Dog ... or Donkey?

So, I was sure I wanted to get a Great Pyrenees to serve as a guard dog for the goats that we're going to get. But while I was looking on Craigslist checking out goats for sale, I came across "Guard donkeys, raised with goats", which piqued my interest.

I did a google search for guard donkeys and, lo and behold, people use donkeys to protect their goats and sheep. Apparently, they have a natural dislike of canines and will bray loudly, chase, and even attack dogs and coyotes and some other small predators. Of course, they can't handle mountain lions or bears, but we don't have those at our farm anyway. We do have the occasional stray dog and definitely coyotes. When we spend the night out there, Tom and I can hear packs of them howling and yipping.

If the donkeys are raised with sheep or goats, they bond with them and become protective and possessive. In fact, they are so protective that during lambing (or kidding), they have to be removed from the flock for a while because they will sometimes view the new babies as intruders and will hurt or kill them.

I can definitely see a benefit to having a guard donkey as opposed to a dog, the main one being that the donkey can graze with the goats and I wouldn't have to buy dog food. And the donkeys that were for sale on Craigslist were only $100.00. Seems like a bargain.