I love the boneless dog pic

I used to have a donkey when I was younger. He was a rescue donkey from New Mexico.

They ARE highly protective. Once my friend ran away from him and fell down. He went to her and sat on her but more like hovered without putting weight on her. It turns out that is what they do to protect their young when they are injured.

They are also intelligent. He did things like pick me up by the back of my neck to move me out of the way when I took too long to feed him. I was in elementary school at the time so I was more moveable than what I am now. When we'd saddle him, he'd de-bloat enough to make us think he wasn't holding in air. He would then go to the rose bushes, release the air and put his head down, and let the saddle start sliding down toward his neck so I'd go off in the rose bushes. He could break out of any corral, he liked beer, he liked to go in the house, and he chased cars.

If you have a donkey, be prepared to do more interaction than you would if you had a horse or pony. Donkeys have a lot more personality (at least I think they do) and are a lot smarter. At least our donkey was smarter than any of the horses Sometimes it was frustrating, especially when we discovered he could open any latch on his gate and when we also chained the gate, he stuck his neck through it and lifted it off its hinges. He never ran away, he just either wanted to be with us or he wanted to chase cars.