Kitten VS Donkey

JuJu the donkey made a new friend. Sort of. He seemed to be just chasin' tail!

XoxoXOx

Gettin' JuJu Back Home, On My Own....

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I thought I couldn't do it by myself... but like all human invention, necessity is the birth of all brilliance. And really, i did nothing brilliant except to work with what I had, and that was not alot.
A truck, a short rope, and lots of sweet talk/encouragement.
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Usually in these tough cases with JuJu not wanting to come home, i have a longer rope and tie it to the back of the truck. Then one person drives the truck while another keeps the rope in check (making sure it doesnt tangle in the truck tires!)
But... sometimes its a lonely rainy day... and sometimes I get determined to do it all on my own. Hard headed? Reclusive? Loner? Not in spirit, but in action.
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So this time, I drove right up to where she was staying (under my neighbors house/porch). JuJu was happy I had come over since she really wants us to move there (she greeted me with a long insane Hee Haw), but we are not moving there... i took her rope without a word and brought her to the truck, I got in the door and hooked the rope on my outside truck mirror. This was not planned ahead of time, i worked this on a moment by moment basis ...
I really thought as i did it --- !!!kiss that mirror goodbye, she is gonna rip that piece of crap right off!!! ---- but...

instead, we were liberated! We were a team...

Watch here...



xoxoxx

JuJu the Donkey's Buck Wild Hike (ft.) Bruiser the Dog

Today was the first time i have dared to take JuJu the donkey on a walk, since her last run away stunt to the neighbors house. In our case, the grass really is always greener, cause we dont really have any grass. So, she has a point.
Our odd herd (trio of unlike species- human, donkey, dog) had an awesome time hiking to the top of "bob knobs" ridge and overlooking one of the most fantastic parts of Western North Carolina.
On our walk JuJu really made the saying "buck wild" come to a reality (watch video below)...
Once we got to the top,
JuJu ate grass, Bruiser was the ever ready body guard, and I listened to headphones, felt the wind, handed out treats and enjoyed it until the cold felt less good then the view.
On the way home,
JuJu did run away AGAIN... and ya'll know how that goes.

Anyone wanna come help me get her back home?



xoxox

Morning & Evening

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here is my morning...



....
and then my evening...



everything in between was cold wind.

xoxoxo

JuJu the donkey Comes Home For Valentines

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Mission : Get JuJu and bring her ass home!



Thank you SOOOOOOO much Jenn and Ian for helping me get JuJu home in an easy, non violent way! Ya'll are great friends! :)))))

xoxoxox

JuJu the donkey, Lost and Found Part 2

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I try again to get JuJu to come home with me.



As you see she doesn't make it all the way. My new suspicion is that she does not like the neighbors dog- which has always been true but it may have been a bit more acute with her hormonal state. Donkey naturally hate canines, particularly coyotes, and are only a bit tolerant of domesticated dogs and sometimes they are not even that - they will kill them.
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So here is my next plan of action::::
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Plan #1 --- go get JuJu without the dog around
Plan #2 --- tie her to the back of my truck and tug her home slowly (but i need help with that one...)
Plan #3 --- hold up a mirror and let her fall in love with her own reflection, and she can follow the mirror home. (thanks for the idea Noel!)


oxoxox

JuJu, Lost and (sort of) Found

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So this morning when i got up all was quiet. Too quiet. No hee haw's coming from outside the cabin and I thought maybe JuJu was really busy digging on some hay, but when i called her and walked all around the property she was no where to be found.
I whistled, i yelled, i started to cry. No donkey.
We had snow last night and locating her tracks was a little confusing at first because the snow had filled them back in some, just enough to make them sketchy to identify while i was in a panic.
Eventually there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow....
or a donkey in heat.
And trying to tell a donkey in heat what to do is like trying to direct a tsunami.



