How We Decided on Colorado Mountain Dogs
There were a handful of good reasons why we wanted a livestock guardian dog. There were only a few good reasons for why were hesitating. What pushed us over the edge to commit to getting dogs?
The answer came in two forms:
Number one, the introduction to the newer breed called Colorado Mountain Dogs. Certain features of this breed overcame some “cons” we had listed from looking at other livestock guardian breeds. (I would study the other breeds, and even went to go visit some, but I could never overcome the reasons for “no.”)
And number two, the neighbor had a dangerous Pitbull that he could not keep contained for more than a month at a time before it would escape again.
Allow me to give some of the reasons we already wanted a dog before we dive deeper into the final decision to settle on the CMD.
We needed livestock guardian dogs if we were going to increase our homestead activities. We wanted goats or sheep, even though we didn’t have fencing figured out yet. We loved the warmth of our chickens and ducks loose in the yard, but they would inevitably get eaten by a predator or a stray dog. The instances began to add up: We had a bear smell our window in the daytime; Beehives were attacked; I pursued a daytime coyote who got our white leghorn chicken; A random trail cam placement caught a pic of a beautiful Doberman Pincher on our front door step; There were constant dog tracks in the dirt road. Obviously, we were going to need more than a field fence.
It wasn’t so much the predators, but the loose dogs that kept me armed when the children went outside. It is a shame that we had three acres and we couldn’t let the kids go outside by themselves, or even walk to the other side of the house alone. The neighbor’s attack Pitbull was the final straw. The risks were too real. The solemn, “I promise it will never happen again,” turned into, “It’s a work in progress” pretty quickly. I’ve never called the law on anyone until these encounters, but after my second phone call, I was told by animal control that after four officially recorded incidences, the judge would get involved. I don’t know how true that was, but I decided it wasn’t going to happen but one more time, and then the problem would be solved forever. (We couldn’t afford it happening at the wrong time - against a child.)
With almost miraculous timing, we were told about the Colorado Mountain Dogs. We were visiting friends in Colorado and bumped into two different families who had them. One couple told us about an incident when their dogs were playing friendly with a stray dog in their yard. The dogs were on the porch when the husband finally walked out, and the stray dog quietly showed his teeth. Without hesitation his two Colorado Mountain Dog girls flew into violent mode and chased the stray all the way off the property. Awesome! His point of his story was to illustrate his dogs’ ability to discern between a threat and non-threat.
I read through every article on the website ColoradoMountainDogs.com and I knew we had the answer to the breed of dog we needed.
It was recommended that we get two dogs, and I am so thankful that we did! Not only are they happier, but I feel much more comfortable sleeping at night knowing that we have—not one, but two—dogs on duty. We bought the best two dogs money could buy: one from Wyoming and one from Colorado. We never had another problem with any loose dogs. They steer clear of our property. I thought there would be a confrontation with the next-door neighbor’s, but the confrontation was avoided by our dogs’ bold presence. When the attack Pitbull got loose, he would head the other direction!