Halters or collars or rope halter/lead

[princess1952]

I am getting 2 2 month old Nigerian Dwarfs and 2 8 week old Pygmies. I want to teach them how to walk on a lead. Where would I purchase a rope halter/lead.
I will be keeping them in a room in my house in a 4 by 4 pen until they get bigger at night. During the day they will be outside. I'd love to potty train them if I could. So I need to know where to purchase a rope halter/lead, and any input on potty training would be helpful. I do have Poodles also that they will be in a fenced in area with and hoefully will be playmates. I plan on introducing them one by one slowly till they get use to each other. They are still being bottle feed 5 times a day. This is new to me and any info will be helpful.
Thank you in advance.

 

[patandchickens]

Most major online livestock supply houses carry goat/sheep halters, e.g. jeffers, valley vet, premier, etc. Sometimes your local farm store or tsc will have them too. Or you could make one (might be necessary for very small heads i.e. your babies). Google for directions.

Dunno about this "baby goats live with dogs" plan. Even if you are there watching them, it only takes an instant for something Very Bad to happen. Even if everything has been okay for a long time before that.

Good luck, have fun, be careful,

Pat

 

[freemotion]

Yup, I'm with Pat. I have poodles and goats and I love them all and they don't mix well. My dogs are well-trained around the animals, but I know that if I weren't there, instinct would eventually take over. Poodles are great hunters, at least mine are. Once they taste a kill they want more, more, more! Which is great when it comes to vermin, but to a dog, food is food.

And goats natural enemies are carnivores of all types. So they also can do some serious damage to a dog. Before I had my goats, my neighbor's goats got out and came over when I was out with one of my poodles. He got a fast and furious and HARD bonk from one of the pygmies...it bowled him over and he yelped. I had to rescue him. (I now own this same pygmy! A single coyote would not be able to stand up to this gal!) My herd queen (dairy gal with horns) would certainly kill either of my dogs if given the opportunity. It is their instinct to protect their own.

It is not the same with a livestock guardian dog that is bred and raised from day one to protect certain animals. Even they turn on their charges on occasion.

Yup, avoid tragedy and get that romantic notion out of your head. I understand the sentiment, but we are dealing with animals here....I don't want you to experience avoidable pain and distress and vet bills.

As for leading, you can also use a wide dog collar. If your goats have horns, don't leave the collars on as they can hook them accidentally and injure each other. There are several threads on teaching goats and sheep to lead on this forum. I am working with my two doelings right now, having neglected so much outdoor stuff with the ridiculous heatwave we've had.

I start by just introducing the collar during feeding time, and making it a time of happiness and scratching and snuggling. Then take it off and more scratching and snuggling and happy noises. I do this for a few times until they look forward to it.

Then add the leadrope and do the same. The first leadrope lesson is to step one step sideways in each direction with a little tug. Use your arm to block any leaping about so they don't injure their necks or get scared.

Each lesson should last only a couple of minutes, maybe five at most. It is better to do it several times a day than one looooong lesson. These are babies, remember.

Then use the feedpan and teach them to take a few steps forward with the word, "walk!" and to "stop!" Increase this each day as they become comfortable and calm with that.

Ultimately you want to start moving the lesson area to different locations. Each time you change location, revert to an easier lesson until it is comfortable in that location.

Soon you will be leading them calmly all over the place!

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

Most major online livestock supply houses carry goat/sheep halters, e.g. jeffers, valley vet, premier, etc. Sometimes your local farm store or tsc will have them too. Or you could make one (might be necessary for very small heads i.e. your babies). Google for directions.

Dunno about this "baby goats live with dogs" plan. Even if you are there watching them, it only takes an instant for something Very Bad to happen. Even if everything has been okay for a long time before that.

Good luck, have fun, be careful,

Pat

I agree with Pat..I dunno??? Id be weary myself!

Ive heard of issues even when people have had dogs that are familar with livestock and have been all their lives!! I just saw a post today...dog just bit a heifer... I would be very careful. I love dogs!! But I would have a concern. But I guess anything can comingle??? I dunno??

And as for pottie training a goat??? AHHHH Good luck..never heard of such a thing...maybe peeing...but those berries?? I dont think they even know there coming sometimes!!!

But keep us posted...I would love to hear if you have success pottie training them...I think that would be great!!!

 

[warthog]

Dogs and goats a big no no. I have three dogs that live happily with my chickens and cats, they even cuddle up with the cats. But with the goats no.