xoxoxo

JuJu the Donkey Discovers Her Own Reflection

On our walks together, JuJu has discovered many new things... things that are sometimes big and scary, things that are loud and noisy, fake animals, real animals, so many humans, so many creeks. Most of which she must slowly approach, each new situation is assessed in her mind for safety and potential fun before she can fully relax.
So when she discovered her own reflection, I thought possibly something terrible had happened.
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I was picking chestnuts with my neighbor Nancy (at another neighbor's house who was out of town) when JuJu the donkey suddenly took off running! At the rate JuJu was going I thought she might run clear straight home, alone! I gave her a whistle and she soon came trotting back. Literally trotting like a freaked out show pony. She ran back behind the house we are at...
I assumed there was a large animal, either in the flesh or by scent because the only time I ever saw her run like that was in the threat of a bear nearby. Nancy wanted to know for sure and walked back behind the house only to discover JuJu looking at herself in the giant reflective windows!!

"Leslie, you better get back here I think she is going to go through the window, she seems really upset!"

I jumped down off the rock ledge from the chestnut tree and ran back there to find JuJu looking at herself in the window, and showing the reflection she was now IN HEAT!
Opening and closing her mouth, breathing out, making chewing sounds, lifting her tail (all symptoms of a donkey in heat)! She got hawt for her own beautiful self mirrored back to her!

Drooling and wiping her snot nose on the out of town neighbor's windows... she then took a piss and 2 big shits on their lawn too. Nicely mowed lawn.

JuJu was fully smitten with that "donkey"!

It took a LONG time to get JuJu to leave her reflection. I thought if the sun went down we'd be in luck, but it turned out the windows were tinted to be reflective on the outside regardless of light. The amount of coaxing I did was going no where. Treats were going no where. Nothing is as powerful as the urge to mate, I began to think, as I paced back and forth along the road hoping she'd come. I finally went back and waved my arms in front the window to make it seem hazardous. I tried stomping my foot, i tried pulling her rope. Running her off. Finally I just cursed, got mad and stormed off, thinking I had no idea how to get out this pickle.

Then, JuJu came running behind me.

I suppose there are some things stronger then the urge to mate. I am not sure what you call it though. She did Hee Haw back in the direction of her new friend half way home, just in case they might want to join us. :)

XOxoxo

Obstacles Overcome: JuJu The Donkey Don't Need No Lead

Me and JuJu the donkey have had only one major obstacle to overcome together, and that was coming home. Whenever I put on her halter and took the lead rope we'd happily walk together UNTIL she began running from me when we'd make the trek back towards the cabin. Understandable, she wanted the walk to go on forever... or at least alot longer, but I didn't or couldn't so the whole runaway game was really sucking for me.
In everything else she was gentle - lifting hooves, putting on a halter, making friends with strangers, walking through new (even scary) places, learning new tricks like how to roll a bucket or open a door with her nose, she even walks right through the creeks here.
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Yesterday I dared to take her on a hike with me and Bort (even though it could have made it a stressful disaster) - it wasn't till we reached our destination ( the round house) that I learned something about JuJu that I am so excited about I am still about to piss myself in amazement...

THE STORY::::
Bort found a gravity fed spring water pump at the round house and turned it on to see if it would spray water. Up until this point I had held the lead rope, and JuJu walked fairly quickly sometimes pulling me... but when that water sprayed it spooked her and in an unusual donkey fashion (cause they usually freeze & stand still) she decided that the spray of the water pump was terrifying enough that it was time to haul ass! I tried saying "WHOA" and "STOP" but she was too scared and ran even faster, so I let the rope go.
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In that moment I felt myself give up - give up completely the struggle because the donkey would always be stronger then me and would always know it. She ran a good ways back up the trail we had come from and in my surrender I decided to try something different then before. I decided not to go find her, but to wait and see what she would do. Within about 5 minutes she came back on her own accord, and from then on EVERYTHING changed!!!! I rewarded her for coming back and then tied her lead rope back so it wouldn't drag on the ground and I didn't touch the rope again. I let her decide to follow us as we hiked. That's when we all relaxed and started to really have fun! Gathering wildflower & tree seeds, while JuJu grazed.
JuJu went at her own pace, sometimes getting ahead of us, but mostly happily walking behind us, stopping when we would stop, sometimes wondering off to sniff & nibble - but always running to catch up and never wanting us to be out of ear shot or sight. I did not touch the rope. She walked all the way home, with no issues, she jumped over the larger creek, she hung out outside the cabin and around the pond eating grass...
and the clincher....... she went back IN THE GATE on her own.
Holy SHIT!
The Fanny Pack full of treats, all the scratching, singing, love and care I have been putting my heart into has finally created the bond I had hoped for! JuJu is my herd and my friend. (I jus' hope she wasn't showing off for Bort!)

