This image was taken from a game camera on our ranch on 8/30/2019 at 1:00 am. The mountain lion and the bear are doing battle; the camera doesn't show the outcome of this altercation.
Although I spend a lot of time talking about the importance of puppy training, there is no doubt about who is really in charge of my ranch. My sixteen adult Maremmas are the unsung hero's a lot of the time because they make their work look so easy.
Every day, day in and day out, they risk their lives to protect the livestock in their care, and I have no doubt I'd have white dogs scaling fences and coming to my rescue should I ever need them to.
I enjoy these dogs of mine every day just because of who they are and how I feel around them. It is my hope that allowing them to work in pairs will help keep them safe, and I feel certain that the number of dogs here serves as a strong deterrent to the indigenous predators.
Prior to the arrival of my dogs, we lost mini donkeys three different times to mountain lions, and mountain lions were trapped and killed here. I find these losses regrettable on both counts.
Drama, as is unfolding in the image above, is part of a healthy ecosystem; my animals are part of that ecosystem, as am I. I love that the white dogs allow all of us to live in harmony. Thank you, my beauties.