Discover Walla Walla

BIG, our four-month-old Great Pyrenees puppy, is exhausted from pulling another all-nighter in his year-long course on "Being the Perfect Guard Dog." Sam, our five-year-old Pyrenees, is BIG's teacher.

BIG is trying hard to measure up, but easily loses focus. Most anything is a distraction-a hen pheasant flying down the fencerow, a turkey wandering the riverbank, a vole escaping into its hole. Distraction is what BIG does best.

Right at dusk, Sam starts his nightly watch, wandering the perimeter of our outpost while I sit here on the porch in the fading light. BIG falls in behind Sam, biting at his tail.

A bobcat appears at the edge of the woods. Sam notices but doesn't bark. Bobcats aren't much of a threat. But BIG barks like our lives depend on it.

Sam looks down at BIG and shakes his head.

BIG finds this confusing. He stops his yapping and stands for a while looking at the bobcat, wondering why Sam didn't bark. He thought barking was part of the job.

Sam spots a coyote. His bushy white tail in the air, he barks a deep warning shot over the coyote's bow. Yoda, our low-slung Corgi with the giganto ears, races to the fence to lend support, barking like crazy.

This time BIG watches, but doesn't bark.

Sam catches BIG's eye and shakes his head again. He seems to be thinking "the boy's kinda cute, but not too bright."

BIG's got a lot to learn.