isn't all training of animals a two way street?
Yes, "back in the day" the consensus was that an animal had to obey without questions, no matter what was asked and if not, it often would have been beaten/worked into submission.
Thankfully today we understand more about how learning works and also thankfully goats aren't the type of animals that takes that kind of treatment lying down. First thing almost every older person I meet with the packgoats tells me is how he/she remembers this or that buck or goat that would butt people whenever it got a chance to. I wonder how often this was a result of abuse.....
When you train today you can't not be affected by the animal you train if/when you pay attention to behaviourial clues.
I switched over to goats from horses as well and the first year had a steep learning curve. I always tell people that you have to have tons of humor when working with goats because without they will drive you crazy. They also understand much more complex things than horses and if they trust a human they will accept almost anything from the start.
In regard to water training... John Mionczynski wrote that it's easy to train the kids when they are younger than 3 or 4 months because apparently the fear for water sets in later and if they learn that water isn't killing them as youngsters they will cross without fussing.
Yes, "back in the day" the consensus was that an animal had to obey without questions, no matter what was asked and if not, it often would have been beaten/worked into submission.
Thankfully today we understand more about how learning works and also thankfully goats aren't the type of animals that takes that kind of treatment lying down. First thing almost every older person I meet with the packgoats tells me is how he/she remembers this or that buck or goat that would butt people whenever it got a chance to. I wonder how often this was a result of abuse.....
When you train today you can't not be affected by the animal you train if/when you pay attention to behaviourial clues.
I switched over to goats from horses as well and the first year had a steep learning curve. I always tell people that you have to have tons of humor when working with goats because without they will drive you crazy. They also understand much more complex things than horses and if they trust a human they will accept almost anything from the start.
In regard to water training... John Mionczynski wrote that it's easy to train the kids when they are younger than 3 or 4 months because apparently the fear for water sets in later and if they learn that water isn't killing them as youngsters they will cross without fussing.
