Borut is a Watchdog.
A watchdog watches out for his people.
He does not distinguish between the color of people’s coats and affiliations.
He stays true to his purpose.
He watches out for his people.
Unlike Borut, a human watchdog warrior does not work for a human master. If one is safeguarding their family, community, or country one needs to look out for all sorts of cons and schemes and cannot pledge allegiance to any group that dictates and mandates his loyalty. A watchdog warrior keeps objective, unbiased, and true to his values and ideals – freedom, liberty, justice, equality etc.
That being said, Borut is one of the dogs of my brother in the mountains of Slovakia. When my little boy Martin met this majestic beast, he was not much taller and definitely much smaller when it came to weight and size. Martin was a bit star struck, which by the way often does not sit well with this type of dog. It clearly annoys them. I had to explain over and over that Borut is not a play dog, cannot be petted, should not be stared at, and cannot be bribed with treats.
Eventually Martin stepped into Borut’s territory and got nipped at with a growl, which got him to back off. I had to explain that Borut was just claiming his space, as any good guard dog should, and that he needed to respect that. Martin was greatly disappointed thinking that the dog did not like him until he discovered that Borut followed him whenever he wandered off out of our sight (kids roam free there just like the sheep and goats). Martin saw the dog follow his cousins but he thought it was because Borut was ‘their’ dog. It was a common sight to see Borut sit on the outer edge of the housing perimeter monitoring the kids’ whereabouts and Martin soon discovered that the dog did the same thing when he was flying solo. He felt very special and kept the dog in his heart talking about him for months after our visit.
As for Borut, I am not sure if he distinguishes much between the boy and the sheep he guards. He just does his job and he is trusted. He guards his people, and in this case, he guards the animals as well.
