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  • Payton Larson August 21, 2012 at 9:55am

    I walk my goats down my road when I have the time. I use there collars and a dog leash.  I walk my doe and my brother walks my wether. My dog comes with us too. The goats LOVE trying to run with her. The dog likes it too.

  • Carissa Gillis August 20, 2012 at 10:12pm

    you could probably use vinegar in a spray bottle for dogs, though it might be good to have pepper spray just in case a dog really had its heart set on getting to your goats, but most dogs can't stand straight white vinegar!

    Nicole said:

    I know this is an old thread, but I was wondering does anyone that walk their goats have issues with unleashed dogs attacking them? I would love to walk them but worry about that happening. Can u pepper spray a dog legally? I love dogs too so don't want to harm them if I can help it. 
    We don't have goats yet but are planning ahead. I had them as a child and it was great!! :)

    Adrienne said:
    I thought walking the goats would be nice. the road is cement and could wear down the hoofs a bit, there is also a nice long trail near our house. I tried it a few times but haven't done it in a while.Couplers are nice, fewer leads means you can walk more of the herd at once, I don't know about other goats but mine like to stay pretty much right together all the time so this works.
  • Adrienne September 15, 2011 at 11:31am
    I thought walking the goats would be nice. the road is cement and could wear down the hoofs a bit, there is also a nice long trail near our house. I tried it a few times but haven't done it in a while.Couplers are nice, fewer leads means you can walk more of the herd at once, I don't know about other goats but mine like to stay pretty much right together all the time so this works.
    • Nicole > Adrienne May 26, 2012 at 7:45pm
      I know this is an old thread, but I was wondering does anyone that walk their goats have issues with unleashed dogs attacking them? I would love to walk them but worry about that happening. Can u pepper spray a dog legally? I love dogs too so don't want to harm them if I can help it. 
      We don't have goats yet but are planning ahead. I had them as a child and it was great!! :)

      Adrienne said:
      I thought walking the goats would be nice. the road is cement and could wear down the hoofs a bit, there is also a nice long trail near our house. I tried it a few times but haven't done it in a while.Couplers are nice, fewer leads means you can walk more of the herd at once, I don't know about other goats but mine like to stay pretty much right together all the time so this works.
  • Sharonkay September 12, 2011 at 2:16pm
    Would love to start walking a lot and would like to walk with two goats. Anyone do this? I do have a Y leash that connects two leashes.
  • Elyse Nicholson September 9, 2011 at 11:54am

    Dealing with working goats in the past years, I've had similar issues with training to walk on lead. The thing that I've found best in training a goat to do anything (including such tricks as walk without a leash!) is to find the thing that motivates them. For some, it is personal attention, others enjoy food, etc. Whatever your little goat's "niche" is, find it and use that.

    Start with simple training and a lot of patience. When I first got Beauty, she was not up for walking on lead much. I worked with her for months on this in order to show her. I'd gently pull on her collar and push her body forward with my movement. We'd stop, I'd pet her (the thing she LOVES) and we'd move on. We only worked 1-2 minutes at a time, but she really got the hang of it after consistantly doing if for a few weeks. Also having a friend along helped her as she would follow.

    Patience is the key to getting a goat to do anything. Or at least that's what I've found. That and consistancy. Goats are creatures of habit and if something is done enough times, they seem to latch onto it as the "norm" for goats.

    As for what to use, a simple dog collar and leash are all you really need to walk a goat. As Deborah noted, you'd only want a harness if you wanted the  goat to pull something because the harness goes on strongest part of the goat and they will really use it against you if you aren't ready for it (voice of experinece) or want them to.

    Hope that helps!

    -WG4

  • Deborah Niemann-Boehle September 9, 2011 at 11:35am

    When goats are shown, they wear a collar, and the handler leads them around by the collar. Some people will put a short leash on kids because you can get quite the backache trying to lead a tiny kid holding the collar. A collar and leash works fine though.

    Big goats like boers are usually haltered because that gives you more control. I don't know if it would be helpful for a goat that simply does not like to lead though. Some just never like it. I have one who is my poster child for "bottle babies are not perfect" that will drop to her chest as soon as you try to lead her. She's seven now and never really got better about it. We can get her from point A to point B, but it's not easy or elegant.

    You would not use a harness unless you wanted the goat to pull something. A harness gives them more power.

  • Gullringstorpgoatgal September 9, 2011 at 3:00am

    Hej from Sweden,

    I have a 2 yr old who came to me as an 8 mo old and was already leash trained. I have walked all over our property with a leash attached to her collar. She is our lead goat out to the enclosure. She loves it. We have just had 3 does give birth in August and I would like to have a couple leash trained. I have taken one little doeling who is really attached to me on a leash around the garden. right now she is leading me but that's ok, I just want her to become used to having the leash attached to her. I want to start our little buckling on the leash also. We have a wether who takes the leash and leads the boys out to their enclosure. We also have an adult Nigerian Dwarf rent -s-buck who is quite sturdy and powerful and is lead by a rope attached to his collar. He is my inspiration for my bucks who are still small, but will some day be big and strong and I would like to be able to have some control over them.

    We have not used a harness or halter but we did have an issue when we had our three mature does in the stable with their new borns and we needed to take out the younger does. We tried one on a leash to bring them back in and she just laid down after a struggle. She was in heat and didn't want to leave the enclosure because she could see the bucks.  This was the first time we realized how strong she was and we could not budge her. I wished at that moment we had a harness or halter on her. I didn't like pulling on her collar. My husband finally got behind her and pushed,

    I too would like to know about the benefits of both the harness and halter.

    KSweden

  • Janel Rickey September 8, 2011 at 11:13pm

    I've wondered the same thing.  I have one doe that will walk with me if I grab her collar, but everyone else acts like crazy goats if I touch their collars.  My buckling is the WORST!! Would love to hear how to tame them on the leash...

     

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