Chat
04-06-2018, 10:48 AM
Glad you had a good lesson! If you can use mild cues to prevent a behavior from occurring in the first place, you circumvent the need for stronger aids and the ensuing battle of wills that can occur. Sometimes our critters are just looking for a bit of guidance, and if we are lax in our instructions they'll come up with their own ideas of where to go next.
When Phil and I were test driving mini wagons at the carriage shop last month, he was at the reins while I was riding passenger and I got frustrated because I could see an impending argument about 3-5 steps before it happened.
"Phil, why aren't you steering??" I snapped.
Phil was taken completely by surprise.
"Why do I need to steer? They're going the right way!"
But I could see from their ears and the cocking of their heads that Finn and Sputnik were thinking about drifting toward the curb. The funny thing about goats is that they love to be up on any ledge, so there have been occasions when Phil or I have run into trouble when a goat in harness veers off the road to jump onto a curb or rock wall. In fact, a few minutes earlier in the test drive, Phil had already run the wagon into the curb because he didn't make a tight enough turn and he didn't anticipate that his goats would naturally make a beeline for the elevated sidewalk. He'd had to jump out so we could back wagon off the curb and straighten everyone out. In my opinion Phil was driving a bit too recklessly for a street with cars parked along it and sidewalk curbs on both sides to tempt the goats.
It's not fair to let the goats decide where to go and only correct them after you realize you're headed for disaster. I like to think of it as being a proactive driver. I expect my goats to step up to their work and not be lazy, so as a driver I should not be lazy either. We both have a job to do and it's not ok to "fall asleep at the reins".
In Phil's case he simply didn't realize what was about to happen because he didn't see the subtle body language that precedes a turn. In this case, the goats weren't really even going to turn. They were just going to drift a little toward the curb, and incidentally the truck parked in front of it. While Phil saw goats in that second walking obediently straight ahead, I was reading the body language that indicated what would happen several steps later and was therefore already hearing the squeal of scraping metal and envisioning a bill for paint repair on a truck and on a wagon we hadn't yet purchased. Hence the desperation in my voice when I snapped at Phil to "Please steer these goats!"
Our goats don't know where we want to go unless we tell them. A passive driver doesn't realize they're actually letting the goat drive and so they have to correct every time the goat decides to go somewhere inconvenient. A proactive driver anticipates the next several steps and gives the goat the cues he needs in order to know where we want to go. He may still have other ideas, but if you give instructions before he commits to a decision, most of the time he's going to decide to follow your lead. If he doesn't obey at least you know you did your part to tell him what you wanted and so stronger correction aids are justified. Eventually when your goats know their job very well, you can relax more at the reins because your goats will have learned that when they are receiving no signals it means to continue straight ahead. But greenies have no way of knowing that's what you expect so they tend to weave, stop, then suddenly speed up on a fairly regular basis. It keeps us drivers on our toes.
When Phil and I were test driving mini wagons at the carriage shop last month, he was at the reins while I was riding passenger and I got frustrated because I could see an impending argument about 3-5 steps before it happened.
"Phil, why aren't you steering??" I snapped.
Phil was taken completely by surprise.
"Why do I need to steer? They're going the right way!"
But I could see from their ears and the cocking of their heads that Finn and Sputnik were thinking about drifting toward the curb. The funny thing about goats is that they love to be up on any ledge, so there have been occasions when Phil or I have run into trouble when a goat in harness veers off the road to jump onto a curb or rock wall. In fact, a few minutes earlier in the test drive, Phil had already run the wagon into the curb because he didn't make a tight enough turn and he didn't anticipate that his goats would naturally make a beeline for the elevated sidewalk. He'd had to jump out so we could back wagon off the curb and straighten everyone out. In my opinion Phil was driving a bit too recklessly for a street with cars parked along it and sidewalk curbs on both sides to tempt the goats.
It's not fair to let the goats decide where to go and only correct them after you realize you're headed for disaster. I like to think of it as being a proactive driver. I expect my goats to step up to their work and not be lazy, so as a driver I should not be lazy either. We both have a job to do and it's not ok to "fall asleep at the reins".
In Phil's case he simply didn't realize what was about to happen because he didn't see the subtle body language that precedes a turn. In this case, the goats weren't really even going to turn. They were just going to drift a little toward the curb, and incidentally the truck parked in front of it. While Phil saw goats in that second walking obediently straight ahead, I was reading the body language that indicated what would happen several steps later and was therefore already hearing the squeal of scraping metal and envisioning a bill for paint repair on a truck and on a wagon we hadn't yet purchased. Hence the desperation in my voice when I snapped at Phil to "Please steer these goats!"
Our goats don't know where we want to go unless we tell them. A passive driver doesn't realize they're actually letting the goat drive and so they have to correct every time the goat decides to go somewhere inconvenient. A proactive driver anticipates the next several steps and gives the goat the cues he needs in order to know where we want to go. He may still have other ideas, but if you give instructions before he commits to a decision, most of the time he's going to decide to follow your lead. If he doesn't obey at least you know you did your part to tell him what you wanted and so stronger correction aids are justified. Eventually when your goats know their job very well, you can relax more at the reins because your goats will have learned that when they are receiving no signals it means to continue straight ahead. But greenies have no way of knowing that's what you expect so they tend to weave, stop, then suddenly speed up on a fairly regular basis. It keeps us drivers on our toes.