You’ve heard about people who hoard animals. It’s a terrible syndrome. Cats living in cardboard boxes, houses that smell so bad you can’t go in them, hoarders who think they are the only people in the world who can do right by their 67 dogs. Ugh.
Hopefully people won’t start thinking of us that way, but we have just added a few newbies to our animal family out here in the desert of Northern New Mexico. Warning: If you don’t enjoy looking at pictures of animals, stop reading here.
First came Bear in early July, a year-old female Great Pyrenees from the animal shelter. Now I already had five dogs, right? So why add a sixth? Because my two
beloved old girls, Sabrina and Rose, are way up there in years, each with serious health problems, so they are under careful house and yard supervision and, sadly, probably won’t be with us too many more years.
Two others are quite small, Frida less than 5 lbs., Tucker only 18. Granted they are fierce, but can do little to keep the coyote packs off our property and out of the horse corrals — in fact they would just be a snack for those guys.
And then there’s Charlie, possibly the ‘World’s Greatest Dog of All Time’. Charlie is large, 60 lbs. or so, but is so utterly sweet that a good protection dog he is not. He does chase coyotes away, but only when he feels like it and has the energy.
Enter Bear, the Great Pyrenees muppet.
She’s a grinnin’ fool, and loves people, but no one is going to get on this property or in my house without her fierce warning. To say she is vigilant is putting it mildly when describing Bear’s protective instincts. She towers over Charlie and, true to her breed, feels it is her duty to check on and protect her entire “flock” regularly. I’ve had her only six weeks, but she goes out with me at horse feeding or gardening times and makes a huge circuit, doing the rounds, checking her property, marking every so often here, there, and yonder. When she is satisfied she comes bounding back with a big self-satisfied smile on her doofy face.
I have not seen one coyote anywhere near here since Bear’s arrival.
Next came Ruby, two weeks ago during a tumultuous and muddy monsoon evening. Ruby is a Quarter Horse mare.
Now why in the world would I want to add another horse when I’ve just gotten down to two, Bella and Copper,
so our horse care regimen has become easy as pie? Because Copper, our old man who is 34, is showing his frailty more and more, and old horses can go down very suddenly. Horses being the herd animals they are, are very dependent on their equine companions, and Bella just lost her favorite one last November and grieved hard for weeks. So I knew if something happened to Copper, and Bella didn’t have another friend, she would really, really have a hard go of it. And besides, having another good riding horse would be ideal for us, which was what we got in Ruby. She is as gentle as they come and anyone can ride her, she’s the same age as Bella, and they bonded instantly and are very best friends.
So all’s well that ends well. But whoops, we’re not quite finished. So as not to leave anybody out, here are the rest of our animal crew.
I don’t think I’ve left anyone out. And in case you can’t tell, we are one HUGE family of happy campers on this big zoo-like compound.
And no one is living in a cardboard box!
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TO READ MORE ABOUT OUR ANIMAL ADVENTURES AT SOL Y CIELO, CHECK OUT THE TOPICS AT RIGHT.
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