Teach Your Goat to Lead

Every animals need to at least learn to walk on a lead. Its much easier to mover individual animals from one paddock to another, if it walks silently not fighting you every step of the way. Its better to put an animal on a trailer or truck when you sell it if youre not pulling and jerking, or worse lifting and carrying it. In case, your animal requires medical attention, your vet would greatly appreciate having a well-trained goat to treat.

Once the goat learns definitely we are not going to torture it again and again. You can put a lead on the goats neck and tie it to a fence or gate. Remember never, ever leave your tied goat unattended; this could lead your goat with broken neck. While tied, you need to brush them, make them familiar to being handled. Further do rub your hands on their backs, up and down legs, and give them a good feel by tickling their bellies. You could also gently rub the neck the shoulders; this has a very cheering effect on the goat.

For smaller goat, you can put two pans of food on the ground about 30 feet apart. Walk up to the goat to the first pan of food. Just allow him to eat for couple of seconds and then take the food away and walk the goat to second pan. Repeat the same trip for few times, after that take a longer route from one pan to another. The advantage of this process is not to force the goat to go among the pans but to get them to want the reward. And through this process they learn how to walk.

When the training is over for the show and after the goat has mastered the art of walking, you can walk several yards then stop the goat and set it up so that it is standing square. Through this you make you goat familiar to have others check their bite or inspect udders. Another technique is to put a long leash or rope on the goat permitting it to run from you with and you following. This is somewhat easier than dragging your goat behind you if you could keep up with the goat. Once the goat get used to you tagging along behind, slowly shorten the lead until the goat walks next to you.

Yet another technique is to use a big trained goat and let it be a trainer to a smaller one to lead by attaching the two together. To us, this is the anyhow a least effective method of training. If you try this technique, dont never leave your goat alone while tethered; they would get into all sorts of problem that may lead to injury or death. Once your goat is broken to lead, it does not forget. Teach them when they are young, and hold them when they are old.