At first, Scheuer kept the family terrier, Marky, away from her three chickens (who were named Hatsy, Lucy, and Lil'White – the fourth, Jenny, turned out to be a he and was given away), but soon she came around to the idea of Marky interacting with the flock. He soon became their protector. "All the girls came to understand not only Marky's body language but also his vocalizations," Scheuer wrote. "To most of our ears, a dog bark is a dog bark. But the girls recognized the nuances of his voice. They paid little heed to Marky's 'FedEx' and 'mailman' bark, but they ran for the safety of the thicket at the sound of his 'neighborhood dog coming for a visit' or 'fox in the woods' bark."
