What Abby's Owner Does that I Will Never Do.

As a breeder and trainer of Maremma Sheepdogs and farm owner with a variety of animals there's a lot to do and keep up with. I usually go out multiple times a day to take care of the animals as well as for quick checks on everyone. A little while ago I went out for one of those “quick checks” and it turned into a couple hour project that left me sweaty and muddy and not in the same mood I was in when I left the house.

First I decided to move the two litters of 12 week old puppies to a different pasture so they could get exposure to some different livestock as well as different sights and sounds in a new location. Unbeknownst to me there was a water trough that had been leaking a badly all day and had made a big mud hole. When I went to fix it I sank up past my ankles in mud, being lucky to get out without falling. Of course the puppies found the mud to be very exciting to play in and were soon covered in it. So much for my plan to photograph them for the website. 🤦🏻‍♀️😆

Next I decided to make a loop around the perimeter fence on my new Cricket Mini Golf Cart. I just got it this week and am finding it very useful for zipping from place to place, hauling feed and supplies and making quick checks on everyone. It's also great for doling out treats to all the dogs as they greet me at the fence.

So while I was making my rounds a fight broke out between two young female dogs. One is in heat and it’s just a normal thing for girls in heat to be cranky. I probably should not have put them together but they normally get along so I thought they would be ok. It was, until it wasn't. I beeped on the horn to try to distract them with no luck, so I drove to the other side of the perimeter fence. By that point the fight was over and they were in separate corners, licking their minor wounds. So I separated them, to ensure we wouldn't have a repeat performance. No real damage done. Just hormonal teenaged girls acting out.

While I was moving them I found one of my call ducks dead in the pasture behind the barn. Not in the same pasture these girls were in but in with three different young dogs. One is a 22 month old female and the others were 7 and 9 month old pups. Call ducks can fly so it probably wandered in where it didn't belong. I don’t know if the pups killed the duck or if it just died from some other cause and I found it there. It could’ve been either but it's very likely the pups decided to play with it and things got out of hand. Very sad for the duck. I do love these little ducks.

But this is what I’m not going to do. I’m not going to write a post or make a video about how "bad" or what "disappointments" these two female dogs are for fighting. I won't call these three juvenile dogs "failures" or "badly bred" for possibly killing a duck. They are all just puppies and young dogs. They are behaving normally for their ages and developmental stages. So I’m not going to label them as failures because they are not failures. Nor will I compare these young dogs to my older, mature LGD's who rarely fight and wouldn't dream of killing a duck. That's not fair at all. That's like parents who compare one child to another. Reprehensible.

Am I happy that I have a dead duck? No. Am I happy that my dogs got into a fight? No. But it would be very irresponsible of me if I did blame the dogs for their normal dog behavior, especially since I'm really the one to blame. I should have known not to put those two females together while one is in heat. I could maybe have done more to prevent the duck from wandering in with the pups. It's my responsibility as their owner to set my dogs up for success and to protect the dogs from each other and the livestock from rambunctious young dogs. Mistakes will happen so rather than beating myself up I'll learn to do better next time. But if I blamed the dogs for acting like dogs I would be guilty of betraying dogs that I love. And I will never do that, no matter how frustrated I get with them, and trust me, I do get frustrated sometimes. I'm only human.

But even more importantly, because I am a breeder, trainer, farmer and a person people do look to for advice on LGD's it would be very, very irresponsible of me to blame my dogs for normal dog behavior, as well as for my own mistakes. And that's what Abby's owner either doesn't understand or doesn't care about. When people see you as an "expert" on a particular topic you have a great responsibility to be very careful what you do and say. It really can't be all about getting "clicks" and "likes". It can't be only about entertainment, making money, gaining followers, selling videos and T-shirts.

Whether you have earned it or not, people are looking to you to help them make important decisions about their own animals, such as whether their perfectly normal puppy who may have killed a chicken, chased their goats too often or fought with another dog is worth keeping or not. Your words literally could mean the difference between life and death for innocent dogs. Are you going to sell those dogs out just to gain more money and fame? Or are you going to be responsible, encouraging and uplifting with your words?

I know you will never hear me calling one of my dogs a "failure", a "disappointment" or a "bad dog". I implore Abby's owner to not only stop calling her those horrible names, but to remove those horrible videos where HE failed Abby from his channel. I know it will mess up his SEO and cost him money but so what? What's more important to him? Getting "clicks" and money and gaining followers? Or doing right by poor, sweet Abby and other innocent dogs like her? We shall find out.

And remember, if you are bothered by this unfair treatment of Abby and other dogs like her, you have power, too. You can advocate for her. You can speak up. You can share my blog posts about her. You can demand he take down those abhorrent videos and not make any more. You can implore him to treat Abby better and to either seek professional help in training her or send her home. And you can unsubscribe, unlike and unfollow him. You have power to help Abby and dogs like her. You really do.

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NOTE: I am no longer taking comments on this post or defending my position. Since the “Spilling the Tea” video Abby’s owner put out I have been inundated with hundreds of comments to my blog and social media as well as by phone and email. Many were kind and supportive but many most definitely were not. I have been called every name in the book and even been told to kill myself. I have been threatened and harassed relentlessly. I have also had countless people try to argue with me and convince me that I am wrong or must not have watched the videos. In fact I did watch them several times, and I know a lot of background information that the viewers don’t know and I can’t share for legal reasons or because I’m protecting the privacy of certain people.

I also know perfectly well how to use quotation marks but was trying to put emphasis on certain important points. More like “air quotes”. But since that bothered a lot of you I fixed that. The ones I left are actual quotes.

Another thing the fans keep insisting is that I started all this. That is 100% false. This was started by Abby’s owner with the “Our Puppy Had Surgery” and it progressed from there. Go read the comments in that video if you don’t believe me. The fans had some really choice things to say about me and their leader let them do it. That was the point of the video and with each video after that he continued to push his narrative that I had somehow cheated him and that Abby was badly bred. (An insult to any breeder.) I truly tried to ignore it and wait for things to settle down but there came a point when I could no longer do that. That point was the video in which Abby’s owner called me a puppy mill and placed “Failure” next to her photo. I know it was clickbait, but it was not ok with me for him to do that, and I spoke up.

The fans keep insisting that Abby’s owner has a right to his opinion and a right to share his opinion, while simultaneously saying I do not have the same right. That double standard is ridiculous. I have the same right to free speech that Abby’s owner does. Just because some people don’t like what I have to say that doesn’t mean I should not say what I feel needs to be said.

I have spent a lot of time defending myself to his fans, trying to explain my position to the people who disagree with me and want to defend their star. Obviously I’m not going to change anyone’s mind and I am done trying to do so. People just keep asking me questions I’ve already answered and arguing the same arguments over and over. It’s not helping anyone: not me, not Abby, not her owner and not her fans. It’s pointless and we all have better things to do with our time. At least I do. So as of now we will just have to agree to disagree. If you have kind or constructive things to say you’re welcome to contact me privately. I’ll be happy to discuss the matter with polite people. But if you just want to argue or be nasty I will delete your comments and block you. I’m done letting hateful people ruin things for everyone else.