William Wallace comes from a litter of puppies who were born on a ranch in Central Texas. They were exposed to Boer goats and longhorn cattle from the very beginning. And LOTS of dogs -- the ranch started with a handful of livestock guardian dogs (LGDs), and didn't spay/neuter any of them, so before you know it, he had more than 60 dogs and puppies, all growing up completely feral. Since March 2024, we've been trapping and removing as many as we can, and as of June 2025, we have removed 50 dogs and puppies from this one ranch. More remain, so this is an ongoing project and we won't rest until every dog has been spayed/neutered and vaccinated.
William Wallace and his siblings were completely feral when they were trapped, and in the beginning, they would just SCREAM when we tried to handle them. Over time, they have learned that humans might not be the worst creatures that ever existed. We named this pup William Wallace (of "Braveheart" fame) because he was the first puppy brave enough to venture out of the quarters we set up for them in our goat barn. After he had some vaccinations on-board, William Wallace spent a few pivotal weeks in a foster home, where he got a great start on house/potty-training and crate-training. He met dogs that he's not related to, and also was introduced to a house cat. Once he came back to Bluebonnet's home base, he once again lived in our barn with exposure to goats and barn cats, and of course more livestock guardian dogs.
Recently, William Wallace had a small bump on his neck which needed to be surgically removed, so we moved him to the house so he could recover in a cleaner environment than the barn provides. Thankfully, the bump was a benign histiocytoma, but keeping him in the house again has exposed him to a new group of dogs, and he's getting a refresher course on crate-training. He still thinks the leash is an instrument of torture, so he will need a lot more practice with leash-walking.
William Wallace has come a long way from the feral puppy that arrived here. He's friendly and confident and curious and just an all-around great pup! Based on his weight at each visit to the vet for vaccinations, we expect that Wally will weigh 85 lbs by the time he's a year old, and it's very possible that he could weigh 90-100 lbs at adulthood. We don't know which of the adult LGDs on the ranch are his parents, but most of the adults that we have trapped, have weighed at least 90 lbs. Speaking of adults -- the rancher started with Akbash, Anatolian, and Great Pyrenees. Most of the dogs and puppies that we have seen look like full Akbash, Akbash/Anatolian mix or Akbash/Great Pyrenees mix. All of the puppies in Wally's litter are solid white and look like full Akbash pups, but we can't say that with certainty since we don't know which adults are their parents.
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