When I first contemplated getting a livestock guardian dog for my flock, I was worried that my quiet rural life would be shattered by incessant barking.  Bill and others assured me that LGDs bark more when they’re in a new setting, but once they get a sense of the normal disturbances — squirrels, neighbors, passing cars, odd gusts of wind — they quickly file those as background and only respond to new stimuli.  Folks said I’d soon recognize my guardians’ repertoire of barks and know when something was really threatening the flock.

So this morning, when Bravo started barking like there was an imminent danger, I was pretty confused.  It was daylight, all the sheep were accounted for, the border collies weren’t behaving any more stupidly than usual, no bears in sight, and yet Bravo was barking like the sky was falling.  And then I found the source of his alarm:

In his defense, a mylar balloon with just a bit of helium left in it behaves like some weird terrestrial jellyfish, hovering just over the gound and moving unpredictably.  I brought it over to show him it wasn’t a threat, but he wasn’t yet prepared to believe me.