A Mental Picture:
A Single soldier….on a field of battle, along the way to rejoin the company… he comes across a family, the mother and are have perished. He hears a noise, looks, finds 4 children, 4, 6, 8 and 10. He knows the enemy they are fighting, the children will be dead if they catch them. He cannot leave them, but he has to travel, he could move faster alone, but they are helpless, defenseless. He cannot leave them behind.

He starts the journey to safety, it won’t be easy, traveling by himself he could make it in a week, but with the children – they move slower. He makes a plan. When they reach a place of rest each night, he hides them and moves out, on the perimeter he places tricks and traps, things that make noise, places more boot prints going in different directions. Things to make the enemy think there are more.

The first night, the second night, then the third, he is making progress. The 4th day, then night, he is oh so tired, but they were close, he heard their calls….place the tricks and traps, the echoes of the noise, hide where they are.

Move on today, push further, have to push, children are tired, crying; cant you see the enemy is close, quite please little one please you will draw them! Stop for now, have my portion, sleep, rest little ones. Another long day tomorrow…So tired…tired…….

OH NO, How could I have fallen asleep, they are on US! There are 3, they are after the children, the 10 year old is struggling, and they have the youngest. Fight, Fight hard…. It’s over….but the children are crying. The youngest is injured, let me see. Hold him so close, he wants his mommy…The crying stops….No please, no….no…….

Push harder, push faster, but the children are tired…More traps, more diversions, can’t sleep….Push, they are right on our heals. Push…

So is the life of a single LGD, the thing with this story, is there will be an end for the soldier when he reaches safety, but the single LGD has no relief as predators are ever aware, ever ready…. always watching for that moment. The10 year old, is the mama sheep or goat, it will fight valiantly, the 4 year old it’s lamb; The crying of the littles as the baaing. Sounds they make naturally, but the sounds that draw the predators…

My point in this story today, is, like the diversions the soldier set, so a single LGD will be more proactive in telling the predators, “I AM here”. So the fight NEVER comes to his land. The single LGD KNOWS that if the fight comes to his land, he is but ONE, there is a lot he can handle, but… there is the risk of loss, when they strike from behind or from the side, so be proactive…use the voice, the one thing IOO we have seen the single LGD use more than any pair or trio or more…Their VOICE. “CROSS THIS LINE I AM HERE!” Their Bark, their voice, how many have you heard from those that have a single LGD that the main issue is the barking.

The farm soldier, your single LGD-no matter the size of the lot, no matter how small, the fence still will not keep out predators, and the single LGD will have to remain ever vigilant….as when they rest, harm can come. They HAVE to do whatever they can….so even if they look as though they rest, there is always that one ear, ever listening.

Time and again, we see it and we say it, start with two, no matter what you have. Stack in favor of our stock, and LGDs as they are at war for the very life of their charges. There are nights that they bark and are active, but there is always a reason. I can hear the coyotes trying to draw to one side in order to strike from the other; but it is a different bark than the mono tone of the single LGD “I am here” and it is not continuous; stops as predators move on.

Ponder it.