From The News

[R. Richard]

I Flunked High School English --

(Call it the great goat escape.
A flock [a group of goats is properly called a tribe or a trip] of 50 goats escaped from a Los Altos Hills yard on Thursday night, and the animals gone wild spread across roadways and stopped traffic.
With the help of Palo Alto Animal Control and their sheepdog [A sheepdog for goats? Next time, maybe a cattle dog. The goats are just poor dumb animals, they probably didn't even notice the use of a sheepdog.], deputies [I make no comment about the intelligence, or lack of same, of the deputies] from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department said they returned [Of course, the deputies did not return said goats, the sheepdog managed the actual return.] the goats to their home.
"Thankfully, no goats were harmed [What of the mental harm to goats, managed by a sheepdog? What of the mental harm to the sheepdog, forced to manage goats?] during their late night adventure," the sheriff's department reported. [A shocking example of animal cruelty, probably excused by the lack of training and/or intelligence om the part of the deputies.])

My taxes are used to pay mental defectives? Of course my taxes are now used to pay the fat, stupid, ugly closet lesbian b*tch who flunked me, back during high schoo0l English. The insults go on and on.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I Flunked High School English --

(Call it the great goat escape.
A flock [a group of goats is properly called a tribe or a trip] of 50 goats escaped from a Los Altos Hills yard on Thursday night, and the animals gone wild spread across roadways and stopped traffic.

"Flock", "herd", and "trip" are all acceptable English for goats.

With the help of Palo Alto Animal Control and their sheepdog [A sheepdog for goats? Next time, maybe a cattle dog. The goats are just poor dumb animals, they probably didn't even notice the use of a sheepdog.],

Maybe a sheepdog is all they had available? I expect if PAAC kept a different type of dog specialised for every conceivable herding scenario, we'd get complaints from the usual "wah wah my tax dollars" crowd.

My taxes are used to pay mental defectives? Of course my taxes are now used to pay the fat, stupid, ugly closet lesbian b*tch who flunked me, back during high schoo0l English. The insults go on and on.

Let it go, let it go...

Seriously dude, if you're getting enraged over stuff like this, maybe it's time for some anger management classes. All that pent-up rage isn't healthy for you.

 

[KeithD]

Seriously dude, if you're getting enraged over stuff like this, maybe it's time for some anger management classes. All that pent-up rage isn't healthy for you.

Or taking it over to the General Board.

 

[Hypoxia]

Seriously dude, if you're getting enraged over stuff like this, maybe it's time for some anger management classes. All that pent-up rage isn't healthy for you.

It really got his goat.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Might be handy, those goats. Considering the trolls we get around here, that is.

 

[R. Richard]

Maybe a sheepdog is all they had available? I expect if PAAC kept a different type of dog specialised for every conceivable herding scenario, we'd get complaints from the usual "wah wah my tax dollars" crowd.

How else are they to separate the sheep from the goats (referenced in the bible)? The sheep were given respect, the goats not. Probably important only if you are a Christian.

The idiot who wrote the Internet story could have used 'herding dog' and avoided controversy.

 

[ElectricBlue]

How else are they to separate the sheep from the goats (referenced in the bible)? The sheep were given respect, the goats not. Probably important only if you are a Christian.

The idiot who wrote the Internet story could have used 'herding dog' and avoided controversy.

A controversy is usually in the minds of many, not in the mind of one. I don't think we can expect journos to anticipate your personal moral, religious or literary grievances, whatever they may be. Perhaps you should take your rant elsewhere, because clearly, that's all it is.

 

[Hypoxia]

Ask a sheepdog if it cares whether the range maggots (*) it instinctively herds are goats, sheep, children, or ditto-heads.
_____

(*) Range maggots: Fly low over herds of hairy caprinae and note the appearance.

 

[SimonDoom]

Do sheepdogs cause mental anguish to goats?

Does the type of dog make a difference? Do goats say, "We're not sheep, dude. Get the right kind of dog." Goats aren't sheep, but they're more closely related to sheep than to cattle. Wouldn't the use of a cattle dog cause more offense than the use of a sheepdog?

Goats seem pretty tough to me. The ones I've known -- not many, admittedly -- seem unlikely to have been traumatized by brief encounters with sheepdogs. But I never asked them, so I don't know for certain.

As usual, I'm grateful to social media for presenting me with topics I never otherwise would have thought about.

 

[ElectricBlue]

As usual, I'm grateful to social media for presenting me with topics I never otherwise would have thought about.

Feathers, tentacles, and now fur. There's the trifecta. At this rate, Simon, you will surely become Wise very soon, and we will make our way to high mountains to consider your feet.

Carry on. Enlightenment can be found in the strangest places .

