Aang
Gotcha-Day: 08/20/2023

Aang was our second official livestock guardian dog (LGD), he is a Maremma mix.

We were not planning on adding any more livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) to the farm when we stumbled upon a post on facebook from a woman in Southern California who was looking for someone willing to adopt an abandoned intact Maremma mix.

We discovered from our conversation with the woman that Aang was a roughly 8-month-old puppy, who had been abandoned, along with one of his sisters, by the owners/breeders in the farmland of Bakersfield, CA, in the height of summer. They had been left with no suitable shelters, no food outside of the chickens that had also been abandoned with them, and absolutely no water. The woman had been trying to feed them and give them water as often as she could, but knew they needed new homes and soon.

After very little discussion we packed up a car and headed to meet the woman to collect the very malnourished and sickly Aang (then Millo). As soon as we got back to the farm we gave Aang his first bath ever and rushed him to a veterinarian the next day where he was diagnosed with muscle-wasting disease and severe dehydration.

So, his rehabilitation bega, although we lost a few chickens along the way, as soon as Aang realized that he would never miss a meal again his behavior was corrected.

Now we have a very happy and healthy escape artist who loves nothing more than to be with Katara and Sven or in a kiddie pool full of cool water. Aang, although a tough case at the start of his career is now the second in command who is always helping Katara guard our livestock and ensuring we always remember to lock every gate.