I bought my goat a ball :)

[Emmetts Dairy]

Thats GREAT...hes sooo beautiful...I love his marking too..and his black lips...soo handsome....Makes me wanna get a ball too!!!! Neat!

 

[DAS]

I hate to rain on anyone's parade -- or bright red ball, but, as much fun as it is to push against his head with the ball, it just might return to bite you. Or butt you. What you're doing is something that, IMO, should never be done with a goat: challenging by pushing the head. Even though you have the ball between you and the goat, as far as he's concerned he's being challenged by you. And when he rears up it may be cute, but you are teaching him that a potentially dangerous behavior is okay. If you push against a goat's head it is likely to push back harder, and he will hurt someone eventually. Add in the horns, and you may have a dangerous goat.

Just my opinion.

DAS

 

[cmjust0]

I hate to rain on anyone's parade -- or bright red ball, but, as much fun as it is to push against his head with the ball, it just might return to bite you. Or butt you. What you're doing is something that, IMO, should never be done with a goat: challenging by pushing the head. Even though you have the ball between you and the goat, as far as he's concerned he's being challenged by you. And when he rears up it may be cute, but you are teaching him that a potentially dangerous behavior is okay. If you push against a goat's head it is likely to push back harder, and he will hurt someone eventually. Add in the horns, and you may have a dangerous goat.

Just my opinion.

DAS

Which is why -- as stated plainly by the OP -- they went from pushing with the hand, to pushing with the ball, to having laid the ball down so the goat could push and play with it all on its own...which it did.

If the goat had associated that play with the OP's hand, it would have ignored the ball and come back at her hand -- but it didn't. Frankly, that tells me that what the OP did was pretty effective.

I say,

 

[peachick]

Hi DAS. Thank you. I understand your opinion totally, and will watch his behavior closely.

Pushing on his head the first time was not intentional, but I was quite interested in his reaction. As a long time dog trainer... I knew this was a behavior I could shape into something I wanted.

 

[warthog]

I think the ball is a great idea, will have to get one and try it.

Maybe we will be hearing about a goatie basketball team soon

He sure is a lovely goat.

 

[TigerLilly]

This is a GREAT idea! All my goats do is graze all day and jump on their picnic table to lay down. My Buckley is very lovable and will sit in my lap, but the other 2 weren't bottle babies, so they aren't as friendly yet. I have yet to see anything remotely related to 'playing' going on with them.
I'm learning so much on here. I'll be getting a large ball & see what happens!

 

[peachick]

I wanted to update you guys on the ball playing....
It has been a almost 2 weeks since I introduced the ball to my lil buckling and ...
He still LOVES his ball!
I only bring it out every few days. But when he sees me with it, he comes RUNNING over to see me.
I hold it on the ground and he pushes and pushes on it with his head. If I pick it up and hold it, he still pushes on it. And if I push him with the ball, he rears up and rams the ball.
its a riot to watch. But I dont really push on him much at all...
SO FAR he has never tried to direct this at me, hubby, or my son when we play with him..... His focus is only on the ball.

At the end of the game I lay the ball on the ground for him to push around. This all lasts 5-10 minutes at most. Then I put the ball away, and he does not try to continue. And hes not tried anything when Im out there without the ball either.

Of course if anything changes as he matures (he is 6 months old now), the ball will disappear forever, but I wanted you guys to know that he totally respects me as the boss, and I dont see any sign of this changing anytime soon.

I have also been clicker training him to jump on some logs for me... his treat this week has been Fruitloops. He LOVES them!

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

Kat - You would clicker train yoru goat. How is his sheep friend doing?

 

[peachick]

heh heh. yea, I doubt I'll be doing any competitive agility or Freestyle dancing with him... but he is fun to train

The lamb is doing great... although I think shed appreciate a sheep friend to hang with instead of this thing with horns

 

[Pioneer Chicken]

Wow, that is really neat! Does he learn fast when you are clicker training him? He is a handsome goat!