Goodbye to Izzy

Once in a while, you have a dog come along that is special, not just because of their great work ethic, and not because they a beautiful or the breed standard, but because of their personality. Today we lost Izzy, one of the most special guard dogs on our farm. Izzy got her name because she was always ‘smiling’ and happy. No doubt, she was an amazing guard dog… constantly patrolling the fence looking for threats, extremely gentle with sheep and people, and fiercely protective against anything that would harm her flock or her people. Izzy was special.

She loved playing with dog food bowls (or rocks, or anything she could pick up in her big jaws) by picking them up and throwing them up in the air repeatedly and hopping around excitedly as they dropped. She thought this, and chewing up anything that looked like a snapping turtle was a load of fun. Particularly if it was a water tank heater flowing in a water tank.

In fact, the last time I saw her this morning she was in a small fenced off area with Samson playing this very game of toss the dog food bowl and looking very happy. A half hour or so later, I received a text that there was a dog that had been hit by a car that looked like one of ours. I rushed over to find her (she was only about 100 yards from our house) but she was already gone.

Thanks to the help of the great folks at Welker Pump service, she was laid to rest in a proper grave, on a ridge overlooking the farm she loved so much. She has a simple tomb stone shaped rock with her collar on it.

There are hard days on the farm, and there are days that just rip your guts out – this was the later. Izzy will be greatly missed, she can never be replaced, but she will always be remembered. I’m sure you are up there in heaven right now tossing around a dog bowl with that goofy grin on your face.