Snail paced goat..

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

Anyone experience a goat that will walk through anything to follow but just really slow.





Yukon is 7 months old, I take him and 2 other same aged wethers out. Currently I'm just strolling through the neighborhood with them so they have to be on leads. I use halters for leading as well. I've been able to take them to a near by conservation area with trails but due to the amount of off leash dogs I opted to keep them on leads.

When I take him to the back pasture (2.5 acres) of nothing but forest, open grassland, and brambles he follows like the rest of them with out resistance. 



Anyway he will walk but there is always tension in the lead, I tried tieing him to his brother hucks collar and that worked when we were in some trails, there was consistent slack. But not in the neighbor hood, I don't tie him to Huck unless he has a pep in his step because Huck is doing so well I don't want his neck having constant drag. 



I have a quick pace myself and have tried to take it down a notch this hasn't been motivating to him either. And Huck and Pluto seem to keep up just fine. I've checked his hooves, manipulated his legs to see if there is any pain response. He is bright, and alert, eating and drinking normally. 

I just kinda need him to move a little faster than barely 1mph...

Its not 100% of the time, but maybe 60%.



Suggestions, thoughts? 

[Nanno]

You're right not to tie Yukon to Huck's collar. Huck isn't strong enough to pull along a reluctant goat right now and you don't want to discourage him because then you'll have two slow goats. Do you carry treats? Often when we train babies to lead I'll "bump" the leash when they start to drag, and as soon as they come forward in response to the pressure I give them a treat. You'll need to train Yukon one-on-one so the other goats don't distract him from the lesson or try to take his treat.

Is Yukon mellower or lower on the pecking order than your other two? Even if the other goats aren't mean to him, being lower than the others means he may not like having to walk close to them when he's on a leash. When he's loose, not only can he walk a little further from the others while still keeping up, but he also knows he can jump away if one of them were to give him the hairy eyeball. Lower goats don't walk ahead of more dominant ones, so trying to keep Yukon up with you would make him feel out of place if he's not the leader. You might try using a longer leash on him and see how that goes.

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

You're right not to tie Yukon to Huck's collar. Huck isn't strong enough to pull along a reluctant goat right now and you don't want to discourage him because then you'll have two slow goats. Do you carry treats? Often when we train babies to lead I'll "bump" the leash when they start to drag, and as soon as they come forward in response to the pressure I give them a treat. You'll need to train Yukon one-on-one so the other goats don't distract him from the lesson or try to take his treat.

Is Yukon mellower or lower on the pecking order than your other two? Even if the other goats aren't mean to him, being lower than the others means he may not like having to walk close to them when he's on a leash. When he's loose, not only can he walk a little further from the others while still keeping up, but he also knows he can jump away if one of them were to give him the hairy eyeball. Lower goats don't walk ahead of more dominant ones, so trying to keep Yukon up with you would make him feel out of place if he's not the leader. You might try using a longer leash on him and see how that goes.

He has been the goat that wants to work and be with me. Yukon has always been at the top of the pecking order, recently Pluto has challenged him and they are working it out. But this happens with or with out other goats, when it's just me and him, or any combo of goats and people. This is new behavior that has been going on for about 2 weeks, but we've been strolling the neighborhood for 3 months. My dog following behind (minding his own business) is the only thing that gave slack in Yukon's lead this week. I'll give him a bump and he'll speed up get his reward and slow down again. Should I just be doing this from now on until I see improvement?

Our walks aren't strenuous, a max of 4 miles typically 2 miles, with 1 or 2 hills. I never push them to go my natural pace but 2mph seems fair on flat ground. 

It's very frustrating. I keep checking all his vitals, limbs, hooves, anything that might explain whats making him just not want to but he seems ok. This all being said he will walk with me on a lead, there is just constant pressure but he's not being dragged. Kinda hard to explain. 

Thank you by the way. Any ideas are appreciated.

[Nanno]

HA! So much for my "bottom of the pecking order" theory then!

I think if you can find a place where you can walk with them off-leash you'll have better luck. Then you can go at your normal pace and they'll get used to how fast you go. Then when you do have to leash them, they'll already be used to the pace. I'm guessing he's physically fine, but some goats are definitely prone to be dawdlers. The earlier they learn to keep up with you, the less likely you are to have trouble later on. Best of luck!

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

Had the opportunity to go goating today. We took Huck and Yukon out to some old logging roads that lead to a waterfall, hoping to try some off-leash work. They had pep to there step right from the start, probably because they were nervous. Once we got in a mile, I unclipped their leads and Yukon kept up just fine. No more slow poke goat... We did between 5-6 miles round trip, full of raging creek crossings above knee height, and slippery log walking. Huck found out what happens when you walk into a deep mud puddle.

And we encountered my biggest fear. A 100# off leash dog that won't listen to it's owner. Luckily Huck and Yukon froze instead of bolting. And also the dog was more interested in a curious manner than aggressive. Either way Nick was ready with the pepper spray. Off leash dogs and off leash goats really freak me out.

[Nanno]

Glad your outing went well! As your goats bond to you, they should start running to you when they are scared. This makes it much easier to deal with loose dogs. I'm glad this dog was merely curious and not aggressive.

[IdahoNancy]

My Hobbs was nearly 2 years old when I got him and he was my 1st goat. He was my alpha for his 10 years of life. He could out walk, run, and jump my other 2 goats. He was tall, slim, agile, fast and seemed much smarter. But he would drag when on a lead during exercise walks in my neighborhood. I purchased a pinch collar like the one I had to keep my dog from pulling. If he started dragging I switched the lead from his halter to the pinch collar. The dragging stopped immediately and the lead remained slack. He was cooperative but a strong willed goat, not like my other mama's boys. He wore this pinch collar on every walk in the neighborhood his whole life. He never pulled when I had him on a pack string with his herd mates or if I had to lead him when we on a hike.
Depending on how your training goes this option may work for a stronger willed goat.

[Charlie Horse]

Halters work very well also. Bacchus was always a great goat but for some reason pitches a fit when I saddle him up. I don't like horns flying around my face when I'm trying to buckle a saddle, and the halter solves that problem rather nicely. I notice that while on a walk the halter also keeps him from yanking me off to the side to grab a bite of grass or something, like the other goats do with their collars. Victoria used to pull so hard on the lead that she once nearly blacked out choking herself. Thats the opposite of lagging and its almost more annoying.

I once tried owning a llllama. I found a smallish female with good breeding for 50 bucks. She never spit and seemed to have a decent personality. She was black with white feet and nose and I named her Isllama. She was a snail paced animal and I had to wrap a horse lead around my waist and drag her along the road. I decided that I'd rather just have a well balanced wheelbarrow than a pack llllama. Its so fun to add extra "L"s to the word that I'm going to throw in some extras for my own fun. I gave that llllama away for free and decided to stick with goats and yaks.

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

That's a great suggestion, I'll have to try my dogs prong collar out on him. For where I live taking him places that he can be off leash is impractical, but he needs exercise.

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

Halters work very well also.  Bacchus was always a great goat but for some reason pitches a fit when I saddle him up.  I don't like horns flying around my face when I'm trying to buckle a saddle, and the halter solves that problem rather nicely.  I notice that while on a walk the halter also keeps him from yanking me off to the side to grab a bite of grass or something, like the other goats do with their collars.  Victoria used to pull so hard on the lead that she once nearly blacked out choking herself.  Thats the opposite of lagging and its almost more annoying.  

I always have collars and halters on my boys when we are out. Yukon drags more when I clip to his halter than collar. But I truly hate it when they pull forward and choke them selves to get ahead of me. My does are really bad at that because I don't work with them nearly as much.