Shepherd Farm

We spend a good part of our day in the company of dogs and horses.  We like to think of ourselves as good pack/herd leaders, setting boundaries, being calm assertive, rewarding good behavior and correcting bad behavior.  So when a dog jumps all over us when we are serving up the kibble, we make him sit and stay before getting his meal so he learns that jumping is not rewarded and calm sitting before meals is rewarded.  When a horse kicks wildly at the stall door at feeding time, we make her wait.  Kicking the stall door is a behavior that we would like to extinguish.

And then there is Dapple – to whom a separate set of rules apply.  Dapple is our BLM rescue burro.  She has a good set of lungs.  Dapple is in a paddock at night that faces our bedroom window.  She watches the window very carefully on dark winter mornings.  She sees when we wake up and turn on the bedroom light.  She is adamant that her hay and grain arrive in her paddock approximately 5 minutes after the bedroom light goes on.    She indulges us 5 minutes, then lets loose a mighty bray.  Here, follow this link and you will get to hear what our neighbors hear at 5:30 a.m. instead of their morning alarms.

Suffice it to say that Dapple has trained us to beat it down to the barn and get her hay and grain pronto.  It is either that or stumble around in the dark after we wake up so that Dapple does not know that we are up yet.  Now that I will not do – we all have our limits!