Orion is a wonderful addition to our farm, but not one without problems.  We brought Orion home as a 10 week-old puppy, already neutered.  He was dreadfully cute as were his litter mates seen here at the breeder's home in Olympia.. He has badger markings here at 10 weeks but by 9 months they were hardly visible.  His bright white coat is accompanied by just a little off-white in the face and ears and a spot of black on the tail.  He asked us to include some good recipes for people treats, too.
 

Orion's Littermates

Orion at Felicity Acres

We gradually introduced him to the llamas and twice a day took him around the perimeter of the property.  In no time he knew the boundaries well and had made friends with the llamas.  Now you can see him going out into the field or back to the barn, in line with the llamas.  Sometimes we think he believes that he is a llama -- just with a different voice.  He  hops into their feeders and eats some of their grain supplement.  He even takes part in llama games at dusk when they run (prong) back and forth across the fields.  He has also had obedience training.
 

Orion has grown into quite the gorgeous dog as can be seen in these photos of us with him at the beach.  He is quite a large dog for traveling in our full-size station wagon but we like to occasionally take him on little outings away from the farm.  We don't take him for walks in the neighborhood (away from the farm) because we don't want him to adopt the whole area as his domain.
 

Orion has continued to grow into a beautiful livestock guardian dog.  Today there were some dogs acting up on the property behind ours.  Orion moved the llamas away from the back fenceline and then went to the back fence to tell the other dogs to keep their distance (barked authoritatively).  We have seen him do this a number of times.  Other dogs and wildlife take him seriously.  Orion is now over 32 inches at the withers and 150 pounds.  Orion's breeder has asked us to put Orion on a diet for a while to get his weight down to about 130 while he finishes growing up.
 
 

Opening a Christmas Present!

Orion, Dog King at Rest

 

Problems
Like all puppies, Orion is very curious.  He wanted to know what is under a chicken's feathers.  He pulled most of the feathers from the back of one of our hens.  The hen survived with a little TLC and separate accommodations during recovery. Orion , like most puppies, will chase an animal that runs.  This has led to several run-ins with chickens where we have had to step in to protect the chickens.  We also found him licking a dead chicken one time -- wondering if he had killed the chicken or merely found it already dead.

He also likes to chew and has converted a number of hoses into about 6" chew toys.  Leave a hose out and it becomes his toy!!  Things plastic, like tarps, buckets, miscellaneous small containers, all are great toys.  Just don't sit one down anywhere Orion can reach.

Obedience Training
Orion has attended beginning and advanced clicker training classes.  He learns very quickly and the skills that he has learned have been very useful for his life on the farm.  Like most Pyrs, however,  the command "come" means nothing to him when he is working in the fields.  He obeys it perfectly when he knows he is being "trained" but when on his own, we cannot count on it!  This is because Pyrs, like most LGDs, are independent thinkers.  They prioritize and if "come" is not first on the list, there is no way they will do it.  This independent thinking style is wonderful for guarding but it can be somewhat frustrating at times for the owner!

Favorite Recipes -- for people only : )
 Black Bottom Cupcakes
 Pumpkin Bread