 

[SamScribble]

Feathers, tentacles, and now fur.

Umm ... technically, Blue, I think that goats have hair not fur. But perhaps I am investing too much into this discussion.

 

[Bramblethorn]

It really got his goat.

Now I'm angry because I didn't think of this joke.

 

[Hypoxia]

Umm ... technically, Blue, I think that goats have hair not fur. But perhaps I am investing too much into this discussion.

HAIR is correct. Yes, you ARE too involved. It's a hairy situation, you bet yer fur! (That's old Los Angeles slang.) Meanwhile, googling hair vs fur becomes... entangling. [/me pulls dandruff from scalp] Do we distinguish hairies from furries? How?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Umm ... technically, Blue, I think that goats have hair not fur. But perhaps I am investing too much into this discussion.

Quite right. I stand corrected (and sit bemused). Simon can sort out the misinformation by himself .

 

[Handley_Page]

.

The idiot who wrote the Internet story could have used 'herding dog' and avoided controversy.

Or perhaps put the word Sheepdog in quotes ?

 

[SimonDoom]

It really got his goat.

I think he was just kidding.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Or perhaps put the word Sheepdog in quotes ?

It could have been an Old English Sheepdog trained as a goat dog, though?

 

[Hypoxia]

It could have been an Old English Sheepdog trained as a goat dog, though?

Up here in the Sierra Nevada foothills, sheep and goats are guarded by llamas, vicious brutes who hate and stomp canines, and who themselves graze and thus don't require expensive dogfood. Sheepdog? Goatdog? Insufficient. The one-L lama, he's a priest. The two-L llama, he's a beast. Either can outperform dogs.

 

[Handley_Page]

Up here in the Sierra Nevada foothills, sheep and goats are guarded by llamas, vicious brutes who hate and stomp canines, and who themselves graze and thus don't require expensive dogfood. Sheepdog? Goatdog? Insufficient. The one-L lama, he's a priest. The two-L llama, he's a beast. Either can outperform dogs.

I'd like to see Llamas do better than these dogs:_
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qniwI2hNhDs

 

[Bramblethorn]

Up here in the Sierra Nevada foothills, sheep and goats are guarded by llamas, vicious brutes who hate and stomp canines, and who themselves graze and thus don't require expensive dogfood. Sheepdog? Goatdog? Insufficient. The one-L lama, he's a priest. The two-L llama, he's a beast. Either can outperform dogs.

Llamas are popular here too as guard animals, but I never heard of them herding on command like a sheep dog - can they be trained for that?

 

[Hypoxia]

Llamas are popular here too as guard animals, but I never heard of them herding on command like a sheep dog - can they be trained for that?

Gargling for llamas herding sheep returns (among other stuff) a video of Sheep Herding Llama, and Vacuumed Duck (ignore the latter). "This llama thinks that it's a Border Collie in the way that it rounds up these cute lambs, but then it starts to show off a little."

Edit -- A further hit, from yesterday's Spokane WA newspaper: "There hasn’t been a problem since Blitzen arrived. He’s alerted the family to trouble several times. When the llama senses danger, he herds the sheep to a safe place, stands between the flock and the predator and lets out a piercing shriek."

It seems to be instinct, not training.

 

[R. Richard]

All through high school I was supposed to imagine the mental state of the protagonists in the crap that I was forced to read. Since my imagining of the mental states didn't match that of a middle aged woman, I flunked.
Now it appears that the readers of this thread can analyze the thought patterns of goats and said analysis is different from my analysis. Interesting.
Animals, such as dogs, are usually trained for just one task. They learn how sheep react and would use the same tactics with goats. The same tactics might not work.
Alright, analyze this. Back in the day, people were hiding in department stores and then robbing them after the store closed for the night. Dogs were then bought in and hiding in a department store no longer worked. Then the dogs began to have trouble, including dog fights. What was wrong?
As to anger management. In my younger days, Whi' Boy was attacked, in the street, maybe five nights a week. I learned to manage my anger, very efficiently. The crowning example was when average sized Whi Boy picked up a 260 pound attacker and threw him into a concrete wall. (Whi' Boy didn't kill the attacker. the concrete wall killed him. Don't listen to the LAPD) As a result of my anger management skills I was then called by the title 'Willie Green', instead of Whi' Boy, and my life got easier.)

 

[KeithD]

I think the goat people were trying to save you from embarrassing yourself further with noxious belligerent crap. Maybe not, if they say not, though, I guess.

 

[SimonDoom]

I just have to say I'm disappointed that no one was amused by my reference to "kidding."

Get it?

What was the point of this thread?

 

[Hypoxia]

Annie, Get Your Gun.
Andy, Get Your Goat.
Don't be sheepish.