HnkyDnkyZZFarm
Chirping
Long story short, our goat boy is down an ear and has some decent puncture wounds in his thigh. I'm competent but old school in wound care. saline wash, blue lotion, styptic powder and penicillin, but I am VERY receptive to suggestions and experiences and if there's something better I could be using or more I could be doing please let me know. I've read I should be watching for heat and puss pockets, I haven't shaved the leg or wrapped it. He's moving about fairly normally and eating stable, not as quickly or as enthusiastically as usual, but consistently. I've added a goat feed and we do half alfalfa to half hay free access minerals/ baking soda and they've got really good pre-spring graze. Very little or no swelling close to 24 hours later.
The girls are a bit shaken up, when I came into the pen to intervene I left the gate open and they got out and into another pen. They came back for their friend after the dog was contained. They've been yelling all day long at the fence for someone to come sit with them. That and they are really enthusiastic about grain. Everyone's pretty shaken up but as of today, no heat no swelling. The girls are about a month bred and I'm really hoping this doesn't affect them too deeply.
The dog.
Hoo boy.
He's always had a habit of chasing movement, cars passing the fence, the goat pen, the cat, but he's never broken a fence line before. When he's gotten out by accident he would sit by the gate looking guilty till someone put him back inside. Had never broken skin before, had good recall at least 80% of the time. We used the "house" command as a redirect, crate trained, nilif, hours upon hours upon hours have been put into training this dog. This is the dog that will climb ladders for peanut butter and walked beside the stroller on leash like a side car when my daughter was tiny. SO MUCH WORK! to be completely out the window when it matters most and to have that faith completely eradicated. Fence lines were sacred - or so I thought. The goats have been in their pen for about a year with no problems outside of fence line running from this dog. He squeezed between a 3ft overlap in the fencing and into the goat pen.
Zero recall, it took three strategies to get the dog contained because I wasn't about to get within range of the dog till I was sure I had clean grab. I dumped the water barrel on them, didn't work I couldn't use my thumbs effectively between his back teeth without getting bit myself no sticks thick enough to use to pry him off within reach, although I was able to get the spot under his tounge that had previously been effective - not at all this time. I finally had to resort to crude measures and make him choose between breathing and continuing his rampage. That I even had to consider my safety so seriously while handling the dog that sees himself as my lancelot dog was SOBERING. That I had to balance my safety and potentially the goats life, just for an instant and it cost additional injury to the goat because I had to hesitate- My inner farm girl hangs her head in shame.
Being a well trusted family friend up until now has our little funny farm a bit divided at the moment. We don't have the resources to bring the yard fences from 4' to 6' tall. The pens are 6ft but the dig marks at the overlap show so much premeditation - because he was through that fence faster than I could catch my breath to yell, and he had a good head start on me - I had to run 50 yards to get to the pen and in that time the ear was beyond repair. Gone. He was eating it like a drunk with potato skins on the last day of 1999. I'll be fixing fences today even though the dog will not be allowed to roam freely even in the fenced yard any longer. Guarantees are out the window. I framed the front fences and dig proofed them last summer when he got fixated on the duck pen- but never broke the fence line, just ran it incessantly and I wanted to be 110% sure the smaller animals were well protected. Once the fences were secured we figured he lost interest. We are "those people" right now scratching our heads when at the end of the day, a dog is a dog is a dog. :-(
The girls are a bit shaken up, when I came into the pen to intervene I left the gate open and they got out and into another pen. They came back for their friend after the dog was contained. They've been yelling all day long at the fence for someone to come sit with them. That and they are really enthusiastic about grain. Everyone's pretty shaken up but as of today, no heat no swelling. The girls are about a month bred and I'm really hoping this doesn't affect them too deeply.
The dog.
Hoo boy.
He's always had a habit of chasing movement, cars passing the fence, the goat pen, the cat, but he's never broken a fence line before. When he's gotten out by accident he would sit by the gate looking guilty till someone put him back inside. Had never broken skin before, had good recall at least 80% of the time. We used the "house" command as a redirect, crate trained, nilif, hours upon hours upon hours have been put into training this dog. This is the dog that will climb ladders for peanut butter and walked beside the stroller on leash like a side car when my daughter was tiny. SO MUCH WORK! to be completely out the window when it matters most and to have that faith completely eradicated. Fence lines were sacred - or so I thought. The goats have been in their pen for about a year with no problems outside of fence line running from this dog. He squeezed between a 3ft overlap in the fencing and into the goat pen.
Zero recall, it took three strategies to get the dog contained because I wasn't about to get within range of the dog till I was sure I had clean grab. I dumped the water barrel on them, didn't work I couldn't use my thumbs effectively between his back teeth without getting bit myself no sticks thick enough to use to pry him off within reach, although I was able to get the spot under his tounge that had previously been effective - not at all this time. I finally had to resort to crude measures and make him choose between breathing and continuing his rampage. That I even had to consider my safety so seriously while handling the dog that sees himself as my lancelot dog was SOBERING. That I had to balance my safety and potentially the goats life, just for an instant and it cost additional injury to the goat because I had to hesitate- My inner farm girl hangs her head in shame.
Being a well trusted family friend up until now has our little funny farm a bit divided at the moment. We don't have the resources to bring the yard fences from 4' to 6' tall. The pens are 6ft but the dig marks at the overlap show so much premeditation - because he was through that fence faster than I could catch my breath to yell, and he had a good head start on me - I had to run 50 yards to get to the pen and in that time the ear was beyond repair. Gone. He was eating it like a drunk with potato skins on the last day of 1999. I'll be fixing fences today even though the dog will not be allowed to roam freely even in the fenced yard any longer. Guarantees are out the window. I framed the front fences and dig proofed them last summer when he got fixated on the duck pen- but never broke the fence line, just ran it incessantly and I wanted to be 110% sure the smaller animals were well protected. Once the fences were secured we figured he lost interest. We are "those people" right now scratching our heads when at the end of the day, a dog is a dog is a dog. :-(
