Goodbye, Sweet Nibsy...

[Nanno]

Thanks for your condolences. Our dog, Daisy, seems to be working out very well. She drove off two coyotes last week while all the goats were out of their pen, and yesterday she drove off a neighbor's dog. Nubbin is still pretty terrified of her, but all the other goats seem to be adjusting well. Cuzco has stopped terrorizing Daisy and is mostly just ignoring her now (although he does charge her if she comes up behind him or shows interest in his dinner).

Daisy has taken to defending her own space too. The other day I heard a terrific YELP! and Daisy went streaking past me with her tail between her legs. Lilly came strutting up after with a large chunk of fluffy white hair in her mouth. Now Daisy is snapping at Lilly if Lilly comes too close with a mischievous gleam in her eye, and she snapped at our new buckling, Pac-Man, after he introduced himself by butting her broadside so that she was completely bowled over. She's not aggressive with the goats and doesn't pick fights with them, but I'm glad she's finally starting to hold her own against them.

That's a beautiful dog you have there, by the way!

[SMaxwell]

Sounds like you got a good one there! Do you feed the dog separately or have your goats developed a taste for dog food yet? That is a whole other battleground. Have you found out how Daisy is when other people come over & you are not around. Samson is a big goofy Teddy bear with everybody when we are around but apparently from what we have heard he can be pretty fearsome when we are not around. I think it wold require a heck of a lot of aggression on someones part for him to actually bite a person, although once I almost got myself eaten... My wife went for a walk with Samson down to the bottom of the pasture and I spotted them and I pulled my coat up over my head, kind of like the headless horseman and started making loud Sasquatch noises while doing the "Igor" walk. Samson barked more intently the closer I got to him and my wife but when I was about 20 feet away he charged at me teeth bared and chomping like some rabid zombie hell hound. I about messed myself an quickly pulled my coat down and yelled, "Samson it's me!" Luckily for me he stopped in time and immediately returned to his big goofball teddy bear state! Might not have been the smartest thing I ever done.

[Nanno]

My goats don't yet like dog food, but Daisy has developed a taste for goat grain. Her previous owner said Daisy never let the goats eat her food, and after seeing Pac-Man try the other day, I believe her. Daisy snapped at Pac-Man any time he tried to steal from her bowl. Daisy doesn't chase the goats away from their food, but she's realizing that if she approaches Nubbin, Nubbin abandons her breakfast and Daisy gets it. It's something I've been having to watch out for.

[SMaxwell]

Samson will also eat grain & graze the pasture with the goats, & eat alfalfa pellets with them and any fruit or vegetables I throw out for them. Daisy is 1/2 Anatolian right? I have read that Anatolians traditionally have had more of a vegetarian diet, probably because esp in Turkey where they originated, they would be out for weeks or months at a time with the flock many times without even a shepherd. From the Anatolian Dog Health Handbook-

"Owners of Anatolian Shepherds need to know that their dogs have nutritional requirements vastly different from most domesticated breeds. It has been observed that the adult Anatolian Shepherd does not thrive on commercial foods high in protein. The Anatolian Shepherd, in its native environment, is mainly a vegetarian. It is also a conservative eater, it does not eat as much as one might expect for its size."

Congrats on getting Daisy, having a good LGD adds a whole other level of Coolness to the equation!

[Saltlick]

Oh no!!! Sorry to hear about Nisby! Such a pretty goat too We have coyotes here, I've had them within 15 feet of us in broad daylight while walking out in the field, and one in particular is pretty bold, paralleling my dog and I and yapping. I yell at it and throw rocks, but it takes its sweet time wandering off. I worry about my dog more than anything, because when he's off-leash he takes off after them if he hears or spots one, and then the others are yapping in the distance waiting to bushwhack him - it really worries me. But I've never worried about my 3 goats since they're decent-sized and have shelters so back into and big horns. Never had any signs of problems near their goat pen at least. But dang... I hope I'm correct about that. I like coyotes but they are predators and have been taking out a lot of cats here in SF lately and even grabbing people's small dogs in some of the parks in the middle of the day.

[Nanno]

Yikes! Your coyotes aren't too people shy are they? There have been a lot more stories recently of coyotes attacking people, so be careful! Those guys are getting bold in suburbs and cities. If I saw coyotes that close to me while out walking, I'd consider carrying a sidearm, or at the very least some pepper spray. That's kinda scary.

[Saltlick]

Yes it's a problem here, and people are largely to blame. They are excited about seeing them, which I understand, but they are naive and let their (larger) dog "play" with them, or they feed them. That ends up in trouble. I always yell and throw rocks to keep them afraid of humans. When I first for my goats I had to board them for a few months at this woman's place about an hour from here. She was paranoid of predators so the goat pens were completely enclosed (for good reason, there are a lot of cougars) - BUT... she was FEEDING a pack of coyotes!!! They would come every day, about 25 feet from her. She'd put dog food out for them. Idiot.

Thanks for reminding me. I used to carry pepper spray out in that field with me all the time, more in case of a random dog or person than anything. Kind of slacked off on that. Think I'll start again.

[Ashley]

I am a little bit late on this, but I just found out that this form was back up!
I am so sorry for your loss, Nanno. My husband and I both do a lot of predator hunting in our area. It requires a surprising amount of skill to be successful. With that being said there are LOTS of people out there that are responsible hunters that would love the opportunity to come take care of your coyote problem. People even pay to hunt on private land because it's so hard to find a good spot to call coyotes. I would recommend advertising, and I would be willing to bet you would get a lot of people that know what They are doing that could come in and take care of all of your coyotes, and as a thanks for allowing them on your land they would be more than happy to share the kills with you. Hope this helps! Take care!

[Nanno]

Thank you so much. I'm really glad you found the forum. An awful lot of folks got lost in the transition to TheGoatSpot, and there hasn't really been a great way to let everyone know that we started this new site.

At this time I'm not sure there's much point getting hunters to go after the coyotes because we no longer have any. We got a livestock guardian dog and she eliminated the problem practically overnight. I haven't seen (or even heard) coyotes anywhere near here in several months.