The Miniature Donkey is by nature one of the friendliest and most affectionate animals of its type. They are very tame and gentle. They are also easier to manage in everyday life than some donkeys simply because they are smaller. They love their owners and seek attention. They do this with friendly nudges and brays and funny little sounds designed to get you to pay attention to them. The miniature donkey is extremely intelligent and docile and is easily trained. Geldings or jennets make the best pets. Jacks enjoy braying and may become excited in the presence of the females.

 The size of these donkeys varies from 26 inches, which is considered extraordinarily small, to 36 inches at the withers. An average height would be about 33-34 inches. In general the smaller the donkey the more valuable it is accounted to be. Other things that make a donkey valuable are good body and leg conformation and one of the more unusual colors such as spotted, white, sorrel, "chocolate" (dark brown) or black. Gray-dun, the various shades of gray with the dorsal stripe and cross is the most common color of these donkeys.

Color is considered to be a factor in the expense of miniature donkeys.  The gray-dun color (grayish/buff body color with a distinct cross on the back) is the original and most common color and thereby the least expensive.  As this is being written the most desired colors are black, dark brown (often commonly called chocolate), sorrel (RED)  (reddish color in summer coat) and spotted.  These colors are rarer than gray-dun, brown and light brown.  There are a very few other colors, white either Blue-eyed white (recessive similar to albino)  or Frosted Spotted White (non albino), and a few interesting gray (old term "blue") roans.  It must be noted that you should not let someone sell you a a gray-dun donkey as a sorrel or brown just because it has winter hair or foal hair of that color.  Many gray-dun donkeys have winter and foal coats of a brown or reddish tinge but shed out to some shade of gray in the summer! Summer coat is considered the true color, not winter coat!  I personally know at least one donkey who has a very "pink" coat in the winter--anyone would say he was a sorrel.  He sheds out to silver gray in the summer and is technically a gray-dun so beware!  This does not mean that the person selling the donkey is trying to cheat you.  Many people are new to donkeys but are still breeding and selling them and do not have the experience that it takes to determine donkey coat colors.  Also these colors can change somewhat with maturity (just to make things more difficult).

Conformation of the animals is supposed to be that of a small, compact, well rounded animal standing on four straight strong legs with all parts in symmetry and balance. The average donkey will weigh from 250 to 450 pounds with most animals being in the lower weight ranges. The hair ranges from flat to curly to long and shaggy and in texture from smooth to wiry. The hair coat is shed out much later in the summer than that of the horse and serves to protect the donkey from the weather and the flies. Almost all of these donkeys will have a "cross". The cross is a dorsal stripe of darker hair down the length of the back crossed by a shoulder stripe across the top of the body at the withers and showing down the shoulders. Most of the donkeys will have darker markings on the ears, the tip of the tail and around the feet. Some have "Garters" or stripes ringing the legs as well. A few of the donkeys have "collar button" markings, which are dots of black hair on the neck just below the place where the head joins the neck. The registry calls a donkey the color of the body and assumes a lighter colored nose, belly and inside of the legs. If the animal has a dark nose and/or belly that is noted on the registration certificate. A dark nose is called "dark muzzle" and if no parts of the body show the light "points" the donkey is said to have "no light points". The dark points are found in all donkeys but are not too common, the light points being the norm.

 Life expectancy for well cared for miniature donkeys is around 30-35 years so they are truly a lifetime pet.