My Goat Hurt My Friend's Goat

[Nanno]

Hope you have fun on your hike!

For "Repent" try tugging downward on the bottom of his collar under his neck and hold a treat below his nose and see that sparks his memory. If he remembers at all he should go right down on his knees.

[Colorado Shawn]

Yeah we tried that, I'm not pushing him very hard on that one. Either he does not remember or it is too vulnerable of a pose and he is not that comfortable with me yet. Since I have been working with him every night for a few weeks he has warmed up to me greatly, but he is still very stand offish. The training has had great effects on my herd as a whole! (All three of them)
The younger two have learned shake, spin and kneel and they all love to jump on to things I tell them to.

I only train one at a time but the others can watch as we work around the pen and I know they learn by watching. Also they are more congealed as buds now, even all sleeping together close under the stars in the warm weather tonight. I have no idea how far we will go with training but the sky's the limit for now.

P.S. I wonder if it is age that makes him stand offish? I wish he could be a snuggly lover like my other two. This is my first experience with goats, but I have had dogs that act differently. (Our heeler is all business all the time and will never act like a playful labrador) I get that every goat is different. I thope he just needs more trail time and sleeping in the wilderness a few times with me will help him along.

[Nanno]

I hope he comes round for you too. He was never stand-offish when he lived with us. He was a snuggly lover like the other two you describe. "Snickers" was almost exactly like his daddy, Pac-Man, who we affectionately referred to as "The Sponge" because he was so loving. I don't think it's an age thing. I kind of wonder if his previous owner didn't rough-house with him sometimes. The guy wanted to treat the goats like dogs and tussle with them, slap them on the back, shake their horns a bit, and stuff like that. I don't think he meant to be rough, but goats aren't dogs. I told him so several times but I'm not sure it really sank in. That kind of thing can certainly take its toll after a while and make a goat very mistrustful of people. I'm pretty sure changing owners and herds can also throw them for a loop. It's not so hard on them as youngsters, but as they get older I'm sure it could be pretty jarring. I'm glad he's starting to warm up to you. He used to love having his back scratched, but he didn't any more when we saw him last. I hope he can learn to enjoy it again.

[Colorado Shawn]

I think he will, I'm gonna give it my best.
Probably a little "hippy dippy", but I feel like I will learn as much from him, as he will me. (If you can't be hippy dippy on a goat website, then I don't know where you can)

[Colorado Shawn]

   

[Colorado Shawn]

Here is the big boy with tennis balls on his horns so he can't hurt anyone.
We had a great trip. He is getting used to wearing his pack. (He only carried it for one hike with a few pounds of stuff in it.)

We put quite a few miles on and he did marvelously. I know nubians have a reputation for being lazy but his alpine side must have kept him trucking.
All the goats got along but I'm glad he was wearing his safety gear. He got a little grouchy with the younger boys towards the end of day one and got one of them pretty good, the tennis balls worked.

[Nanno]

I'm glad the tennis balls are working well. The big boys sure can get cranky with those rambunctious youngsters by the end of a long day together.

I've not seen laziness in the Alpine/Nubian crosses, which is why I feel comfortable breeding them. Snickers never had a lazy bone in his body while he was here and he absolutely loved going out on trails for as long as we wanted to hike. He was always the first to jump in the truck too--very eager to get out and get going. The only thing I really don't like about Nubian crosses is that half the time they end up with loud, obnoxious Nubian voices (the others have normal Alpine voices). They aren't necessarily more vocal than pure Alpines, but if they are cursed with a Nubian voice you're going to hear it a lot more because they have so much more volume. The Nubian scream can really set your teeth on edge.

[Colorado Shawn]

Well so far he is the quietest of my three, he only calls to me when I get home from work and it is a quiet, barely audible and super low frequency "mbaaa". So i guess I lucked out.