Chat
11-11-2023, 03:51 PM
Want to know the key to having a great pack goat herd that will follow you anywhere? Have a lead doe who is bonded to you, well-trained, and will follow you, and the rest of the goats will just follow her. Unfortunately, that does not describe Cricket, my little goat with a big voice, an adorable Toggenburg/Alpine/Nubian cross who makes a gallon of milk and is easy to milk and loves me and follows me around the yard...but, she does not like long hikes.
Cricket loves to go out on eating expeditions, but once she suspects that an outing is going to turn into a hike, she'll baaa and stand in the trail with a defiant look, and her kids Tito and Olive will walk halfway to me and not be sure which one of us to follow. Tito and Olive love hikes, but they were handled a lot as babies and given training, so they consider both of us to be "Mom." But Cricket didn't have the training, she ran wild as a young goat until I bought her and trained her to let me milk her, let me catch her, and ride in the car. I'm impressed really with how tame she's gotten, but she just does not have that urge to follow me into unknown territory on a long and grueling forced march, when she could be just hanging out in the safe yard and eating hay.
Any ideas on how to change Cricket's attitude about this? Maybe if I bring raisins in my pocket and give her some along the way (this worked to teach her not to play "chase" with me when I wanted to put her in the pen)? She isn't really an ornery or dominant goat, and isn't lazy, but I think she's just perplexed by why I would do something so stupid as to hike a mile when there's perfectly good food right at the trailhead.
Cricket loves to go out on eating expeditions, but once she suspects that an outing is going to turn into a hike, she'll baaa and stand in the trail with a defiant look, and her kids Tito and Olive will walk halfway to me and not be sure which one of us to follow. Tito and Olive love hikes, but they were handled a lot as babies and given training, so they consider both of us to be "Mom." But Cricket didn't have the training, she ran wild as a young goat until I bought her and trained her to let me milk her, let me catch her, and ride in the car. I'm impressed really with how tame she's gotten, but she just does not have that urge to follow me into unknown territory on a long and grueling forced march, when she could be just hanging out in the safe yard and eating hay.
Any ideas on how to change Cricket's attitude about this? Maybe if I bring raisins in my pocket and give her some along the way (this worked to teach her not to play "chase" with me when I wanted to put her in the pen)? She isn't really an ornery or dominant goat, and isn't lazy, but I think she's just perplexed by why I would do something so stupid as to hike a mile when there's perfectly good food right at the trailhead.