# Too Old to Train?



## bentmettle (Jul 29, 2009)

My 2 goats are coming up on 4 years old this spring.

They still don't seem to know or care that they have names. They walk on leads mostly ok.

With proper treat motivation, will they learn they have names? They're always far more interesting in whatever they're eating than coming to me. Do I chalk this up to a long winter and being tired of eating hay?


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

No animal is too old to learn! But it may take a bit longer than if they were young. My goat, Cuzco, learned all of his tricks (shake hands, spin, repent) after he was five years old. He also knew the command for "come" but always had extremely selective hearing about it until just the last few months when we changed from bringing salted peanuts to gingersnaps on walks. Suddenly, at 11 years old, this goat now comes every time we call. It's been a hard-won battle! But if my old goat can learn new tricks, yours certainly can. If you want them to learn their names, start working with them individually. Maybe teach them a few simple tricks like "shake hands" and "spin". As they learn to listen to you, they'll soon learn their names. My goats all know their names, but when I call one, the rest usually come too. However, I try to only give a treat to the one I called (although it's very hard to resist their eager begging faces!).


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## bentmettle (Jul 29, 2009)

Cool, thanks for the encouragement. Mine are very rarely if ever apart. It does make it difficult- I swear for a time that they were starting to learn each other's names.


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