A little Rocky update for you...
For those who missed the earlier posts about Rocky.
He is a 2ish yr old Blue Heeler...(Australian Cattle Dog)...His mom and dad got divorced and he is(was) looking for a new family/home...
So far he has proved good with the chickens and allows them to eat his food, share his water and even wander in and out of his kennel.
So far he has proved good with the chickens and allows them to eat his food, share his water and even wander in and out of his kennel.
Nardia hates him...Every time he sniffs at her or comes near her, she yelps and falls to the ground kicking her legs...Rather odd behavior I must say since usually she loves the opportunity to play with another dog...She is not speaking to any of us adult humans either and has taken to sleeping in the teenagers room lol...I guess at 13yrs old she is allowed to behave strangely and jealous.
Boots was uninterested in Rocky, like always he just wanted to know where the food was.
So the big test was how he is with the goats...Though he was raised with goats, he has not been around any for 6 to 8 months, plus these are not the same goats he was bonded to as a puppy...He was not bad with ours and I am sure it was his herding instinct making him want to nip at their ankles...When there is a fence between them he will take his ball to the fence trying to get them to come out and play...but truly showed no aggression towards them.
Deenie was not happy with the intruder and actually worked very hard to keep him away from Boots as much as possible...She is going to be a good mummy one day.
But I would still not feel comfortable just yet leaving him alone with the goats, and really would prefer there is 2 of us in the pen when he is in there with them...He is young and new to us (and again not worked with goats for a good while), so will need a little work to get him where we need him and to respond immediately to our voice commands...
We are going to build a secondary pen next to the goat yard for him, and then we can rotate him and the goats so they can graze both pens...Right now we are forced to keep him on a runner which is not ideal, but better than where he was before...It also means more work for me since I have to take him and let him run in the goat yard each morning before I let the goats out of their smaller pen. Walk him on a lead because we do not have boundary fences up yet and he loses his head when he sees a cat...Another example of the work we need to do with him to turn him into a good working dog as he grows up...but all in all he is a good dog so far.
4 comments:
My son had a blue heeler that recently died of old age. She was the best dog ever! They are so gentle and protective of the ones they love.Blue as he called her loved playing basketball with the kids. They are cattle herding dogs, so I guess since you have goats she will just herd them-yours might be handy if they ever escape! LOL!
Kelsie,
Sounds as if Rocky is making his way into your home and hearts. I enjoy reading about his updates!
Fondly,
Pat
I bet he will make it worth your while to keep this one...they are so smart and after he gets the system figured out, he'll be a plus to have around.
Lana
I have had heelers for years. Kip my current dog herds the cattle well but has some trouble with cats. Heelers take a lot of patience but once they are "ready to work" they are the best.
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