[Alpacasite] My heart is STILL pounding!!

A little background first....

We have thirty acres and in the MIDDLE of that thirty acres is 3+ acres
fenced off for us humans and alpacas. The rest was used before we bought it
as our neighbor's cow field. We allow him to let his cows run in between the
electric fence around the whole 30 and the fenced off areas for us and
alpacas.

I have trained Dobermans for many years and have received many compliments
on their training. Today though... They proved their worth and that they
could ad-lib and STILL maintain their training!

Dober girls bark on alert.. Hubby goes to look and yells, "KATHRYN! There is
a FOX trying to get into the (alpacas) girl's fence!"

I dash outside to see the BIGGEST fox I have EVER seen ( and I have seen
more than a few!) in no hurry, gamboling away. My first thought was that
this fox is WAY too confident. So I open the gate and call my dober girls...
They sit at my feet and I say, "GO WATCH' EM!" they TEAR off after the fox
but NEVER stray out of my sight. They obey EACH verbal command instantly and
came back when called. The fox had gotten away but with a healthier respect
(I hope!) for the ability of my dogs to REACH them outside the 2+ acre fence
And BTW... I never INTENDED my girls to catch the fox.... I wanted several
things at the time. I figured that the fox has come around enough at night
to know where the dogs could reach and where they could not. I needed to put
a true SCARE into the fox as to those ideas. I also needed to know that the
fox (that could be diseased) was not really within my girl's reach. It had
enough of a head start to get away. But MOST important... I needed to test
my girls in a situation I had not tested them in before.... To obey known
commands when there was a KNOWN threat.

As I began to write this I heard a pistol shot from the neighbor's (who have
horses) and a quick phone call to them tells me that two COYOTES were in
THIER pasture and they'd shot one of them. We carefully compared notes on
descriptions of the animals and exact times... It was TWO separate
incidences with TWO separate breeds... Mine was definitely a FOX and theirs
was DEFINATELY coyotes.

This tells me that the local predators have eaten WELL this summer but NOW
the food has gotten scarce and they are getting desperate.. And brave.
Neither specie are known for showing up in daylight hours. Neither the
neighbors nor we have seen this kind of behavior before.... But you can bet
that my dober girls will be taking regular trips around the whole 30 acres
this winter........

MAN! I'm so proud of my girls I could danged near CRY!

Kathryn & Robert Coursey
kathryn@coursey.org
Chipola Alpacas
In the Panhandle of Florida
www.chipolaalpacas.com
(850) 639-6809
I am a source for weeping willow trees
And white mulberry trees.

Some folks are like Slinkies,
Not good for much,
But ya just can't help but smile
When you see one tumble down the
Stairs.

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