Xoxoxo

Fanny Pack, A Donkey's Dream Come True

When I first realized I needed a Fanny Pack to help with (peacefully) training JuJu the donkey, I thought about most people my age with kids... and how dorky they probably feel in their mini van carrying diaper bags instead of sexy handbags. I be-moaned my new dorked out stage in life publicly on my facebook status and was miraculously rewarded with the CUTEST vintage fabric handmade fanny pack ever from artist/writer/crafter Autumn Wiggins!
YAY! Let the non violent, reward heavy, totally hip fanny style donkey training begin!!!

My first Fanny Pack goal was to get JuJu the donkey to lift her hooves for me - this is so I can start the ritual of cleaning them for good hoof health, and for later trimming. I cut up a pear as a super special treat and filled the fanny pack with it. The fanny pack makes it fast and easy to reward the donkey WHILE she's doing what you asked instead of after, or too late for the donkey to understand which 'thing' it did right.

I have never done this with a horse or donkey before, and was learning from watching youtube videos and reading the Donkey Companion book... there was also no one around to show the little nuances to this trick so if you are an expert you will notice I was standing backwards (but it did work). I simply relied on JuJu's past experience of most likely having done this before & the fanny pack full of treats.

I have been spending alot of time rubbing JuJu down in a sort of "show and scratch" game i call "Itch and Scratch", where she shows me where her itches are and I scratch them - this has made it so she doesn't mind me touching her legs to begin with.

For doing hooves, I say the word "HOOF" as a cue, I begin to lift her leg and as she starts to lift it up in my palm I hand her treats from the Fanny Pack. I also hand her another treat from the F Pack while she stands letting me hold her hoof for a while... so that she understands she will need to stand for a longer time eventually while I clean the hooves - the treats are to help her build up good feelings about this activity with me and it certainly works... she started pointing to her legs after asking me to lift them so she could get more pieces of F Pack pears!

Success!

Oh FANNY PACK... hells yeah, you are my savior! Seriously.

Thank YOu SOoooooo much Autumn for the fabulous, functional, eco and easy to work with Fanny Pack! You rock!

Xoxoxox

JuJu The Donkey + Beep Beep The Baby Chicken= No Longer Enemies

Remember the attack, when JuJu tha' donkey felt strong murderous instincts against the baby chicken Beep Beep?

No longer a problem. :)

Xoxoxo

Peek-A-Boo With JuJu (the donkey)

After reading up in various places online about Training A Donkey, I finally found one thing that was utterly consistent throughout all the methods & ideas (which ain't easy)... Donkeys are curious! And this curiosity is the way to getting their friendship, love, attention, and eventually it is your biggest tool in training them to do specific tasks.
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I decided to play Peek-A-Boo with JuJu, to see if she would take interest in my silly antics... this was not a recommended game, I just started doing it to see how she would react. I would stand outside her stall quietly, and then poke my head around saying "ah-boo" in a soft, happy voice. She immediately wanted to know what was going on with me. I did it about 3 times before she had to come out the stall and follow me... at which point I snuck around the barn wall to the other side and poked my head out again, saying "ah-boo"....

She caught onto the game and when we got to the next wall she passed me up to show me she knew where I was going already, and had figured out the exciting plot to Peek-A-Boo. WOoo-hooo!

After she came fully around the barn I rewarded her with a treat she loves in her special "treatsie pot". I would love to know more training games we could play together, if anyone has any suggestions, has used any specific techniques, or knows of one fun for us BOTH, send me a link- pretty please!

