Chat
10-11-2017, 10:42 AM
One thing I would add to the "Steps of Goat Aggression" article is fixation on gloves. Cuzco liked to bite gloves and he would often blub at them. I've read of other people having the same issues with bucks or dominant wethers who would suddenly act "buckish" around gloves. Our two current bucks have the glove fixation, and Finn fixated on gloves until he was wethered. After that he stopped getting horny about the gloves and now only shows mild interest which I discourage.
Tools are another fixation that people with bucks sometimes notice. I've never seen females do this, but Cuzco and now Finn seem to fixate on shovels, rakes, or other garden type tools when I carry them. I used to have to shut Cuzco out of any pen where I was mucking out because he would follow me with his hackles raised if I was carrying a tool. He knew better than to head-butt me, but he would block, growl, and try to clack his horn on the wooden handle. He was a complete nuisance about it and I found it was easier to lock him out of the area than to deal with the behavior. Finn has recently started to take interest in my tools and I'm going to do my best to avoid letting it escalate. Finn is not allowed to mess with me while I'm working and so far he's been very good about keeping his distance. I don't let him sniff, eye, or rub any part of himself on my rake while I'm holding it. If I put it down nearby and he starts to mess with it, I shoo him off. I try not to leave my rake lying around where Finn can play with it because I'm pretty sure that once he starts making a habit of rubbing his horns on it, he's going to start escalating the behavior when I'm there (just like Cuzco did). In this case, it's not a matter of innocent curiosity that can be cured by allowing the goat to investigate until he gets bored. This is a very intentional behavior that I don't want to ignore because I'm quite sure it's going to escalate if I allow it to continue. I don't need to punish Finn for messing with my rake when I'm not holding it because he won't understand that. Instead, I just need to be careful not to leave it laying around where he can get to it before I can. I wish I knew why some goats do this!
Tools are another fixation that people with bucks sometimes notice. I've never seen females do this, but Cuzco and now Finn seem to fixate on shovels, rakes, or other garden type tools when I carry them. I used to have to shut Cuzco out of any pen where I was mucking out because he would follow me with his hackles raised if I was carrying a tool. He knew better than to head-butt me, but he would block, growl, and try to clack his horn on the wooden handle. He was a complete nuisance about it and I found it was easier to lock him out of the area than to deal with the behavior. Finn has recently started to take interest in my tools and I'm going to do my best to avoid letting it escalate. Finn is not allowed to mess with me while I'm working and so far he's been very good about keeping his distance. I don't let him sniff, eye, or rub any part of himself on my rake while I'm holding it. If I put it down nearby and he starts to mess with it, I shoo him off. I try not to leave my rake lying around where Finn can play with it because I'm pretty sure that once he starts making a habit of rubbing his horns on it, he's going to start escalating the behavior when I'm there (just like Cuzco did). In this case, it's not a matter of innocent curiosity that can be cured by allowing the goat to investigate until he gets bored. This is a very intentional behavior that I don't want to ignore because I'm quite sure it's going to escalate if I allow it to continue. I don't need to punish Finn for messing with my rake when I'm not holding it because he won't understand that. Instead, I just need to be careful not to leave it laying around where he can get to it before I can. I wish I knew why some goats do this!