Donkeys & Dogs…Don’t Always Mix

Hi, good morning.  If you’re anything like me (just a few months ago) you might not realize that fun and fuzzy donkeys DON’T always get along with man’s best friend (dog).

I gotta admit, I really had no idea.  Then I went out and adopted a couple donkeys so I could train them to race…not knowing that donkeys don’t really like dogs…at all.  And, I also didn’t know that donkeys are like…triple jointed, meaning they can kick forward, backwards and almost sideways.  And they have a reputation for biting things like dogs.  The first thing I learned about donkey’s was how to unlock their jaw and the fact that you don’t really wanna kneel down near their legs….cause they can (and do) kick.

Luckily for us, the kind of dog that donkeys really seem to dislike is the coyote.  But we have larger dogs (Great Danes) so we plunged ahead with the dog intro program to the donkey’s.  They really didn’t seem to mind the largest, older Great Dane (Quincy Dane).  In fact, they may have thought she was a mini-donkey and just kind of accepted her the few times she’s went into their territory.

The puppy Great Dane is another story all together.  The donkey’s didn’t like her at all (at first) and chased her…ears back and neck extended like they meant business.  But the puppy is pretty fast and seemed to just run in circles.  That was months ago.  As time has gone on….the puppy has continued to visit the donkeys and is small enough to go right into their enclosure with no problem.  One donkey ignores her, while the younger donkey still gives chase and generally watches the rocket as she runs laps around the cage and decides if she wants to try to nip donkey legs.  Yep, the puppy Great Dane will go right up to a full size donkey and try to nip their legs.

Our biggest fear is the Great Dane puppy getting kicked hard while we’re not looking or around if she drives the donkey’s too crazy, as she often beelines straight to their yard.  Last night we sat out and watched the puppy try to “play” with the donkeys.  Luckily for her, they were more interested in their feed than kicking or hurting the black shadow running laps around them and trying to bite their legs.  This was a good lesson for us, watching the puppy get out her ya-yas and knowing that even when the puppy was right under their kicking legs, they tolerated her (for now).

We read in our donkey books how careful people should be not to mix donkeys and dogs, but we didn’t really comprehend why until we actually saw the donkeys in action.  They can’t get out to the open ground surrounding the ranch, but coyotes can hang out just outside the fence line.  We were impressed the first time we saw both donkeys focus on a lone coyote and come out of their stalls in perfect unison, to go right to the edge of their paddock and stand stock still while they watched it intently.  Their focus was amazing, because at the same time both Great Danes had seen the coyote and were also chasing it loudly down the fenceline.  The lone coyote got the message and we got to be impressed.  

Another fact I didn’t know was that donkeys are often chosen to be mixed with other animals as livestock guardians, because they don’t often run from threats like other animals.  Donkeys are known to stand their ground or just stand and think things over.

Here’s to me looking forward to the puppy getting large enough that she doesn’t easily climb into the donkey pen anymore.  And luckily for us, Daisy (Molossus puppy) seems to be really mellow so I’m hoping she’s less interested in playing chicken with donkeys and more interested in her naps.  We’ll see.  

Hope you have had a great weekend, have a great week!