Buddy Found a Hill

I love my new header pic:

It's Buddy. Perched atop his hill. Watching over his domain.

It's the very edge of the area enclosed by the invisible fence. The very edge. Like, he's almost sitting on the wire. But... he found a hill.

It's in his blood, this Anatolian of mine. I love my Buddy. And this picture just embodies him perfectly. This is what he does. He watches. Looks for signs of... danger, I suppose. That's what his breed was bred for anyway.

Every morning when he first gets up, and several times throughout the day, he walks the (invisible) fenceline, checking out "his" land, making sure everything's okay.
If we've brought him in for the night, (which we've done several times this winter due to a) how unusally cold it's been this year, and b) the fact that he has lost weight & never got his full winter coat this year, likely due to the stress of the move) then the first thing he does when we let him out, is survey the property. He starts with a visual surveillance, ears pricked, tail at attention. Then he moves to roam the edges of his allowable range, taking in sights & smells, and marking his territory at every turn.

When Jena is outside, his eyes are rarely off of her. I learned this at the old house. I had him outside, with her playing a few feet away. I was trying to work on his obedience commands, but he seemed to have a mind of his own. I gave up and started watching him, trying to figure out what was so distracting to my usually very obedient dog.

He was watching her.

If she walked, he walked. If she stopped, he stopped.

It wasn't terribly obvious. He was about 10 feet away from her, and other than the occasional glance, wasn't even looking at her. But there was a clear pattern. Regardless of the fact that I was closer, that I was holding his leash, that I was giving him commands, he was with her.

Protection is in his nature. It's not trained, it's in his blood to be a guardian.

He still does it. Sometimes he's right by her side, sometimes farther away, sometimes he'll even wander off, but if you pay attention to him, it becomes clear that his attention is always on her.

And momma couldn't be more pleased about that.

By the way - yes, the property in the picture is ours. All of it. Even the woods on the opposing hill. Told ya I moved into the country. And yep, still loving every minute!