Tigress

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Tigress is the mother of Sammy and Dottie. She has been the least trusting goat in the herd. Definitely has a flight instinct. The day we went to pick her up from the previous owner, she was the one the owner could not catch. I am pretty sure she never got much of a chance to pet her. One of the most important things to do if you want to have friendly goats, is to handle them as much as possible when they are young. Fortunately, later generations of the “Sammy Clan” wont have this problem.

Tigress had her, third that we know about kidding the last day of January, 2018. She had 2 girls and a boy. Dolly, Rodeo and Bert. All of whom are puzzled by mama’s skittishness. We have been taking the long approach with Tigress. She now takes treats and you can rub her nose while she is eating her O’s. She is always looking out as we have always tricked her into going in a stall so that we can catch her to trim her hooves. This has not helped the skittishness. So we have decided to slowly earn her trust, and will only trick her if there is a dire need to catch her.

So we started to only touch her when she feels comfortable enough to let us. We are starting to see signs of trust. I am able to pet her in the morning before sun-up, as long as she is not alone. She definitely feels more comfortable in a group. Just don’t try to crowd her, and make sure she has an escape direction, this will make her feel safe, as escape is her first choice when nervous.