Livestock guardian dogs are full time shepherds. They know what is normal and typical activity on the farm and are suspicious of change and anything being out of place. They know when something is wrong with a sheep and will be nervous and sometimes refuse to eat until I find the problem. They are typically awake at night and sleep most of the day.

Lena is the leader of the guard dogs. Polly and Shadow are submissive to her, but she’s incredibly submissive to me. She grew up with Ziva but they now have a bit of a rivalry, and Lena prefers that Ziva stays outside the sheep paddock... which is fine because Ziva was never bonded to livestock as a puppy so she prefers to be around people more (and does her job by roaming and marking territory). Lena is incredibly bonded to her sheep…