Super Sonic
Posted on January 22, 2008 - Filed Under animals, dog, donkey, goats, neighbors
We started the new year with a new addition to our brood: Sonic the donkey. Almost a horse; part horse. I am getting closer to my goal. Sonic has been our neighbor for the past 6 months. Our neighbor got a jenny (aptly named Jenny) to watch over his cow herd. He proudly related how he heard howling and braying one night and came out to find two wild dogs in his pasture: one fleeing with tail between legs, the other flying through the air by way of donkey kicks. Haven’t had a problem with wild dogs since. Not only is Jenny a bad-ass mama, it turns out Jenny is really a mama. And so Sonic came to be.
Sonic has HUGE ears and moves them like antenna to pick up sound: one ear in one direction, the other in the exact opposite. I like to stand by the gate and make clicking noises just to watch his ears pick up the sound. Nothing else on his body will move except for an ear. I think only Bugs Bunny can rival his ear control.
Sonic was a bit skittish at first, spending his first day chasing and kicking the goats around the pasture. Poor goats. They were completely terrorized for about 2 days. They’re more compatible now. I even caught them all lounging about the other day, but every now and then Sonic will let out a few well-placed kicks to an ill-placed goat or just take off full-speed with one goat in his sight and take it for a few laps around the pasture.
He also spent the first day and night braying…loudly. I didn’t know they could make so much noise. Even the neighbors were wondering what the racket was. Might make them reconsider building a house so close to our property. It turns out Sonic was talking to his mama next door. She would bray; he would bray in response. It was tragic. Finally our neighbor had to move mama to another field. I promised Sonic if he would take a halter, I would take him to visit his mama.
We’re slowly building trust. The first day, he wouldn’t come up to the fence. I had to leave a bin of food in the middle of the pasture and slowly back away. There was no way I was getting too close or turning my back to him. I think he felt the same, although I think he flirted with the idea of turning his back to me in the hopes of getting in a swift kick. Now, I can get him to come up to the gate to feed. Today, I even brushed the tip of his nose. My hope is to get a halter on him with the ultimate goal of him agreeing to carry a pack or lead a wagon.
Of course, like so many things lately, I have never had any experience with training a donkey. But like so many things lately, I’ll read up, ask a lot of questions and, for this particular activity, invest in a crash helmet.
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