Donkey Training Program

Growing up, I always knew that I wanted to work with animals. Since the age of 5, we have kept approximately 20 animals at a time... which included horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, and goats. I frequently volunteered at a dog, horse, and cat rescue, puppy raised multiple guide dogs for Guide Dogs of America, helped friends and family with training their dogs, bought a 16-month-old horse who I trained for myself, and much more. We currently have 40 animals... more than 20 of them being miniature donkeys.

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In 2018, my family met Susan Morgan, joined the miniature donkey world, and added Murphy to our family. We quickly discovered how intelligent the breed was, fell in love, and decided that we wanted to start our own breeding program. Well, finding breeding quality jennets was not an easy task! After 3 years of searching for top jennets, we met Joe and Dayle Haworth.

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After a few months of knowing Joe and Dayle, Mojo was born. When he was 4 days old, we were able to bring both him and his dam, Smitten, home. However, shortly after bringing them home, Dayle said "you will show him" and we immediately said "okay." This is what started our training and show career.

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We knew absolutely NOTHING about showing! However, we applied certain techniques that we used when training guide dogs, working with our equines, and listened to every piece of advice that Dayle, and others, gave us. Once a donkey understands what you are asking of them and they trust you, they will do absolutely anything for you.

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Mojo started his show career at 6 months old. He has attended 4 NMDA Sanctioned Shows and has won Reserve High Point Pre-Green at each of them, including the 2024 NMDA National Show. Several of our other donkeys have also been successful in the show ring. See our Donkeys Show Results.

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I was approached by a farm owner, from the East Coast, earlier this year. He said that he had been watching me and loved how I worked with my animals. A frequent compliment that I get from spectators, exhibitors, and judges is how patient, encouraging, and kind I am to the donkeys I am working with. The farm owner asked if I would be interested in training his young jennet, Glenda, and I was happy to have her come. 

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He opened the door for me to train outside donkeys. I work with and show each donkey as if they were my own. Each donkey is different, and they do not all learn the same. I have learned how to alter my techniques to benefit the individual donkey that I am working with. My mother and others will often also work with my donkeys in training, so that they are comfortable with performing for multiple handlers. This helps with building their confidence and making them more well-rounded.

 

Although we are newer to the donkey world, we are very proud of how far we've come in such a short amount of time. Our progress been proven by our relationship with our donkeys and by how both our personal and client donkeys perform.

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If you are interested in having me train for you, please don't hesitate to reach out and ask questions! Working with this amazing breed has become a huge passion of mine and, for those who know me, it's almost all that I can ever talk about. I want to continue to share just how intelligent this breed is and work towards building fun and positive relationships between donkeys and their humans.