The longer we've been at this farming thing, the better I get at dealing with "Farm-ergencies." But, my first instinct is STILL to call John. And, that's exactly what I did when I found Chip bleeding in the field last week.

Molly had dug out of her pen again, and had bitten him pretty badly. I rescued him, wrestled Molly back into the pen, cleaned his wound, and texted a pic of it to our amazing vet. She let me know that it would definitely need stitches, but that she was tied up at the office. So, Little Boy and I loaded him up into the back of the truck and took Chip on his first outing. He was less than thrilled about being away from Momma, but he hung in there. At the vet, she talked me through everything she was doing so that next time an animal needs stitches, I will know how to do it myself. The gash required stitches in the skin as well as in the underlying muscle.

Back home, Momma let him nurse and he seemed to be feeling much better.

Molly, however, has got to go. Her sole reason for existence on our farm is to protect the animals. She has now killed a chicken and mauled a goat. We are within a week of moving to the farm where a Molly-escape would mean that she would have access to all 103 laying hens. Obviously, she could do some major damage to our flock. So, we are looking for a new home for her.

Molly is a beautiful Great Pyrenees with great bloodlines. Her parents are excellent with farm animals, but Molly came to our farm as a 6-month-old untrained puppy who really should've been introduced to the stock she would guard at a much younger age. She is now a year old and is very friendly and playful and loves to have her belly scratched. She needs room to run and play. Though she has the best of intentions, she's pretty large and can easily knock down small children or hurt small animals.

We are following one lead, but haven't made a definite plan for her yet. If you know of anyone interested, please let me know.