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Texas Ridge Working dogs

Do you ever read ads for puppies that claim to have "working parents" and wonder what that means? At Texas Ridge, it means our livestock guardian dogs are on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in rain, snow, sun and wind. It's their sole purpose to keep our family, farm and livestock safe from all manner of predators. Our neighborhood is home to cougars, bears, coyotes and wolves, but our dogs ensure our livestock, home and children are safe from these predators, and the predators are safe from us. Our dogs truly earn their keep. They enable us to graze our animals without permanent fences and are present for every task we perform. They even keep deer out of the garden and orchard!

Meet the Dogs

BOSS

Head of Ranch Security

Boss was born in spring 2016. He is half Pyrenees and half Anatolian. He's an absolute sweetheart with the family, but when he's on duty, Boss is a fierce defender of our family and livestock. He has great instincts and we frequently see him taking daily "counts" of family members and livestock to ensure everyone is accounted for. Boss guards goats, chickens, pigs and cattle. In his free time, he likes sleeping in the doorway to maximize the chance of getting his belly scratched by his people.

BELLE

Goat Guardian

 Belle joined the team in February 2017. She is half Anatolian, 1/4 Akbash and 1/4 Pyrenees. She is 100% working dog, having adopted our goat herd as her pack. She is a loving member of our family, but is more at home living with the livestock rather than people. She is incredibly sensitive to each animal's body language, and automatically lays down submissively when any of the animals under her protection display the slightest bit of fear toward her. She often acts as a babysitter for the newborn kids, while their moms leave to graze. It goes without saying that she's also a great mom to her puppies.

When Boss and Belle work together, they successfully drive predators off of our land, keeping even our chickens and baby goats safe without without permanent fencing or any other physical barrier.

Hybrid vigor

Our guardian dogs are a mix of Pyrenees, Anatolian, and Akbash in varying percentages. There are many breed purists out there who believe that an animal should be evaluated as a breed first, and an individual second. However, we find that our mixed-breed dogs don't experience any of the health problems that are prevalent in purebred dogs, such as congenital joint weaknesses, heart conditions, allergies, and skin and coat problems.