Claustrophobia. Have you ever been surrounded by a herd of does, each averaging about 150 lbs? Pressing, crowding, climbing on you to try to reach the bucket of grain?
I have. I don't like it.
At. All.
As our herd gets larger in numbers, the issue goes from annoying to more dangerous. So, I brought in my dog. But not just any dog, she's my overcomer gal. This story starts almost a year ago. Jazz was around 10 mos old when an ornery doe blindsided her as she was going through a gate in the pasture, ramming her into the gate post, HARD. Yelping, she wanted nothing more than to leave the pasture and never return. Very daunting for a pup. It took months of leading her to the pasture on a leash- for she would NOT come down on her own- and doing nothing with her other than exposing her to non-threatening pasture experiences before she was willing to venture down to the pasture with me on her own steam. From there we progressed to doing some small herding experiences with the chickens and ducks, but she was still very timid around the big does. Finally mid December 2015, she had built up enough confidence to work with me on younger stock, helping me catch a goat kid (you can find that story on her page). However, she still found the adults too intimidating. Well, the last few times I've been down there, she has cheerfully run to the gate, tail up, eager to come in with me, so I decided that maybe she'd be up to helping me with the older animals. They all like to crowd 'round me when I open the feed door, so I usually close it behind me to prevent the attempted pillaging that would otherwise occur while I gather grain. This time I left it wide open and placed Jazz in the doorway with a 'Watch Em' command. She is very well behaved around the goats, which makes it hard to teach her to go after them, since there is no aggressive behavior to praise. I knew that she probably wouldn't feel up to 'protecting' me, but would likely feel cornered & respond in a manner that I could positively mark if they crowded her. Sure enough, they got too close and she responded with a lunge/snap. I marked, 'Yes!', and treated her. She glanced at me in surprise. I continued with my work. Goats got close again, lunge/snap, with a glance at me, "Are you sure?!" "Yes!", and treat.
"Oh! This is what you want? Right on!" We got our feed bucket filled in peace, does standing politely at the barn (not feed room) door :)
But the story doesn't end there... Now I needed to feed the grain to a couple of pregnant does that had some parasite issues and require some supplementing to build back up to where I'd like them to be. But EVERYONE figured they should be in on the banquet. So I walked over to the round bale to reduce pressure from all sides. Jazz was on my left. I called the doe to me that I wanted to feed. Jazz, figuring none of them should be near, chased her off. That was ok, it showed an increasing confidence. I just called the doe back, and she hesitantly came. Jazz realized that I wanted THAT doe to be there and left her alone. But the others were crowding my back, so I swung my leg behind me and swept it back and forth while saying, "Watch Em, Jazz'. Lunge/snap! "Yes!" Treat. That was all it took. She 'got it'. Several lunge/snaps & treats later, we were done. Doe fed. No one mobbed. Jazz beaming ear to ear. Mission accomplished... She's got my back :)