JuJu Bean says YAYAYAYAYAY!

XOxox

Riding JuJu the DOnkey (For The First Time!)

Things About JuJu that are easy:::::
Juju loves to go for walks with me... in fact she loves it so much she will bring me the rope halter herself and let's me put it on her face with no problem. She knows that walks with the halter means freedom outside her fenced area, it means adventure and fun, it means seeing neighbors, eating grass & weeds and along the rural road.
JuJu is sweet with people, easy going, calm, and will let children get on her back. I had never gotten on her though.... until today!
THINGS That JuJu makes REALLY hard on me::::::
Deciding when and where to go. I hadn't really planned on riding her, but because me and JuJu are still struggling with who is in charge of the lead rope, who is choosing where to go and which way to turn, we ended up at my neighbors yard , luckily a neighbor who used to ride horses. I decided to make the best of where JuJu had fought with me to.....
YAY! I got on her back and she stood there. She didn't seem to know what to do and wasn't interested in walking - which was fine since we were just getting used to each other. Of course, us silly humans thought it would be hysterical to put a carrot on the end of a stick and see if she would go....

Unfortunately JuJu saw the stick more then the carrot and after a minute or two she decided the stick was MAJORLY DANGEROUS and started running down the hill! Now since I am a new rider and wasn't using a saddle I kept slipping forward till I was practically about to straddle her neck. When I loudly yelled "WHOA" she stopped and I jumped off. (My 10 first WHOA's were not stern enough!)

She got the carrot anyway though cause I am a sucker and well, she did a good job.....

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Getting her home after though, was not easy. Two other people volunteered to help & I think I have a broken pinky toe (i'm too scared to look at it). Can someone tell me why this sh*t is so fun though?!!?

XOxoxo

Run JuJu, RuN!

Me and JuJu have been having issues when we go for our walk. Almost once every walk she would run from me.... pulling the rope so hard that if I didn't let go I was going to be dragged like a tin can on the back of a Just Married get away car. It seemed to me that she would do this randomly, at various places and unexpected times... sometimes cause she didn't want the walk to end and decided to get away from the gate, another time when she heard a loud noise and ran out in front of me to protect me, then sometimes just going downhill in general would set her off into a running frenzy. But the real clencher was when she ran onto a neighbor's land, a neighbor who happens to take pride in their mowing and landscaping..... WHOooPS JuJu!
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So at first I would run (fast) after her yelling things like "NO!" or "You Are an ASShole!" ..... thinking my disapproval should be known to help train her. I would run after to her so hard I would have to take breathing breaks, bent over holding my knees about to vomit. Then I stopped. I stopped running and she stopped running as far. She would stop after 30-100 feet and wait for me to walk up, acting like she'd been waiting for me all that time and nothing bad had ever happened. I would still show her I was upset after by saying "NO!" and stomping my foot......
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Let's just say the truth here- I am not a donkey expert (yet). I have never had an animal larger then a fat cat in my life, I never even had a dog! I wanted this donkey in my life for many reasons, most of which I would say are yet to be revealed - I read up on it, I did the research but like anything in life research is nothing quite like reality.
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So tonight I looked up "how to train your donkey" (again)....
and found this tiny paragraph of brilliance:
"In Vicki Abbott's discussion on communication she presents the illustration of the donkey who has pulled away while being haltered with the human shouting, "No!" and chasing after him. Her point is that to the donkey, this human is signaling danger whereupon they must all get some distance away from the snake (lead rope) that has just been detected and is chasing after them. The donkey's flight in this scenario is therefore predictable.
Of course the secret to success here is to understand how to read donkey body language and for us to convey appropriate messages to the donkey so that he doesn't bolt in the first place, and also avoid human-like responses that do little more than reinforce in the donkey's mind that the misbehavior was absolutely the correct thing to do."

Oh my gawd. Tomorrow some shit is gonna change around here! Me and JuJu are going for walk.....
but when she runs off, now what do I say?

xoxoxo