Violet and Lilly get their first walk

Violet and Lilly don't like being in their enclosure, so today was our maiden voyage. Violet and Lilly (my twin black mini Manchas) have learned how to be led (with food naturally), and were coaxed into the back of my Volvo sedan with Black Oiled Sunflower Seeds (BOSS for short- the caviar of goats). I jumped in and drove off to the closest easy access point to college campus (5 min away).

Once there, I opened the back door- they weren't too eager to get out, but BOSS did the trick. Soon I was luring them over to a huge bank of brush and weeds, where they went crazy. I tied up their leashes so that they wouldn't trip on them and prayed that I could catch them when the time came, trusting their natural shyness, and need for my company.

They browsed for some time- tasting all the different plants. When they started to go off a little far, I walked slowly after them. They started to walk away from me and I thought- Oh **** - what have I gotten myself into? I made a clanking sound with the metal bucket holding their treats, and sure enough they came running over.

I re-captured them, and lured them back to the car, and into the car by climbing in the back myself and holding out treats for them. They climbed in and we went home (I way praying that they would be naturally disinclined to eliminate in the car- thankfully they waited until they got home.

I want to thanks the folks from Goat Beat (my caprine consultants) for getting me to this point- one of my last posts was asking how to tame them! The animal crackers did the trick, as did tethering them separately for feeding grain. They are so food driven managing them is much less of a challenge I thought it would be.

It took me one week to go from them not wanting me to touch them to taking them out to the woods for browsing!

My next goal- To take them for a walk with my dogs, meditate for a half hour in the woods while they browse, and make it back home safe. Wish me luck.

Thanks again!