I once let my 4 out into the yard, strictly supervised, to see what would happen, the dogs didn't show any interest, good I thought. Then Pepper my herd queen walked straight up to my Rottweiler/Shepherd X, all 120lbs of him and head butted him. Because he is well trained one command and he stayed where he was. But can you imagine the outcome if I had not been there, don't even want to think about it.

Potty training , I don't believe anything to be impossible, but this could be the first. If you decide to try it, let us all know how you get on, this should be interesting to everyone.

 

[princess1952]

What size diapers??? Pampers/Huggies like that???? Or the adult size?
Won't they try to chew them off? I alreday have collars on the Ngerians but ot the Pygmies. They are going to be a trip because they have had hardly any hands on.

 

[mully]

What size diapers??? Pampers/Huggies like that???? Or the adult size?
Won't they try to chew them off? .

Diapers will not work on a goat... they will chomp them off and eat the stuffing

 

[savingdogs]

Princess, it sounds like you are concerned that the young goats would need to be kept warm at night and that is why you brought up potty training. I raised both chicks and ducklings in my house but would not have wanted goats inside!

I don't think goats have the ability to "hold it" and will soil their own den/house/stable without even seeming to notice. That is why people are putting the emoticons laughing on their sides, they have such utter disregard for poo/urine that the notion is comical, I'm letting you in on their joke. They will poo right in their own water and then refuse to drink it, it is like they are unaware poo is coming from their own butt. When they go seems to have more to do with timing, such as just after they get up from resting, they will usually pee and they seem to be like little pezz factories, with nany berries following whereever they go, all the time. Food goes in, berries come out!

However, the good news is they will be plenty warm outside if you give them a shelter and they will have each other to snuggle with.

With time and training your poodles might be okay with your goats when they are all supervised, but give that a lot of time, like a month or a year, to develop that kind of relationship, if it will develop. We owned six dogs when we got goats. Dog number One was great with them immediately, but she is the correct breed. Dog number Two was fine with them after about a month, and two others are okay after about a year. The final two, will never be trustworthy. One responded to training but I could not trust her alone with them ever, and the other did not respond to training and we need to watch that one like a hawk (and she is half blue heeler and we thought she would be good). We found that having a fence between the goats and dogs was excellent because after awhile the goats were kinda boring and that is when we did the introductions with the ones that seemed so inclined. We could recognize which ones were anxious to get at the goats and hurt them and which thought they were boring. My goats have no horns but still try to head-butt the dogs, which kind of confuses the dogs. Just remember that dogs are naturally predators and goats naturally prey, so to be friends they have to go against their own instincts just a little bit. Dogs and goats are also all very individual so you could have great success with your poodles and them, but just don't count on it! Use lots of time and lots of supervision and be skeptical that they will really be friends, especially when your back is turned.

 

[patandchickens]

I have not owned goats (tho I have been around them, and they seem pretty much the same as the following) but I have sheeps and I can tell you that they poop every time a brain cell fires for any purpose, and anytime anything even vaguely interesting happens, it requires them to pee.

It is kind of amazing that they can take in enough food and water to *account for* all those millions of pees and poos, in fact

One thing is for sure, if you ever wanted to try to potty train one (although since I have never heard of a truly housebroken goat, I would say lotsa luck on that one) you would certainly have frequent *opportunities*

As far as supervised dog+goat interactions, remember that a lot of bad things can happen while you are watching yet before you can intervene to prevent damage.

JME,

Pat

 

[princess1952]

One reason why they are going to be staying the house for about a month because my firend where they are going can't get here for a month, when he is off of work. Also since they have to be bottle fed it is easier to give them a bottle in the house than outside. I also livein the country BUT city limits and I have a nosey neighbor. I plan on putting their pen for outside play on my other side of the house where he can't see. My neighborhood isn't the best since we were annexed and I don't want anyone to steal them either. So inside is the best. I realize I will have to clean up but I am use to rainsing English Bulldogs, Poodles and Valley Bulldogs in the house and we clean all day long so what is the difference, berries are small than dog poop.
I have a room where there is a 4by4 pen to sleep at night. That is my doggie room for pregnant, nursing or breeding dogs, so now it will contain a few goats for 4 weeks. I think i wi;l handle it ok. I might not have any hair left by 4 weeks but then it is worth a try. If it doesn't work out, I will take the 6 hour drive my self one day and take them to him.