Chat
11-11-2023, 06:28 PM
She sounds smart! Like you said, not ornery, just maybe a bit too intelligent and set in her ways. One thing you don't want her to do is to teach her nefarious ways to Tito and Olive, because they WILL pick up on her cues.
I'd suggest halter training her and putting her on a lead. It's much easier to lead a goat by a halter than by a collar (my opinion) because you can prevent them from eating along the trail, which gives them a great excuse to stop and not keep going. I recommend also bringing a dressage whip about 36"- 40" long. Hold the whip on the side of you opposite of Cricket and every time she stops tell her "Walk on!" in a firm voice, tug the leash with one hand, and reach behind you to tap her hind legs or her bottom with the whip in your other hand. As soon as she starts forward, praise and reward with a raisin. You'll have to do that a lot at first and there will be tons of stops and starts (sometimes very abrupt starts until she gets used to the whip). She'll cry and protest at first and she may not want to go on walks at all for awhile (and you might not either!), but before long she should learn that she's not the captain and she has to follow orders. Once you're far enough away from home you can try letting her off the leash. If she stops or turns back then she's not ready to be off-leash yet.
We had to do this with Scout and Sonic for a few weeks (or maybe a few months – I forget) because we hadn't taken them walking enough as youngsters. Once they were grown and set in their ways they got lazy and stubborn until they learned that walking was just our routine and they had to keep up or be on a leash. At first we had to leash them for the entire walk, but soon we were able to let them off at the far end and they wouldn't run home by themselves. Pretty soon we were able to let them off as soon as we were out of sight of the house, and eventually we were able to unleash them as soon as we got to the bottom of the driveway and they'd come eagerly with us. I think we'll always leash them until the bottom of the driveway because we have to pass the girls' pen and it's always a temptation for them to go over there and visit and see if they have any hay left in their rack. We don't want to actively tempt them to do anything naughty so we'll always leash them until we're to the end of the drive, but I'm content with that. You may always have to settle for something along those lines with Cricket as well.
Good luck!
I'd suggest halter training her and putting her on a lead. It's much easier to lead a goat by a halter than by a collar (my opinion) because you can prevent them from eating along the trail, which gives them a great excuse to stop and not keep going. I recommend also bringing a dressage whip about 36"- 40" long. Hold the whip on the side of you opposite of Cricket and every time she stops tell her "Walk on!" in a firm voice, tug the leash with one hand, and reach behind you to tap her hind legs or her bottom with the whip in your other hand. As soon as she starts forward, praise and reward with a raisin. You'll have to do that a lot at first and there will be tons of stops and starts (sometimes very abrupt starts until she gets used to the whip). She'll cry and protest at first and she may not want to go on walks at all for awhile (and you might not either!), but before long she should learn that she's not the captain and she has to follow orders. Once you're far enough away from home you can try letting her off the leash. If she stops or turns back then she's not ready to be off-leash yet.
We had to do this with Scout and Sonic for a few weeks (or maybe a few months – I forget) because we hadn't taken them walking enough as youngsters. Once they were grown and set in their ways they got lazy and stubborn until they learned that walking was just our routine and they had to keep up or be on a leash. At first we had to leash them for the entire walk, but soon we were able to let them off at the far end and they wouldn't run home by themselves. Pretty soon we were able to let them off as soon as we were out of sight of the house, and eventually we were able to unleash them as soon as we got to the bottom of the driveway and they'd come eagerly with us. I think we'll always leash them until the bottom of the driveway because we have to pass the girls' pen and it's always a temptation for them to go over there and visit and see if they have any hay left in their rack. We don't want to actively tempt them to do anything naughty so we'll always leash them until we're to the end of the drive, but I'm content with that. You may always have to settle for something along those lines with Cricket as well.
Good luck!