Hi! I am interested in purchasing a Nigerian Dwarf goat. I am doing research on them, of course, and can certainly use some advice.
I live in NYC, I have a house with a nice sized yard. I have 2 dogs and a mini pig. I am wondering if these goats can be indoors, like the pig. I have room outside for the goat, and I will make sure I have a area for him to graze. Just wondering about the indoor part. And housebreaking.
Has anyone had experience with this type of situation? I'd really appreciate some feedback. Thank you!!
Replies
Just an update. I purchased 2 Nigerian Dwarf goats. They will be 4 weeks old when they arrive next Saturday.
So, the adventure begins. We'll be bottle feeding them, of course. It should be interesting to see how the goats fare as primarily indoor animals. As well as with the pig and dogs.
If anyone has advice on the bottle feeding, or kid raising pitfalls, I am all ears.
i dont mind the sleeping on the couch. the goat will have to fight the dogs and pig for space though. =)
the potty training on the tablecloth is encouraging. I am hoping the goat will follow in the footsteps of the pig and dog and get housebroken. That may be naive on my part. i think its funny that the babies were "evicted."
I evicted my bottle fed baby at 3 weeks old when I came home from work and found him asleep on my couch-with his head on the pillow! Climbed out of the box and made himself at home. He did train himself to go potty on a plastic tablecloth that we laid out when he exercised.
I know someone in Chicago who has goats, and so far, it's working, but she keeps them outside -- at least she has since they were 2-3 months old. We've had our share of bottle babies in the house, and they usually get evicted when they start eating our mail and magazines, etc. We did evict one when he was only a week old however after he decided to tap dance on the DVD player, which killed it.
Hmm, that's definitely a good point. I guess I was think ing that if I have them from babies then keeping them off tables and counters should be easy enough. I have no problem with couches, beds. The mouthing of things is also a good point. I guess I also have to accept a certain level of potential damage, even if minor. I mean I don't expect to keep them in the house all day all the time, but at least when I am home for good period of time. I know them need their space to roam / graze, etc.
Yes. I agree with Marin... you'll need to have an area that you can keep them when you aren't home to watch over them. As for the numbers... I personally don't feel like "companion" animals are the same for goats as they can be for other animals. I'd personally get two.
If you're thinking about having an adult goat inside, then, house-training potential aside, you might want to consider a goat's innate desire to jump on objects. This would include counters, tables, beds, anything that will get them higher. And their hooves are sharp so they may damage these objects. Goats also like to taste things. They don't eat everything as old cartoons like to suggest, but they do like to mouth things so if you're not around to watch them they may destroy things like weather-stripping, furniture, or clothing.
you ladies are awesome! And do I defnitely need to get 2 goats, or would one be good with the pig and dogs?
I agree with Janel. If your goats are raised around dogs, they won't have issues. It will depend on your dogs. If they are used to the pig, they'll probably be ok with goats.
It was pretty fun. My kids and daycare kids loved having the goats in the house. Like I said we had their housing finished when they were 3 months old so they weren't too big to make a huge ruckus. My dogs and goats get along great. We have a great dane and a red heeler. My heeler will go and lay by the goats and the goats aren't bothered by her at all. If you get the goats as kids I wouldn't see why you would have issues. The goats would grow up with the dogs. I would just watch your dogs when you first get them. Some dogs may not appreciate the goats. We were lucky that everyone just got along.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next