# Goat with Separation Anxiety



## elevan (Oct 16, 2010)

Hi! I just adopted a 2 1/2 year old boer cross (wether) 2 days ago.  At his old home he was the only goat that they had.  He was kept in a pen in the barn and allowed outside when the owner was home.  The owner treated him more like a dog than a goat in many aspects.  The goat followed the owner everywhere.

Now he is with our other goats and he doesn't give a lick about them.  But if a person enters his area he is right by there side.  Leaning on you, wanting to be petted, following you every where you go and so on.  The minute you leave his area he goes a little crazy - yelling and running up and down the fence (leaping over it until we just uped it to 8 feet high).

He doesn't think he's a goat, he thinks he's a dog!  We want him to like people but we also want him to be a goat and be happy.

I know it's only been 2 days...but his entire lifetime has been consumed with only people.  Does anyone have an ideas to help him transition into the herd and be less stressed when the people leave his enclosure?

Thanks!


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## freemotion (Oct 16, 2010)

Give him time, he will bond to his herdmates.  Don't make a fuss when you leave or when you arrive, just be matter-of-fact and go about your business, petting everyone in turn.  Pet him, too, but don't coo or apologize or make him special.  

He'll be fine.  You may cry a bit for ignoring him, but he'll be fine!  I cried more than my goats at weaning time this summer!   I ignored them and they soon bonded to each other and were just fine.  The attachment to humans can't be indulged and it is kinder to break it than to keep it going.  Unless you want him living in your house and sleeping in your bed.   I'm not kidding, I though about it with my Plummy.  Briefly.


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## Emmetts Dairy (Oct 16, 2010)

Time...thats all...time...any change takes time...

I would see him often for a little while and slow it down gradually.  He also needs to get use to his goats friends too...it must be a huge change for him...so just give him time...

Hope he does well...Poor guy...he must be a bit lonley...   He'll adjust...we all do dont we!!


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## warthog (Oct 16, 2010)

Like everyone says, give him time, yes it's hard on you as well, but it needs to be done.

How are the other goats treating him?

Good luck, keep us posted.


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## elevan (Oct 16, 2010)

warthog said:
			
		

> How are the other goats treating him?


The other goats try to engage him and he just ignores them in favor of chasing the people.  The Llama even tries to engage him and gets ignored.

He's kind of hard for the people to ignore (or get out of his enclosure without him knowing) as he is probably the largest goat I have ever seen!  His shoulders are taller than waist high on me and I am 5' 6"!!!  He won't leave your side when you're in taking care of the animals.  He's climbed over all of our inside pens, so we can't secure him in the barn unless we tie him (and I'm not doing that).  When we try to leave the enclosure he squeezes between us and the gate so that we have to push him out of the way and hurry through.  We then go to the house and watch from the door to make sure he doesn't hurt himself trying to get over the fence.

I know time will help and we're treating him like a goat and not a dog like he's been used to.  We aren't giving him any different treatment than the other goats and critters.  I was just hoping for a "magic trick" I guess...lol!  

Thanks!


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## treeclimber233 (Oct 27, 2010)

Insead of struggling with him when you are leaving the pen is there any way you can distract him (maybe with a handful of grain on the ground) while you slip out?  That way maybe he wont be so frantic being pushed back and watching you leave him behind.  (does dog pyscology work on goats??)


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## ChksontheRun (Oct 28, 2010)

It has been 2 more weeks, how are things going now?


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## elevan (Oct 28, 2010)

ChksontheRun said:
			
		

> It has been 2 more weeks, how are things going now?


He is still having separation anxiety issues.  :/  Although he is spending more time with the goats, when we enter the field he runs at us like a bullet.  We've found that if we ignore him for a little while once we enter his area and then pay attention to him last (after the others) then he is more likely to wander off with the other goats or just lie down when we do what we need to do.

The yelling at the fence has eased up some.  Though we did have to raise the fence height to 8 foot where it borders the kids play yard or he would just leap over like a deer.

The biggest problem I am having right now with him is whenever I enter the chicken coop/ run (which borders the goat field) he tries to tear apart the coop/ run to get to me.  I put up privacy fence panels, but he's destroyed them already.  Gonna have to try cattle panels or something on that side.  My poor chickies think they're being attacked! 

I can see him starting to bond with the goats. He's scared of the llama still.  Time and patience, I know.


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## ChksontheRun (Oct 28, 2010)

So try to remember where you were 3 weeks ago.  When we got our goats, they were practically wild, had not been handled for about 9 months at all.  We kept at it and now, 3 months later, they stick around at feeding time for some rubs and attention.  A huge difference from when we got them.  It was hard to see the daily change, but now we look back to where we came from and it hardly seems like we have the same goats.  Hang in there.  He really will be happier in the long run when he can trust other goats!  They sure can be big babies cant they?


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## Ariel301 (Oct 28, 2010)

Could you put some electric wire along where he is destroying the chicken fence?


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## elevan (Oct 28, 2010)

Ariel301 said:
			
		

> Could you put some electric wire along where he is destroying the chicken fence?


I'm not really a fan of electric wire.  I know, I know - it works. But my boys are the type who would keep touching it to see if it's still on.


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