Walking

Walking. It seems to be one of the easiest ways to experience the dominance dynamics in your "herd." Maybe this is because movement is one of the things that herds do together. From pasture to water; from water to pasture... I like walking with Kip and the goats. It is so interesting to see their reactions to each other, to me, to mum, to the world. Merry is calm for the most part. He doesn't mind Kip unless she is actively nipping (not literally) at her heels, his hackles are mostly down, he is focused on eating. Pippin eats less, he is always aware (and often unhappy) of Kips position in relation to himself and likes doing that sideways canter thing down hills. Kip does her thing... but has learned that sometimes close to Pippin isn't good... or really, most of the time close to Pippin isn't good.

In relation to the humans the goats are funny -- and annoying. They want to be ahead always and at the same time stop and eat. They will try and run ahead and then stop, blocking your path, to grab some honeysuckle. It drives Mum crazy. Especially when I tell her it is a dominance game. Her strategy today, and it worked excellently, was to take the two empty mugs in which we had had our tea, and, one in each hand, walk along in front swinging her arms fairly energetically. If the goats tried to get by on either side they bumped into the mugs. It was uncomfortable and eventually they decided that it was easier to stay behind. This is a wonderful example of what I would call unemotional consequences. The person swinging the mugs doesn't let their emotions get mixed up in the knocking on the nose and so, instead of being a negative punishment it is just an uncomfortable consequence of an unwise decision. The goats seem to get this.

Another thing Kip does on these walks (apart from run around like a maniac) is learn new tricks. So far she knows how to jump onto things, jump up and then sit for a treat. Today Mum and I started to teach her to jump over things. The difficulty is that she generally, if she can, thinks she should be jumping onto things since that is what we taught her first to I have been using my goat training stick (carrot stick) and stick it out in front of me and ask her to jump it. She did it really well at least twice. In training her it is really interesting to notice the similarities and dissimilarities compared to what I do with the goats. For on thing I us my voice a lot more. She knows her name and to come (at least sometimes) and if she is doing something wrong she gets the "game-show-incorrect-buzzer-sound." Amazingly enough she gets it! I didn't formally teach it as in "hear this sound and something not great happens." I just started using it and she started responding. I would love to know why. One similarity in the way I interact with her is when she is/used to be frightened and when I am trying to catch her. I use the same sort of reverse psychology and low/turned away energy and it seems to work! I guess animals are most united in fear.

Enough of my random/often disconnected musings. I mun to bed. Happy Thanksgiving to all! Enjoy your turkey. We are having Indian food. No, not Native American; I mean Indian curry... wish me luck as a non-spicy eater in a spice loving family... I am comforted solely by the thought of pumpkin pie...
G'night,
M.