We had a near disaster this week-end that has resulted in heartbreak. My prized, beautiful and wonderfully loyal German Shepherd dog jumped the fence into the goat pen and ran my goats around and beat up Maude, the queen goat pretty badly. He wasn’t there for blood, only a rough game of chase, but with all the goats in their last two months of pregnancy, it could have been deadly. Because Maude is herd queen she took on the dog, head butting and challenging him. This kept him occupied with her while the others huddled in a corner. No one else was touched but she was bloodied with some tooth bites and worse, in a state of on-coming shock by the time we arrived. We administered all kinds of first aid and supplements and had her and a herd mate (good ‘ol Freddy the wether who’s everyone’s friend) spend the night in our main floor bathroom (I knew that I’m living in a barn). We were very worried about whether she would survive the night, but by mid-day the next day she seemed much better. She still seems sore and slow but she’s eating so that’s always a good sign. She is the hero though for defending the herd. We had just put the big goats in with the young ones two days before. If Maude had not been there the smaller goats would not have been a match for the dog.
However the result is that we have to get rid of Kasper. I put an ad in the paper this week. It broke my heart. We got him as a pup and he’s been a member of this family. He’s been with us since we were city people and I personally socialized him by taking him everywhere with me- from neighborhood parks to dog parks, from hardware stores to parades, and to waiting outside the school as children to came up and petted him while he sniffed each one for hidden candy. He’s come on family vacations when possible and patiently waited at kennels for our return when not possible. He’s of the athletic german line and has stayed athletic with daily racing of our neighbor’s car as it speeds up alongside the full length of our property. He looks the protective part but once he’s given you the full sniff-over he’s nothing but friendly. He’s the perfect dog except for the fact that he likes to chase goats. We’re in this too heavily to back out for the sake of our dog. We’ve given him three chances (this is not his first transgression) and we’ve tried back-up firewalls. But the firewalls have holes in them and he’s so smart he knows just when that opportunity exists. When these goats kid, we’ll have that many more goats to protect. It just won’t work. He has to go……
Oh, but that hurts to see those words I just wrote. I know one thing though, he’s not going to some shelter or rescue. I’m selling him. He’s a proven dog. Past the forever juvenile stage. I paid $500 for him as an 8 week old pile of fluff. So I’m asking $300 for him now that I’ve done all the labor. Only serious potential owners should respond with that. Maybe even someone interested in taking him to herd dog training- he certainly has the instinct. I did that with my first German Shepherd and it was very rewarding- my dog had fun learning how to chase sheep in a controlled manner, and I got a naturally better trained animal. Oh well. That will be beyond my control.
They tell me this is how I have to think now that we have a farm. They tell me that farm life is hard. This is definitely the ugly side of things. In Seattle I would never have to make such a choice. Now I do. My daughter cried and said she just wanted to go far, far away from all of this. She loves her goats and doesn’t want them hurt. She loves Kasper as well. She doesn’t want this dilemma to exist. Neither do I. Maybe I’m not cut out for this after all, I ask myself. Maybe I’m just some soft suburbanite, farmer wannabe after all. But no. It’s just life. Real life. And real life is about hard choices. I look at Kasper asleep on the floor at the foot of my bed, oblivious to his fate. He has confidence I won’t stay mad at him for long. He knows I love him. I do, but he still has to go.
