TPDR Herkel is now ready to find his permanent home.

This handsome 5 year old gelding came to us from a very difficult situation.

We were contacted the last week in December 2010 asking if our rescue would consider taking in a donkey that was a "biter". Asking for details I was told that his owners were a couple in their mid eighties. There had been a traffic accident on Christmas eve that resulted in the death of the wife and the lengthy hospitalization of the elderly husband. The family told me that they were unable to get anyone to even consider taking the donkey due to his behavior issues. Due to the circumstances no one was living at the farm but there was someone that came daily to put hay and water out for the donkey and several goats. With a fair amount of trepidation I agreed to take him sight unseen.

The day after New Years volunteer Matt Willis and I set off to pick up Herkel. Due to weather conditions we parked our truck and trailer on the road and walked back to the barn where we  were met by a family member of the owner. Herkel had a halter on, but it was much too tight. I do understand why it had not been loosened. Each time we tried to put a lead rope on him this donkey was on his hind legs, ears back, and biting wildly at both Matt and myself. Thankfully Matt is a big, strong man that listens well to direction. After many tries with Matt holding onto both sides of Herkel's halter I was able to snap on the lead. Things then got worse not better!

Once we got him out of his pen, Herkel was immediately on his hind legs striking and biting at us. It was a considerable distance to where my rig was parked so it was necessary to start over once again. Back to his pen, then getting a stud chain on him without one or both of us getting seriously bitten was the next order of business.

Thankfully the stud chain did as it was designed to do. It gave us the leverage needed to lead Herkel down the road to the trailer. Loading him was not very difficult. I had made an appointment to have him gelded  within the next week. Thankfully we were able to bump the procedure up to the next morning. We left him in the trailer overnight then off to Kern Road early the next day. Once inside the clinic and tied to the stocks Dr. Esterline promptly dubbed him the Land Shark. Very fitting.

He had the works that morning. Castration, vaccines, de-worming, and his blood draw for a Coggins. Now for a cooling off period and then learning what good donkey manners were all about.

First was learning to stand quietly while tied. For some time he would bite both his rope as well as the post he was tied to. He would attempt to rear while tied as well as kicking out. He generally showed us just how MAD he was with donkey lessons. Too bad Herkel as this is just the beginning of learning to become a civilized donkey. Believe me no one will ever want you as you are.

Next was the rearing and striking behavior that he exhibited whenever he was asked to do anything he did not want to do. This one was easily addressed. I am not large enough to do this correction myself, but as mentioned above, Matt is a large strong man, and he pulled this correction off beautifully! Each time Herkel stood up ,Matt pulled the donkeys head around into the animals shoulder, leaned into him throwing the donkey completely off balance and promptly onto his side on the ground! Then Matt SAT on Herkel`s side till the animal stopped struggling. In three lessons Herkel learned that when he went UP he indeed immediately would go DOWN and be unable to get himself upright till the human he had attempted to dominate said it was O.K. now to stand.

Next came his introduction to Matt and wife Wendy`s group of four geldings. Herkel had been kept completely alone for at least three to four years. When purchased as a weanling he had a geriatric horse as a companion but then his friend died and he had no one. He could see the goats across the driveway that was it. No friends, no toys to stimulate him, nothing. Just solitude, and stress, and lots of HORMONES. After weeks of training and a good cooling off period, he was introduced to Smitty, Jones, Woebe and Forty Winks.

Well he went in breathing fire and promptly got his ill mannered butt kicked. Another lesson in acceptable donkey behavior well learned.

Herkel has come along beautifully in the few short months he has been in foster care with Matt. He is more bonded to Matt (yes, the guy that pulled him over and sat on him several times) than to the other donkeys. He comes when Matt calls him and is now the first one to greet visitors. We are considering teaching him to drive as he is a very willing donkey and is quite brave about new things.  He is a very handsome 5 year old gray gelding about 38 inches tall that could be a WONDERFUL horse companion if the person adopting kept the same boundaries that he has learned at TPDR. Herkel is a fun, and very willing student !

There were a number of factors that have contributed to Herkel's transformation. First certainly was his gelding. With the hormone level declining next came  learning manners (he had NONE) and then how to interact in a multiple donkey situation. Herkel had become quite familiar with his four foster donkey brothers but there had always been either a fence or a wood half wall between them.

As his "cooling off" transition from a jack to a gelding progressed it was now time to teach him some donkey social skills. That is NOT a job for us mere humans but a job the donkey boys were up to taking on. As expected the day the gate separating Herkel and the four donkey residents was opened Herkel went charging into the group breathing fire.

 Well he promptly got his antisocial, aggressive ass kicked!!!! Way to go boys. He immediately ended the low man on the totem pole. Just where he needed to be.

And finally our boy Herkel has become an honorary
Methodist !

He will make a fine companion to either another donkey or a horse. He leads just great, loads and trailers fine, and has turned into quite the social butterfly. He did a several hour event a few weeks ago held at Tractor Supply here in Williamston and really made us proud. Way to go Herkel!

He is currently in foster care with Matt and Wendy Willis of Stockbridge, Michigan. You can contact Matt or Wendy at the numbers and e-mail addresses listed below:

Matt Willis the_mwillis@msn.com cell 734-891-0509

Wendy Willis rrturtle@aol.com   cell 248-890-8259

 For more information, contact Sharon 517-623-0000 or email her at akaminidonkeys@fnwusers.com

Just have a look at our former very difficult donkey Herkel! He is now a friendly and safe, social boy. A far cry from the aggressive, rearing, biter that came to us in January of this year. A combination of his gelding surgery, consistent training by his foster dad Matt Willis, and learning to live happily with others of his kind have created his remarkable transformation. The fact that Herkel has become an honorary Methodist may also have had a great influence on his new attitude!

Herkel and foster mom Wendy Willis on a lazy late June afternoon