need constant protection from predators.
The first protector of my herd was Friday, a retired pack mule. His vigilant presence and swift kick kept the goats and sheep safe until his passing five years later. Searching for another protector, I found Laya, a two-year-old Akbash guardian dog. Unfortunately, she wanted nothing to do with the livestock and spent her final Thanksgiving Day on the ranch licking the heritage turkey pair to death. Laya got a new home and I went back on Craigslist to search for guardian animals.
The first guardian I found was a gelding llama. The next day I drove to Mokelumne Hill to pick up Pedro, a seven-year-old, tall, brown camel of the Americas. With wizard-like presence, Pedro kept the chickens and turkeys safe from small predators but proved no match for the mountain lions who continued to prey on the goats and sheep. It seemed that a livestock guardian dog really was the only solution, but how to find one that would actually do its job?
A renewed search came up with a 5-year-old Great Pyrenees and a dozen goats looking for a new home. I drove to Sonora on a bluebird morning to meet Finlay overlooking his herd from the crest of an oak-studded hill. The loving eyes that met mine that day would emanate wisdom and security into my life throughout the next decade.
Finlay never lost an animal on his watch. Weighing in at 165 lbs with the bark to match, Finlay could strike fear into anyone, but underneath, he was a loving puppy. Throughout our time together, I would seek Finlay’s eyes when I needed a reminder that this is a place of wonder, ready to be reimagined in every instant. The puppy never went out of those eyes, even as he closed them for the final time on an overcast spring morning exactly ten years after we met.
I am grateful for Finlay’s teaching that an eternal combination of attention, joy and hard work keeps the inner puppy alive in each of us.
Today, Finlay’s role as a guardian of the forest stewards continues with Suka, a young Great Pyrenees, who was under his tutelage for the last couple years. She learned from a legend, and while she wasn’t the best dog during Finlay’s life, she has since stepped up and realized that the future is her responsibility. It’s time for us to do the same. The future starts now.
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