Soul-melting scenery was about me…

- George Catlin

The other day I opened my email and found this beautiful photo. It was in a

Christmas email from our friends Tim and Laraine. These are their dogs

Yogi and Andi roaming their property in Southern Alberta. While I have known 

a number of their pets over the years we have not visited recently and while we

have seen pictures we have not meet these beautiful dogs, but hopefully we can

remedy that soon.

I could not remember what breed they were so Tim

kindly supplied the following information

"The dogs are Akbash-Maremma crosses. Yogi is 3/4 Akbash and
looks much like any Akbash. The Maremma is much stronger in
Andi. They are usually working dogs and kept with sheep or cattle to
deter predators. Their job here is to keep coyotes and deer out of the
yard. They are also companion dogs here which works as they get a
long walk every day and there is plenty of room for them.
Andi prefers to be outside except in severe weather, whereas Yogi
has aspirations of becoming a house dog.  I'd suggest that they are
not suitable as urban dogs or even good for acreages where there
are neighbours around.They bark a great deal before they actually
chase anything. I understand that that is their breeding."

Thanks for that Tim

" Cocked in that land tactile as leaves

wild things wait crouched in those valleys

west of your city outside your lives

in the ultimate wind, the whole land's wave.

Come west and see, touch these leaves."

                                        Midwest

                                              Willam Stafford