Goat Diaries Blog by Alexandra Kurland

[Nanno]

Sputnik and I took a few days' break and then practiced for few minutes this afternoon. Today I decided to go back a few steps and start breaking this activity down. I sat on the stanchion and got out our target. It's a tennis ball on a short stick. Sputnik targets very well and was excited when I got it out. I put the target between my knees and asked him to touch it. When he touches the target between my knees, his head stops at the correct level for me to reach his horns, and his nose is tucked down instead of nuzzling my hands for treats. I practiced having him touch the target while I held a treat in one hand and curled my other hand around one of his horns. Sputnik wanted to nuzzle my hand for the treat, but he quickly learned that he needed to touch the target to get the treat. We only had about two minutes to practice so we didn't accomplish much, but it gave me an idea of what direction I want to head with this command. I'm going to teach him to present his horns by touching the target first, and then we're going to do the same thing with him targeting my knees instead of the tennis ball. Then we'll work on having him wait for longer periods while I hold my hands behind his horns until I either release them or give him the command to lift or lower me. We'll see how it goes!