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01-28-2017, 09:39 PM
Hello,
I'm in the process of training my first two pack goats, and one of them, Liesel, who is 9 months old will occasionally poke people she is walking next to with her horns. It seems to be somewhat playful, not aggressive, but it is still not OK. I try to squirt her in the face with water (I have to carry a squirt bottle on walks) right when she does this, but this is pretty difficult to get right every time because she doesn't do it to me, only to others we are walking with, and I don't always catch it in time. Since implementing the squirt bottle, this has been happening less, but still happens occasionally. More recently (in the last few weeks) she has become way less tolerant than usual of me touching her sides, hind legs, and belly. When I try to do this, she will poke me to get me to stop. This is surprising and disturbing to me because I have been deliberate about touching her all over since the minute she was born so that this would not be an issue. I have also been deliberate about teaching her not to be violent with her horns. I was advised by another experienced packgoater in my local pack goat club to touch a kid's horns frequently when they are little to normalize that. The idea was that this would teach them to allow you to touch their horns, but that it wouldn't be associated with aggression. For the first several months of her life I did that, careful to make it an affectionate gesture (not grabbing or pulling) just like any other petting or scratching. as her horns grew, it became clear that she didn't want me to touch her horns (she would move her head away) so I stopped, only touching her horns at the base when scratching her head. Now, given the appearance of this poking behavior, I am questioning the wisdom in following this advise rather than the other school of thought, which is never to touch their horns. Does anyone have advise on teaching my goat that it is never OK to use horns on a person? Are there any thoughts about how to deal with this new intolerance of being touched on her underside? I am familiar with clicker training and have been using that to train my goats, is there a good way to use positive reinforcement to solve the poking problem?
Thanks! I really appreciate any help I can get!
I'm in the process of training my first two pack goats, and one of them, Liesel, who is 9 months old will occasionally poke people she is walking next to with her horns. It seems to be somewhat playful, not aggressive, but it is still not OK. I try to squirt her in the face with water (I have to carry a squirt bottle on walks) right when she does this, but this is pretty difficult to get right every time because she doesn't do it to me, only to others we are walking with, and I don't always catch it in time. Since implementing the squirt bottle, this has been happening less, but still happens occasionally. More recently (in the last few weeks) she has become way less tolerant than usual of me touching her sides, hind legs, and belly. When I try to do this, she will poke me to get me to stop. This is surprising and disturbing to me because I have been deliberate about touching her all over since the minute she was born so that this would not be an issue. I have also been deliberate about teaching her not to be violent with her horns. I was advised by another experienced packgoater in my local pack goat club to touch a kid's horns frequently when they are little to normalize that. The idea was that this would teach them to allow you to touch their horns, but that it wouldn't be associated with aggression. For the first several months of her life I did that, careful to make it an affectionate gesture (not grabbing or pulling) just like any other petting or scratching. as her horns grew, it became clear that she didn't want me to touch her horns (she would move her head away) so I stopped, only touching her horns at the base when scratching her head. Now, given the appearance of this poking behavior, I am questioning the wisdom in following this advise rather than the other school of thought, which is never to touch their horns. Does anyone have advise on teaching my goat that it is never OK to use horns on a person? Are there any thoughts about how to deal with this new intolerance of being touched on her underside? I am familiar with clicker training and have been using that to train my goats, is there a good way to use positive reinforcement to solve the poking problem?
Thanks! I really appreciate any help I can get!