We got a pygmy goat on Saturday. The hubby has agreed to the name Ervine (pronounced Urr-vine). I think the little goat might be the sweetest animal ever. He walks on a leash pretty well and gobbles up nuisance plants like wild grape vines, saw briars and just weeds in general. He also loves wild strawberries, wild blackberries and is a big fan of my kale. I've been giving him the yellowish leaves I pick off the bottom of the plants. I think by far though his favorite food is the sweet gum tassels. They look like little bunches of grapes and he will flat eat every one he comes across.
He hates to be alone so we are getting him a buddy soon. He bleats and bleats and bleats and it sounds just like a human baby and tears at my heart. When I go out to get him to browse around the yard he just snuggles up to me and nuzzles his little head under my neck. God I could just squeeze him til he popped he is so sweet.
He is tiny, tiny, tiny. About 7 pounds. His front legs are much shorter than his back ones and sometimes when he is trying to pull a tasty morsel out of the ground his little back legs come up off the ground and it looks like he is doing a handstand. Hysterically funny to watch. He grunts like a billy goat, snorts like a billy goat and smells like a billy goat. Currently I smell like a billy goat too because I have been playing with him all morning.
My first baby Saul the giant German Shepherd flat wants to eat Ervine. I tried introducing them a couple times but Saul just goes wild and drools and licks his big sharp ass chops. To him Ervine looks like a mid-day snack. I've trained him to leave the cats alone...that they are not for eating and he minds. He sniffs and licks them when we go out and they roll over and submit to him. The goat though...boy that is gonna take some work. At night Ervine comes in the house and sleeps in Saul's kennel. and Saul doesn't bother him. Not even so much as a bark. I don't know why he freaks out so bad during the day. Anyone got any tips on how to train Saul to not eat my goat? He is a Shepherd after all and the natural instinct to guard is in there somewhere. How do I make him realize that Ervine is now part of our Motley pack and not a special snack like a slim jim that I sometimes bring him from the store?
Sadie is much better since she is still a puppy. She plays with him but I have to be careful even with that because she is already up to 20 pounds and her teeth are like needles and she don't mind using them. Nosiree Bob not at all. In fact she lives to sink them into sensitive fleshy parts at every opportunity. Mainly heels and calves. She is a fat turd. Saul sure does love her. They play constantly. Inside and out. Play play play. Must be fun to be a puppy. As bad as my last two weeks have been I am about ready to trade being human for being a goat or a puppy.
On that note I will leave you with the Walt Whitman poem Animals
I think i could turn and live with animals ,
they are so placid and self-contained
I stand and look at them long and long .
They do not sweat and whine about their condition ,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins ,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God ,
Not one is dissatisfied ,
not one is demented with the mania of owning things ,
Not one kneels to another ,
nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago ,
Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth .
