Chat
12-23-2013, 07:28 AM
Thanks, everyone, for your sympathy. It was a hard week, and it might continue to be a bit crazy around here until dog and goats get used to each other. It seems like it's taking forever, but I have to remind myself that I only introduced them to each other on Friday. It seems like ages ago.
Our herd dynamics are definitely changing. Nubbin is still terrified of Daisy and has glued herself to Cuzco. She went into Cuzco's shed last night and surprisingly, Cuzco let her stay. Cuzco is still terrified of Daisy. Every time the dog moves, a bird flies by, the wind blows, or I open the door, that poor goat jumps a mile and all his hair stands up. However, yesterday he started channeling that fear into aggression toward Daisy. He was terrorizing her last night during feeding time and wouldn't let her come near me. I guess after he realized he can't run from the dog, he's going to make the dog run from him. By evening time, Daisy was afraid to be in the goat pen and started to whine and dig at the gate when I left. She gave up after a few scratches at the surface, but if this keeps up I'm going to run hotwire along the ground. She and Cuzco are just going to have to figure out how to co-exist. I'm glad Daisy isn't aggressive with the goats, but with a beast like Cuzco in the pen, she's going to have to stand up for herself.
TOU, I was also lulled into a false sense of security by my electric fence. It's done such a good job for over a year that I got lazy. Sometimes you get away with it, but sometimes you don't. Horns are no guarantee either. Cuzco was attacked by coyotes 18 months ago in our horse pasture (pre-electric fence days), and he's enormous and has a horn that he knows how to use. He did manage to fight them off and outrun them, but we spent two sickening days looking for his carcass and ended up finding him three miles from home. He was very much alive, but also very beat up. Nothing is guaranteed, but we do what we can and hope for the best.
And yes, I can start a LGD subforum. Thanks for the suggestion!
Our herd dynamics are definitely changing. Nubbin is still terrified of Daisy and has glued herself to Cuzco. She went into Cuzco's shed last night and surprisingly, Cuzco let her stay. Cuzco is still terrified of Daisy. Every time the dog moves, a bird flies by, the wind blows, or I open the door, that poor goat jumps a mile and all his hair stands up. However, yesterday he started channeling that fear into aggression toward Daisy. He was terrorizing her last night during feeding time and wouldn't let her come near me. I guess after he realized he can't run from the dog, he's going to make the dog run from him. By evening time, Daisy was afraid to be in the goat pen and started to whine and dig at the gate when I left. She gave up after a few scratches at the surface, but if this keeps up I'm going to run hotwire along the ground. She and Cuzco are just going to have to figure out how to co-exist. I'm glad Daisy isn't aggressive with the goats, but with a beast like Cuzco in the pen, she's going to have to stand up for herself.
TOU, I was also lulled into a false sense of security by my electric fence. It's done such a good job for over a year that I got lazy. Sometimes you get away with it, but sometimes you don't. Horns are no guarantee either. Cuzco was attacked by coyotes 18 months ago in our horse pasture (pre-electric fence days), and he's enormous and has a horn that he knows how to use. He did manage to fight them off and outrun them, but we spent two sickening days looking for his carcass and ended up finding him three miles from home. He was very much alive, but also very beat up. Nothing is guaranteed, but we do what we can and hope for the best.
And yes, I can start a LGD subforum. Thanks for the suggestion!