Wesson(Neosporosis) So Stubborn! Coyote wounds now!

[dejavoodoo114]

Sorry for the blurry picture... But Wesson is feeling a lot better today! He is actually able to curl up on the dog bed now which he had not been able to do since Friday!

ETA: We have spoiled Wesson quite a bit since he became sick... He pretty much tries to follow us everywhere now with his head permanently attached to our laps or hands.. I should feel bad about that but I don't! We were so close to putting him down...

 

[Baymule]

That is such a sweet picture! I am glad that Wesson will have a "light duty" job to do. These dogs have to have something to do. Hawks migrate here for the winter, but we have not lost a chicken to hawks-ever. Wesson will be important to your chicken flock.

 

[Latestarter]

Every time you have a good report for/on Wesson I just sit here and smile from ear to ear! I know he'll never be what he once was, but incremental gains and improvements are wonderful and I hope they continue for a long time to come! When it come time for him to once again have a "job", however minor, he may decide he's come to like retirement better!

 

[dejavoodoo114]

Thanks @Baymule! We have seen a lot more hawks around since Wesson got sick. Maybe coyotes and raccoons and skunks are not the only thing getting our chickens... I keep getting reminded of all the things I had put out of my mind as no longer an issue because they are becoming issues again!

@Latestarter, honestly, if he decides he wants to spend the remainder of his life in the house I would not object! The tile and wood can be a little hard on him now with his gait and balance so messed up but if he is happy we are happy. Our "Super dog" deserves whatever he wants (We may have been watching the old superman movies with the boys tonight) so long as it is safe for him!

 

[Bruce]

I'm sure you've followed enough to know that @Southern by choice retires some of her favorite working dogs to the house. Nothing wrong with Wesson doing the same! Maybe as you increase your quantity of working LGDs, he will feel comfortable not going out to protect against big predators knowing its covered.

 

[Southern by choice]

I'm sure you've followed enough to know that @Southern by choice retires some of her favorite working dogs to the house. Nothing wrong with Wesson doing the same! Maybe as you increase your quantity of working LGDs, he will feel comfortable not going out to protect against big predators knowing its covered.

Yes, and I can say the first year was HARD! Taking a nocturnal dog and a guardian and havingg him acclimate took time and patience. I do think having baby goats in the house and a "job" helped. Now he is a ridiculous couch potato spoiled and a brat... he is now a house guardian. Which has it's issues but he is great.

 

[dejavoodoo114]

I wasn't sure where to post this so I am posting it here... This is copied from elsewhere.

******So with Wesson being out of commission because of the coyote attack quite a few things have changed here. In our worry about Kimber being left alone protecting the goats we put our useless pyr Smith in the pasture with him.... That was a big mistake on our part. We had avoided putting them together so that she could learn good lessons from Wesson not bad lessons from Smith...

Smith does not like being trapped in the pasture and has never seen a fence he couldn't get out of. But we didn't want Kimber chewed up the way Wesson was... Now Smith has shown Kimber how to get out of the pasture and she wants to follow him around. This is bad as Smith roams a fair bit and has too many bad habits.

Kimber has gotten out of the pasture many (about 5 or 6) times in the last few days. She always comes up to the house and we keep putting her back in. I know what we did wrong (letting her be with Smith) but what would you suggest we do to ensure that she doesn't go elsewhere? I don't want to give her treats for coming to the house but I don't want her going elsewhere either. I have given her treats when we put her back in the pasture... We know the hole and will be blocking it up if she doesn't stop. We had left it open so Smith could go in there if needed...********

Now Wesson is back in the pasture but she has still gotten out a few times.

 

[dejavoodoo114]

Something else happened this morning. I was woken up early by the neighbor who has a clear view of our hill/goat pasture from his house. He used to have goats. He said he heard a kid crying and that he saw the dog(s) chasing one of the does away from where the kid sound was coming from.

Naturally I was a bit confused because our goats should be kidding in March not Jan! But we did have our fainting goat kid the first week of Dec. They are also in the pasture now.

So I sent the boys down to the bottom of the pasture right away. Kimber was laying down with the doeling and her dam right next to her. No problems.

 

[dejavoodoo114]

I walked down into the pasture yesterday to watch Kimber and Wesson with the goats. That is something I can only do so often because I have bad hips. But I got these pictures of Kimber while I was down there.

Oh, and the neighbor just called back to see if there was a kid down there. He said he could see Kimber laying down with the kid and her dam laying right next to her!!!

 

[Latestarter]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to deal with the same thing when I finally get my goats, with Mel. He's now 2 years old and though he lived with the goats and other LGDs until I picked him up at ~5 months old, that was quite a while ago. I'm going to need to get him re-acclimated and hope that he bonds with them. I'm expecting that it will take a bit and some amount of patience on my part.

We know the hole and will be blocking it up if she doesn't stop. We had left it open so Smith could go in there if needed...********

What are you waiting for? Block it up. The idea is to keep the dog(s) in. I thought you said that Smith doesn't want to go in there? Maybe Smith was chasing which the neighbor saw? I know you're short on dogs and long on coyotes, but maybe re-homing Smith might prove beneficial? Sorry you're having to deal with all these issues. Sometimes life just isn't fair... or easy