One of the best parts of our venture into the alpaca world was the discovery of the Komondor.  When we did our initial research into alpacas we found that it was suggested you should have a livestock guardian. Since we have seen coyotes around our property on numerous occasions, this was something we felt was fairly important to us. So this led to our second research project- what is the best guardian for us?

We considered a donkey but we didn't want an animal that would be grazing on the limited amount of land we had.  We had the same issue with a llama.  Plus we read that only one half of the donkeys worked out to be good guardians so you should make sure that you could return the animal if it didn't work out.  We figured that by the time we realized the donkey wasn’t going to make a good guardian we would be attached and would not be able to return it.  A luxury we could ill afford. 

So we started to look into the different breeds of dogs suggested.  There were a few breeds I discounted just because quite frankly had never heard of them or I didn't like their looks.  We loved the look of the Great Pyrenees but read that one of their faults was that they will often follow the coyote as they chase him off.  In the mean time the rest of the pack have come up the rear and attached while the guard dog if off following the first coyote with rather unpleasant results.  Whereas the Komondor is known for staying put, protecting their charges.

I felt like I hit pay dirt when I found someone selling three month old komondors and at what I considered a reasonable price to boot.  We went to have a look and there was no turning back, Rory came home with us that day.  At three months she was not that much smaller than our seven year old lab.  It probably took her maybe two weeks to learn how to pin him down on the ground.  It was quite interesting to watch instinct kick in so naturally.  Even though she was much younger and smaller at that time she had no problem controlling a full grown male dog. So coyotes beware. 

As we got her before the alpacas she stayed in the house with our lab until the alpacas arrived. I now understand that this was a fairly risky move as she may not have taken the transition well.  While living inside the first trick she learn how to open doors. We would come home at the end of the day to find two dogs wondering through our house even though they had been locked in the laundry room. Rather than doorknobs we had levers, so we switched the basic levers to ones with a lock.  Somehow locks just could not hold her back as she mastered them in no time. We eventually had to switch to doorknobs.  Fortunately shortly after that we got our alpacas and she moved outside to start her new career.  I must admit it was a bit of a challenge convincing her that she needed to stay outside and guard the alpacas rather than me.  We installed the typical predator proof fence along with a strand of barbed wire at the bottom. She loved being outside with the alpacas when I was but when I left she left too.  The fact that a then 75 lb. dog shouldn't be able to fit under two inches of fencing lined with barbed wire didn't seem to deter her.  So we resorted to a strand of electric wire around the bottom.  This stopped her from going under the fence until she then figured out here was no wire on top of the gate so she cleared the gate like a hurdler.  So naturally we had to string a strand along the top of the gate.  Shortly after that she settled into her new position as guardian and the barriers or lack of wasn't an issue.  She was home.

Rory normally stayed with the alpacas at night and all day when we were not at home.  However she got at least a couple trips up to our house to eat, visit and have her daily wrestle with our lab.  On Christmas morning my son went to bring some hay the alpacas and to let Rory up for her daily romp.  My son being a teenager didn't think to close the gate and one on the alpacas got lose. I watched out the window as Rory approached the house ready for breakfast and her visit.  When she realized an alpaca was on the loose, no one had to say a word she rounded up the alpaca at large back in the paddock and decided the alpaca really needed to be back in the run-in shed.  When all was back in their proper place she came back to the house for her breakfast.  It was great to see mothernature at work as this is a natural instinct which was definitely not taught. 

The second occasion was not one of our prouder moments but I am telling it as a word of caution.  Normally when we have visitors Rory always behaved appropriately, after all visitor usually meant attention.  However on this particular day our vet got to our place a little before we did. The vet decided to go into the paddock to start his checkup but was greeted with one dog who was taking the guard part of her job very seriously and she bit him.  Not that hard but enough to break the skin.  So on one hand I was fairly grateful knowing that it is quite likely that she would expend the same amount of veracity on any unwelcome visitors but obviously biting the vet is a definite no-no.  I found the best solution after that was to just make sure she was introduced to all visitors while on a leash.  Since then we have had no repeat occurrence.

Like most guard dogs she barks.  Sometimes it is rather annoying but one thing we have learned if she is barking for an extended time period there usually is a good reason.  Sometimes it is because the males are fighting and she is trying to get them to stop.  Unfortunately they do not pay any attention to her anymore and they will continue on.  One evening I went out to check what the commotion was all about and found one of our males had got in with the females and Rory new he didn’t belong there. I was extremely grateful that I had gone quickly as it had to be our ugliest male was on top of one of our most promising maidens. 

Three o’clock one morning she started her non-stop barking again.  My husband went out to see what the fuss was about and found a cria had been born in the wee hours of the morning.  I guess neither the cria nor the mother were paying attention to the fact that cria are supposed to be born during daylight hours.  Now on the downside we have found that she is very protective of the cria when they hit the ground and she has tried to stop the mothers from tending to the baby.  So to ensure that we don’t have any problems in the future we are setting up a maternity ward that she can’t get into until the cria are a few days old.  Once they are up on their feet it is not an issue. 

Shortly after that we woke up one morning to find that none of the females or their babies were in their paddock.  We quickly got dressed ran out the garage door to find all the escapees with the dog in a nice little group just outside our house. 

It is so interesting to watch her at work.  We have had a few incidences where the neighbor’s dog or coyotes are at our fence line.  The first thing Rory does is moves the alpacas as far away from the threat as she can.  Then she always places herself in between the alpacas and the predator.

You may wonder how our alpacas like living with a dog.  I’m sure some of them can do without her.  When you see her snuggle up with mom and cria you know they feel pretty safe with her.  But when you watch Wilbur who was our first cria born on our farm wrestle with her, then you know they are all right at home.

So as far as I’m concerned this dog is worth her weight in gold.  Not only is she a great Livestock Guardian Dog but she is also an extremely obedient well mannered pet.  I have had many types of dogs all my life and not one could hold a candle to her. 

Since we moved to our farm we decided that not only does Rory need some companionship but she needs some help guarding our ever expanding herd and acreage so we have bought a male puppy. We are hoping to breed them for a litter in 2012.  We feel that when you have something right you go with it.