With chickens, bees, and a young flock of sheep, we needed new LGDs quickly! Still heartsick with the loss of Elgie and Hank, we went back to work. We decided we would seek another pair of GP and/or Anatolian Shepherd mix pups one at a time and name them Bonnie and Clyde. First came Bonnie, then Clydie, and then Clyde.
Christi found Bonnie in December 2023 through Facebook. She was raised by a breeder near Atlanta with parents that are working LGDs. Another road trip rendezvous and Bonnie was ours. Like Elgie, we kept her inside until we felt she was big enough to survive a coyote encounter.
For months following the tragic loss of Elgie and Hank, folks would reach out to us with, “I think I found your dog”. This happened with regularity. On one occasion in January , the dog pictured looked exactly like Elgie, so we went to investigate. She was at a Dollar General roughly 20 miles from us. The poor dog had been hanging around the store because the employees pooled their money to buy food for her. She wasn’t Elgie, but she was a GP/Anatolian mix about one-year-old. The employees basically begged us to take the dog, so home we went with a new dog in tow. Since she was female, and we don’t believe in gender fluidity, we called her Clydie.
Clydie was extremely skiddish and unresponsive, clearly showing signs of some sort of trauma. We sat with her for hours in the garage until she finally began to eat and drink. After a few days, she began to act like a healthy dog. Soon, she and Bonnie were pals and shared their LGD responsibilities.
In April, Clydie went into heat, so we chose to have her spade. The following week when Bob was in Harrisburg helping Sean move, Christi awoke to find Clydie dead behind the house! Her suture had failed and she bled out during the night. There were trails of blood on the porch, patio, and guest house porch and driveway. Just 5 months since we lost Elgie and Hank – another sucker punch! This was incredibly hard for Christi, who was home alone. Dear friends from church, Greg and Dianna, dropped what they were doing and came to help. Dianna stayed with Christi while Greg cleaned things up and prepared Clydie for burial after Bob returned home the following day.
Three months later, we learned that the couple who bred Elgie had another litter. Christi picked out one of the male Anatolian mix pups who became Clyde.
Bonnie quickly took charge of Clyde and showed him all his duties. They quickly bonded and we have enjoyed watching him grow into his role.
Clyde is more of a “people dog” than Bonnie. He greets us like clockwork whenever we are outside and demands our affection. Bonnie is typically the first to bark and dash off into the darkness in search of predators. Clyde usually hangs back, but is gradually becoming more assertive as he matures.
Bonnie has since been spade – without incident – praise God!