I will be needing a companion for a very old pony. Any ideas?

JoAnn Answered:
By all means don't torture your pony by leaving him alone or without another equine that won't beat him up. Try a donkey jenny. Donkeys are very loving and nowhere near as competitive as horses. Standard donkeys are not very expensive usually, and are cheap to keep. Don't feed your donkey grain. It is like jet fuel to them.Just give her a little good clean hay and water and pay attention to deworming. Don't feed your donkey a lot of treats and don't let her get fat. Fat is the number one health care problem for donkeys.If you get a jack, geld him. Be sure to get a donkey that is used to dogs, or your donkey may chase your dog out of the horse pen.

angelharp7 Answered:
Find a friendly, gentle goat, possibly a Nigerian Dwarf or a Pygmy. Get a female or wether that has been disbudded (horns removed) so the goat won't accidentally hurt your pony. For this, I think I might go ahead and get a mature goat if you can find one, but either might work. Put a bell around the goat's neck, so that the pony can hear where his friend is. It's amazing how horses and goats can bond with one another. We sold 2 large does to supply milk to an orphaned foal, and they lived in the stall next to his. They would stand on their hind legs to look over the stall divider to "check on" the baby foal. They really seemed to be interested in him.

When you feed the pony, you'll need to feed your goat separately, because the goat can nibble quickly and might get too much. If you get a wether (neutered male) goat then you'll have to be careful that you don't feed him a feed with too much calcium, so stay away from molasses-based horse feeds. We feed our wethers a simple 12% creep feed with plenty of grass hay.

Your goat will also need a very secure fence. Goats can go under or jump over a fence, and they're very intelligent. They can learn to open a gate like a pony does.

Once a year, your goat will need a CDT shot and you'll need to trim its hooves about every 6 weeks. This is very easy to do and you can do it yourself.

I hope this helps. Check out the book Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats for basic goat info, and you might also check out the the Fiasco Farm's website.

Jenna N Answered:
try a Standard sized goat, there easy to keep behind Electric fence and gentle if neutered and handled right I'd go with a Nubian they can be trained to pull carts and carrie packs they are very Intelligent

A Yahoo user Answered:
Cheer up, tallyho, its not sore bad to taka kare of un puppy, just fed her twice a day

SimsADDICT00 Answered:
I am about to take my dog to some dog shows, and I am really good with training dogs. The products that I use are a little pricey. So I am just going to tell you what not to do. When it comes to dog food, do not use puppy chow. Yes your dog might like it, and it might taste good to him, but it is not healthy at all. I fed it to one of my dogs, a Great Dane, they only live for 8 years, my dog lived for 5 when I was feeding him with that food. Just find a dog food that will make his teeth strong, his coat shiny, and him nice and strong. Make sure the dog food you choose is recommended by other people. Do not over feed your dog, fat dogs isn't what you want. He will have a lot of medical issues, and you will be taking him to the vet a lot. Make sure when you are playing with him, if he destroys a toy, clean it up as quickly as possible. Do NOT let him eat any of it. He will have really bad problems with his stomach. If he is a dog that is really hyper make sure you get him a lot of exercise. If he is lazy just let him be lazy. When it comes to training, don't hit him! When you hit your dog, or hurt him in any way, you are making him aggressive. I learned that the hard way, even a little tap on the back will get him aggressive. Take him to the dog park, get him really socialized with other animals. I leave my dogs in the garage while I am gone. If you don't have a garage, I put my dogs in the bathroom. I hope you have fun with your dog!

kijkwijzer Answered:
Firstly, I would suggest that you get a puppy between 10 and 12 weeks old. The longer it stays with the mother the better as the mother and interaction with siblings teach a puppy certain crucial things that will make it easier for you. It is kind humane to do so. Some will let their puppies leave at 8 weeks. That is okay, but the very minimum. 10 – 12 will be much better for you, family and most importantly, puppy.

I think it is wonderful that you will have 2 1/2 months to be there with the puppy! This is crucial to bonding and training. I suggest crate training and potty training directly outside because you have this option to stay home. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to copy an answer I've already given on the subject to help, so this will be long!

CRATE TRAINING: I started feeding in the crate. When the puppy was sleeping next to me during the day I would move the puppy to the crate without waking him (this was easy with mine at 10 weeks) and let him wake up naturally in his crate with the door open. After a couple days of this and throwing a toy in for him to go fetch etc, I started closing him in the crate and hiding in the hallway. He would cry, but as soon as he stopped or even just a small pause, I would let him out. I slowing increased the time from 30 seconds to 10 minutes over several days, always returning to let him out when quiet. I would leave the crate in the living room and leave toys in there and when I caught him peeking in or going in I would praise him and pet him and tell him how good he was. Now he goes in there on his own just to sleep!

At night I put the crate in my bedroom next to my side of the bed with the front facing me so that he could see me. He threw a fit and bounced off the sides of the crate etc. It was not a fun night. I had to ignore him and let him cry. He settled down though. The next night the crying was 1/2 the time, and the next he settled right in.

They will wake up and cry because they need to go potty. You have to get up and let them out at the potty place. It passes soon as they develop more and get a little more control over their bladder.

I read not to give water several hours before bed, and whatever you do, make sure they eliminate before you put them in for the night.

CHEWING: Your puppy will also be chewing. Have a lot of sensory toys to give the puppy, but keep teething and chew toys 2 per room so that you can immediately correct inappropriate chewing with a strong NO and then you have the appropriate chew toy handy. When your puppy accepts and starts chewing on the chew toy you present, praise him and tell him how good he is and even pet him.

You must be aware 100% of the time. If your puppy pees or poos on something it shouldn't have, it's your fault. If it chews on something it shouldn't have, it's your fault. The reason is, the puppy really doesn't know. Even when you think they know, and a mistake happens, the didn't know, and you'd better brush up on what you can do better to help your puppy!

Keep your puppy on a schedule. Feeding, outside, play, everything. You will also need to figure out the best schedule, as you will have a very sleepy baby in the house and you won't know right away when it needs to evacuate etc…

There will be mistakes. Allow that for a couple of weeks. After that, make sure you adhere to a schedule so both you and your puppy know what to expect.

Good luck!