Judah

Incidently, my goats are not all that nice when it comes to herding dogs. One in particular will take whatever cheap shot she can to ram them. Ellie has a healthy respect for them that borders on timidity as a result of that. Judah does not seem to be concerned w/ their bad attitude however. Courage, or ignorance? Time will tell!

As far as herding specifics, its early yet to tell. He shows a desire to head the stock more than circle at this point but I wouldn't expect to see too much at his age. What I do see looks promising. I finally have photos to send you of him - a handsome lad he is! Will get them off in the mail this week.

Judah is wonderful . At 6 months old he had matured into one of the nicest dogs we've ever had. His temperment is still solid as a rock. He's patient and loving with the whole family especially the little ones. He is fairly reliable around the stock. The only time he's gotten into trouble (harassing the poultry!) has been when he is following Ellie's lead. They did manage to kill one hen just after the list was discussing Carol's problem. So I got a chance to put my own and everyone elses advice to use!

With the other animals (we have horses, cows, sheep & goats) he is calm and doesn't seem to create the same agitation in them that Ellie does. In fact this morning during chores I caught him licking one of our rams on the face through the gate!

He's matured in looks too since the last time we posted a photo. Definitely collie-like with those hints of brown still evident in his black and white coat. It took a while for him to get his coat in - it was short for a long time. Now however it is full and thick in anticipation of the coming winter. He's just beautiful. I'd love to get some more recent pictures up - I'll try to get some to you soon.

Well, at 8 mo. it appears that Judah is starting to develop some true guardian behavior. We've started lambing and kidding (it's been very cold here - 0 and below - what were we thinking?!) I remember you mentioning that when Jacob was young you allowed him to bond with the goat kids by licking them etc... So we invited Judah to do the same. He was very interested but also sweet and gentle. Then two nights ago (-8 degrees) one of our does had triplets. We found them half frozen almost missing one (a little doe) entirely. We got them warm and dry and put them with Mom. We thought they had all gotten a good feed but when we checked on them the next day the little doe was cold and weak and almost dead. We brought her into the house, warmed her again (in the warming oven of our wood cookstove!) and got some milk into her. She made a miraculous recovery - Yeah! She's still being kept in the house till we're sure that she can make it out in the barn. Judah just adores her. He constantly washes her and when Ellie (who is only interested in herding her) is nearby he stands between them looking at Ellie as if to say "Leave her alone". Our Pyr of course demontrates the same nurturing attitude toward the goat but it actually seems more intense in Judah!

Just thought you would be interested in hearing about him. Took some pictures of him and the baby - hope they come out - if they do I'll share them with you and Elaine.