Waking to Cud-Breath - The Story of Abby & Amanda

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In January 2002, when we went to look at Katie, our first donkey, we had no other farm critters.  As we arrived, the folks there were bringing in twin goat kids that had been dropped and abandoned by their mother the night before.  The kids were weak and shivering.  We decided to take them home so Katie would have some friends when she arrived in a couple of weeks.  So.... we returned home with two kids, one baby bottle, and the hope that the dogs would accept our new additions.

	Abby & Amanda when they got home.
	The dogs adopted them. Apollo was very careful to make sure their ears were clean.
	Athena helped out with the other end.  (That's Chaos introducing himself.)
	They lived in a pen in the kitchen with a large stuffed animal for company.
	Occasionally another critter would visit.
	In addition to just being friendly, Casper would check out the goodies.
	Unfortunately, Abby didn't live long.  However, Amanda thrived.  Here she is in Feb. hanging out with her buddies Apollo and Emma. She was living outside with Katie at this time.  However, one day.... she followed the dogs in the doggie door.  After that, we couldn't keep her out of the house!
	Here she is in late April. Notice her collar.  It's a dog shocking collar we decided to try.  It didn't work.  She'd put up with the shocks until they'd stop, then come right on in. Of course it was because she thought she belonged with her flock (us) rather than with the new donkey outside.

April and May were filled with

• waking up to cud-breath in the morning because Amanda was either on my pillow or squeezed between the dogs or on the floor next to the bed (not quite as often). 
• work documents with interesting changes from Amanda's tap-dancing on the keyboard.
• assorted spills and spots here and there (goats don't potty train)

In June, we ended up returning Amanda to the folks we got her from.  She thought the goats were alien creatures, so she ended up being the mascot for their calves. As of last report, Amanda's a mommy herself now, but she still prefers the company of people to those alien creatures called goats.