The Honorable Grand Peanut and I went to our friend’s house for dinner last night and she has a small growing farm that includes 3 goats, 10 chickens, 4 ducks, and 2 dogs. This was  Honorable Grand Peanut’s second visit to the house, but his first introduction to the farm animals.

The goats were loose on the property, as were the chickens and ducks. There’s a acequia (ditch) running through the property between the house and the goat/chicken pen. HGP was the well-behaved dog, even though he’s never been in close proximity to a goat, chicken, or duck before. There was no chasing, no barking, no running around the animals. Just calm inquisitiveness, then he made a bee-line for the water buckets in the corner of the yard. One of his favorite things to do is to dig in the water, whether it is a ditch, a lake, or a bucket. Even when the ducks were in the ditch, HGP left them alone.  I’m so proud of how far he’s come, and he’s only 16 months old!

At one point, the goats were on the mesa behind the house, with HGP and my friend’s two dogs watching them. Both HGP and Azule climbed the hill but more out of curiosity (it looked fun) than to mess with the goats. Azule is an Australian Cattle Dog, and my friend is training him to herd the goats back home.

HGP and I practiced a long down-stay outside of the path of the goats, while Azule practiced herding the goats back to their pen. It was a lovely end to a great day with the Honorable Grand Peanut.

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