# Aggressive alpha doe...



## dianneS (Mar 11, 2010)

Is there anything that can be done to calm down an aggressive doe?

She was so timid when she first got here and now she has just taken over!  She has pushed Sandy out of the herd queen position and has nearly ex-communicated Sandy from the herd!  I see poor Sandy by herself, separate from the rest a lot.

This doe beats up on my LGD all the time and she's pushy with my other does too, for no reason either, its not always when they're in competition for food, they can just be standing around.

She slammed Patsy into the gate more than once and I was on the other side, the gate got slammed into me, HARD!  It wasn't cute at all.  She doesn't pick on the babies, that is one thing, but all of the full grown goats and the dog, she seriously pushes around.  She's got horns too.

Its not terrible.  It seems like they all get a long most of the time, no one has been injured or is in serious jeopardy yet.  I just don't want her to get worse.  Is there anything I can do?


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## freemotion (Mar 11, 2010)

They have to work it out.  They will.  I would be more concerned about any lack of respect she shows you....is she respecting your alpha-ness?


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## ksalvagno (Mar 11, 2010)

You may want to consider banding her horns so she loses them. I brought in a dairy goat that has horns and she knows she has them and can use them. Luckily she doesn't use them towards me but she does on the other goats. Maybe if she doesn't have her horns, it will cool her jets a little. No guarantees with that but maybe worth a try. I'm hoping it will help with my goat. If nothing else, she can't use those horns and hurt someone.


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## dianneS (Mar 11, 2010)

She respects me, I haven't had any problem with that.  Its just funny because she used to be scared to death of me and wouldn't even let me touch her.  Now I can grab her by the horns and move her around if I have to, and she lets me.  I can still chase her away from the other goats too, if i need too.  I will consider getting rid of those horns if she gets any worse.


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## Ariel301 (Mar 11, 2010)

If her horns are very big, banding isn't going to be a good way to get rid of them. If large horns fall off, they will leave a big messy opening into the goat's sinuses that can easily become infected...removing larger horns is a job for a vet and even then is a dangerous, messy procedure. 

I find that my goats are always slamming each other around, but never really do any damage. I have horned and disbudded goats both, and the only one who ever gets hurt is actually the one doing most of the pushing...my old doe Gracee head butts everyone and ends up with cuts/scrapes on her poor disbudded little forehead from it.


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## dianneS (Mar 11, 2010)

Ariel301 said:
			
		

> If her horns are very big, banding isn't going to be a good way to get rid of them. If large horns fall off, they will leave a big messy opening into the goat's sinuses that can easily become infected...removing larger horns is a job for a vet and even then is a dangerous, messy procedure.


Ewww... that's what I thought.  She does have big horns too.  I won't be removing them then.   

I think they'll work it out.  I just need to keep her in check when I'm around.  I've started feeding her alone at her own feed tub, so that she's not pushing everyone around during feeding.  That seems to help.  Before, it seemed as though she would run from feed tub to feed tub, just pushing everyone away from their food and eating a little, then on to the next, just because she could.  She's not doing that so much now that she has her own tub and she's facing the wall!


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## Lil-patch-of-heaven (Apr 3, 2010)

So glad to read this. I was afraid to sleep since I just put two does who knew each other already up for the night (I've owned the first for less than a week and got the second today) ...  If this is so mormal I guess I don't have to keep checking on them. 

Thanks!!!


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## dianneS (Apr 5, 2010)

My doe has really calmed down.  She's not nearly as bossy as she used to be.  She has a big livestock guardian dog to play with though, and she loves that !  She used to go at him aggressively, but now its more like play.  He's the only thing in the pasture with her that is close to the same size, all the other goats are much smaller than her, so I'm glad she plays with the dog!


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