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+--- Thread: First long hike - It went off with a growl, a charge, and insanity.. (/showthread.php?tid=479)
First long hike - It went off with a growl, a charge, and insanity.. - Reckless - 07-20-2014
Well, as you a lot of you know; I'm young and a rookie to boot. With only one goat (So far). But reading upon the forum and other places, you guys usually start small, and increase distance and weight as you go. So that's what I've been doing. (Except for the weight thing... Kinda can't do that without the proper equipment.
) Anyway, yesterday was Fable's first big hike. (If you can call five miles, big.) It's a road near my house that is mostly dirt and then a mile of a slim path that requires you to scale large amount of rock, and fit through tight bushes.
After a perfectly smooth walk, Fable enthusiastically leading us... (Need to fix that somehow) Us, as in my wolf hybrid, Shiri, and myself. (Before you chastise me about having such a 'dangerous' animal with the goat please realize that I do understand that dogs are a goats number one enemy, and having a dog that has such a strong prey drive does have a lot of risks. But I never leave the two unsupervised even though they are quite the good friends.) We came across a large print on the dirt. I thought nothing of it; there are dogs everywhere, not to mention the large coyotes (And I mean LARGE) that run around stealing chickens, small dogs, and cats. If I really had thought about it, I would have realized that the track was fresher then I had thought. We had a lot of wind that day, and cars come periodically to bury the never to be distinguished animal prints.
It took five minutes before Shiri started to growl and look around suspiciously. Tail arched over her back, ruff bristles puffing out, eyes alert, and ears pointed forward. (Its moments like this that I'm glad to have my canine companion by my side) I knew something was up and I decided to turn around; however the goat was going to have none of this turning around business, shooting forward as soon as I got to her. (Little mischievous turd.) So following the goat in my attempts to grab her collar (Maybe I should think about using a leash.) with Shiri now prowling in front; is how I meet the coyote.
Of coarse Shiri saw it first. Making a hideous sound that made it seem like a lion was crawling out of her throat. (She doesn't like coyotes much) The thing was standing in the middle of the road acting like it was saying "You shall not pass!" Fable, unfortunately, acted like she didn't see a thing, and was frolicking right toward it. I usually wouldn't have been worried, but they coyote was as big as Shiri and very scrawny looking. A deliriously hungry creature is not the safest; at all. I ran forward, yelling something along the lines of "Go away stupid Yote!" waving my arms around like someone escaping from the insane asylum. (Shiri was busy having a stare-down with it.) and the most-likely-insane goat was still ahead of me, now at a full out charge, evidently taking the cue from running me. The coyote didn't move until the doe reached it, burying her head into its side; throwing it to the ground before backing away quickly. (Unbelievable, right?) Thats when Shiri decided to chase the thing away, the stare broken. (The problem with her running after it; is the difficulty of getting her back.
) Well, its safe to say that I really don't like it when coyotes are not afraid of a wolf hybrid, a running goat, and an insane human. And I think that Fable was extremely lucky for not getting bit. Do you think her personality wouldn't have been as brash if she was raised with other goats instead of a pony and dogs?
Also, can I have some pointers to help the 'running ahead' problem? (Any other advice is also appreciated) I tried to turn around without grabbing her collar, but she ignored me, too busy in exploring, and confident that I would come back. (She was right)
RE: First long hike - It went off with a growl, a charge, and insanity.. - Charlie Horse - 07-20-2014
Congratulations! You have just won the award for the most interesting first hike!
You know when I go to the hay barn every other day, there's an escaped black rabbit that sits in the same spot by the path. She just sits there even as my German Shep walks past her. The dog chased her out of the bushes once when she first showed up. The dog thought it was a cat but it was so slow that she just trotted behind it with her nose on it trying to figure out what the heck it was. Fortunately I've trained her to avoid the critter under penalty of doom.
It sounds like you were just in a world of natural enemies behaving with restraint and lack of it, too. The wolf dog that should bite the goat. The coyote that should have but didn't. The goat that should fear the coyote but didn't (and also disobeys the human). Such interesting dynamics right there.
RE: First long hike - It went off with a growl, a charge, and insanity.. - Reckless - 07-21-2014
It sounds made up doesn't it? XD But I assure you its not. We have over brave creatures up her (Mostly coyotes) because my dumb neighbors like to feed them. Anyway, I get stand offs with a Coyote at least every other morning when I go to feed. They like to hang out by the chicken coop. I always found it strange though, why they never sneaked through the chicken house by using the goat pen. (That's the only way to get in) I guess I know why now.
RE: First long hike - It went off with a growl, a charge, and insanity.. - Nanno - 07-21-2014
That's quite the outing! Sounds like ya'll are having some pretty neat adventures!