Baby Goat Raised By Dogs Finally Met His True Herd

When I saw him and the state that he was in, I immediately swooped him up, ran into the house, woke all my kids up. I said, y'all got to get downstairs, we got to try to save this goat. Sometimes with first-time mothers, they just don't do a good job cleaning the babies up and making sure they get warm. So you'll see in the video my son trying to warm him up with a hair dryer. Then I made him a bottle, he started to drink. And so within 24 hours, he was out of the woods in terms of just really scary health issues. But we were really worried because he hadn't stood up yet. Because I was like, if he can't stand, I was just so worried about his prospects to really She's holding her head up, which is really good. I think she'll make it. Most baby goats will stand up the moment they're born. And we were on day two of him not standing up. So we had been working with him quite a lot. I have two rescue dogs. They were chasing him around the house. They were like their own crew. Sometimes my dogs would sort of like knock him over with their nose. But that was actually good because then it gave Butterbean kind of exercise for standing up. Within 24 hours, he was hopping on furniture, he was on top of tables. He really quickly accelerated and got right to his developmental stage he should be at. Hi! What you doing in there? What you doing in there, buddy? As a farmer, when you have an animal that's sick, it's just you. There's nobody to really call. But within a few hours of getting him outside, Butterbean had freedom to run around the farm. However, the real question was, when the time comes, would the goats actually accept him? Good boy. Good boy. When Butterbean first started to go out into the farm world, once he left the house and kind of meet everyone, he was so curious. He was super warm and friendly with everybody. And when he eventually got incorporated into the goats, I think his self-esteem being so high, he immediately was accepted. Your people are yelling for you. Sometimes when you'll bring a new animal in, they'll sort of want to put him in a pecking order. But Butterbean just kind of like strutted in there and just sort of owned that goat pasture from the beginning. And so that has created a little bit of a diva personality. In case you didn't know, he's the little goat that stood up in the video that went so viral. He gets really excited when he sees a human in the morning. When I wake up in the morning, I'll go to the back porch and I'll see him making his little sad face through the gate. So if he is at his little barn and I walk by and I don't go in and snuggle him, he'll let out his crazy noise until I come in. And then once it's time to be done, he'll try to push me back down and put his little nuzzle and try to tell me it's not okay for me to go. You look so majestic. Come on, baby. Work that runway. Work. Cover girl. Work it now. Do that twirl. Do your stuff. Butterbean became kind of a dog-identified goat, for sure. Butterbean, having been raised a little bit by my dogs, sort of took on a dog personality. But the bossy side of Butterbean really didn't come out until after the first month. You would see Butterbean attempt to be dominant over the dogs. There was head budding. You know, there was jumping on top of them sometimes. But dogs love that. So it was never any issue. They just thought he was playing with them. Watching Butterbean grow up has been really cool. Because the little baby goat that stood up for the first time in that video, he's still the same goat now. He's still sweet and his energy is really open and precious. He's a survivor and he doesn't need to prove anything to anybody. A farm changes all of your perspective. You get to be a part of saving animals all the time and that's a really, really cool thing. Butterbean and I formed a special bond from the very beginning because he basically imprinted on me as his mother. So from the beginning, I was just so worried about his prospects to really make it as a goat. But if anything, it's really helped his personality shine even more. So when he stands up, he's proud, we're proud. It in no way has held him back. Butterbean didn't just learn how to stand. He learned how to belong. From dogs who taught him confidence. To goats who accepted him as one of their own. He found his place. Sometimes all it takes is a little help and a lot of love. Do you think growing up with dogs is what made Butterbean who he is today?