The Steps of Goat Aggression

[Erikthviking]

Don't give up hope! We borrowed a buck in October who was already starting Step 9 and he came round pretty quickly with some consistent, no-nonsense handling and a pretty rough "boot camp" session with my 4 bigger, older goats. If you can give some background on your goat, his handling, and why you think he might have become so rude I might be able to give you some suggestions on how to improve his attitude. This is a very old article and I have personally gotten away from the technique of flipping and pinning them down on the ground. Not only is it difficult and even dangerous to do, but it just plain doesn't work on a lot of goats. Give me some more information and I might be able to give you some pointers. It's a rare goat that is completely hopeless.

The problem was certainly me. Not being consistent, letting him escalate without answering it. General lazy human stuff. He responds really well to a spray bottle, and today with just a little training he responded to voice commands. He wants to be a good boy, he is just in rut, and doesn't have a good leader yet. I will get there. Also, the flipping techniques I have seen were all on very calm goats. I think trying that on mine when he needs it would only serve to get me very injured. I think I am going to avoid trying that.