Sarah

A heartfelt thank you from Laura and Mark Voss

To: All the Wonderful Veterinarians, Interns, Residents and Staff at CSU for their care and treatment of our Treasured Guardian Sarah.

Many of you came to know our beloved ‘Sarah’ and cared for her as if she was your own. We would like to tell Sarah’s story.

We didn’t know it then but we were very fortunate to discover Sarah at the Laramie Animal Shelter while we were desperately searching for a lost dog. We adopted her and called her ‘Serendipity’ (Sarah for short) because of our good fortune in running across her purely by happenstance. Sarah had been found in February of 2000 by animal control, running with a pack of dogs near Rock River, Wyoming. She was a Great Pyrenees, about a year old and no one thought her valuable enough to retrieve from the shelter. She proved to be worth her weight in gold throughout the years that we were fortunate enough to share her life and learn from her.

Sarah came to our Ranch in the early years when we began raising alpacas. As we are at 8000 feet on the high prairie, there are bear, fox, coyote, bobcat and mountain lion in close proximity to our Ranch. Upon her arrival, Sarah was initially placed on a chain until she became familiar with her new surroundings for fear that she might run away. In this short period of confinement, Sarah witnessed the death of one of our beloved alpacas by 2 huskies who had chewed through their leads at a nearby Recreation Area. As Sarah was secured on a chain, she was helpless to defend the alpaca. Needless to say, she was let off her chain the next day and she and we never forgot this painful incident. Lesson number one: Allow your guardians to do their job.

Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGD) are unique. These breeds include the Great Pyrenees, the Maremma, and others. Sarah exhibited the finest qualities of these breeds. In her 8 years of devoted service she never lost an alpaca that was under her watch. Even though she was not raised with alpacas, Sarah adopted them as her family and was devoted to each and everyone. Sarah was completely submissive to her alpacas, to us and our children. We repeatedly observed her licking one particular alpaca that was in pain due to an arthritic condition. Sarah wouldn’t hurt a fly unless, of course, it was a threat to her alpacas or humans.

Sarah was posted as a sentry with our most valuable stock, our female alpacas and their babies. She was constantly on duty and on alert. She barked at every threatening sound or smell that she caught coming in on the wind. Sarah killed anything unfamiliar that came into her pasture. This included hapless rabbits, mice, pack rats and skunks. Sarah knew the difference between rabbits and the barn cats she also protected. There were many mornings that I would arrive at the barn and find a foolish skunk whose body had been buried in one of the alpaca latrines. Curiously, Sarah never ate skunk. The only thing that got the better of Sarah was the occasional porcupine.

When it came to her alpacas, Sarah was never possessive of anything, including her food. She never begged for or even sought out treats or bones from her humans. Sarah also never sought affection. She really wasn’t interested in any of that stuff. Her primary concern was with her alpacas. Sarah was calm and quiet around her stock. She never chased, played with or jumped on her alpacas. She took the greatest pleasure in an alpaca ‘kiss’ which she would get frequently because she wouldn’t startle her alpacas but would lay or sit quietly, perfectly still to receive these gestures of affection, recognition or curiosity by her alpaca friends.

In early 2006, we noticed Sarah was limping and that her left front leg was painful. We took her to a local Vet who prescribed Bute. We all thought she had an injury, however, the medication did not alleviate the pain and the ‘injury’ did not resolve. We then brought Sarah to CSU in March 2006. She was diagnosed with bone cancer. She was only 7 years old. We couldn’t believe the news and couldn’t afford or bare to lose Sarah who had become essential to the safety of our females and to the success of our alpaca operation. Amputation and chemo were recommended. We didn’t know how ‘Sarah’ would be able to guard her alpacas on only three legs but she did and the loss of her leg didn’t slow her down much. Sarah also tolerated the chemo well.

With some help from another guardian dog that she had previously trained, Sarah continued to guard her stock following her quick recovery from surgery. Being practical and recognizing that our time with Sarah was probably limited and that the protection of our stock was at stake, we acquired another puppy for Sarah to pass her wonderful traits onto. It seemed a terrible thing to impose the responsibility to train her replacement.

To our dismay, Sarah never liked this new pup and did not grow any fonder of her in the coming months. We should have picked up on the signals Sarah was sending us. Failing to do so turned out to be another one of life’s lessons learned. This pup was responsible for an alpaca’s trip to CSU, as she pulled nearly all the fiber from his tail. Not all dogs, even though they hail from the guardian breeds, will be successful livestock working dogs.

Sarah had another good year after the loss of her leg, however, in May of 2007, we found Sarah in the barn shivering, uninterested in food, unable or unwilling to stand. In addition, her limbs seemed swollen. CSU discovered that the cancer had spread to Sarah’s left lung and due to the mass she also had a rare condition called hypertropic osteopathy (HO). Dr. Rebhun informed us that frequently the removal of the lung mass will resolve the HO. With hopes of extending her life and our time with her, Sarah underwent her second surgery. It took Sarah longer to recover from this surgery and understandably she tired more easily with the loss of a portion of a lung, however, she was still enjoying life and we were enjoying her and appreciating the remaining time we had left.

Sarah enjoyed our trips to CSU for check-ups immensely. We built a ramp for her to get into and out of our Suburban. At first she refused to use it but after the loss of a portion of her lung, she accepted and appreciated the ramp. At CSU, she was doted on by everyone. Sarah never forgot losing an alpaca to another dog. She would go crazy if a dog approached her pasture. She remained apprehensive of the other dogs that were coming and going at the hospital but it seemed she recognized that there were no alpacas to protect there and she behaved herself among her fellow canines.

Early in 2008, Sarah’s X-rays revealed that cancer was showing up in her other lung. Sarah wasn’t showing any symptoms yet and each day was a blessing, however, we realized that pain management was realistically our only remaining option. Sarah was fully retired to our house where we took daily walks and she continued to bark at the coyotes but slept in the comfort of our home. We also took her for visits to her beloved alpacas as often as she could manage. In the end, the cancer outpaced the return of the HO.

We knew when Sarah could no longer get up by herself to go outside to the bathroom that it was time to say good-bye. Tragically, we said our good-byes to our sweet, reliable and utterly indispensable guardian dog on May 18, 2008. Sarah now lies in the pasture that she guarded and we hope that her spirit will always protect her alpacas. Her spirit also has a little help from five livestock guardian dogs that followed in her footsteps, Shrek, Missy, Brutus, Tootie and Boudicca.

Sarah was an exceptional dog who taught us so much and gave everything she had to protect her beloved alpacas. She is missed every day. We are very grateful for the additional time that the Veterinarians at CSU were able to give us with her. We were and are so fortunate to live within a short distance of this remarkable hospital. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone at CSU for Sarah’s care and thank each and every one of you for your compassion and caring in the treatment of this very special working dog. We particularly want to mention Dr. Robert Rebhun and nurse Mary Lafferty who spent a great deal of time with Sarah and us helping to cope with this ordeal and who are both exceptionally compassionate, caring people.

Thank you!!!!!!
Sincerely Grateful,
Laura and Mark Voss
Lone Tree Alpacas

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