# Anatolian pup, Is he ready?



## jolly rabbit (Apr 30, 2012)

hello All, been a while since I have been on, my wife and I made it to oregon and have moved onto a small place. we got our anatolian at 8 weeks of age and we picked up a nigerian dwarf goat by the time he was 16 weeks of age. they have been in close contact through back-to-back kennels for a few months now and have supervised visits daily for 45-90 mins . fast forward to 7 months of age, do y'all think it would be unwise to have them in a large pen together 24/7 at this point. I don't expect him to guard the goat at such a young age, and we do not have predators at this particular piece of property( moving to a larger home in about a year or so). so the short side of it is, do you think it unwise to have them together. he doesn't seem to hassle the goat much, he is a little playful sometimes when they are first put together but for the most part rather calm. is 7 months to early? experiences?:help: ps. we are thinking of getting a female NDG in january how do you guys typically introduce new goats? thanks in advance. great to be online again.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I'd take him on a good hard run, play with him, work on training, then put him in with the goat when he is tired. Go about your business but stay in sight of them. The goat is obviously safe with him, but at 7 months he is just to playful and unpredictable.

What is a NDG?


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## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

Close monitoring is good. Set things up so you can watch her interactions(from the house is good so you don't have to actually be outside to see how she is behaving if you have other things to do. At 7 months pup can still get into trouble. My younger female went through a phase where she was chewing on the NDG's(Nigerian Dwarf goats) and ducks. She injured one(killed a couple ducks), and took the ends of the ears off of a couple of my bottle lambs. At night I locked up the animals away from her since I wouldn't be able to watch her. I caught her in the act a few times, yelled at her an ran her off. She must have understood because now she is great and has been since that time. It seems like the calmer animals that were willing to tolerate her playing were the most likely to be affected.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I am not the expert Maura and Wendle; however, judging from what I've learned from Valentina, my Karakachan LGD, at the age of 7 months, there can be some unpredictability. Valentina is now 8 months of age and showing some uncertainty at this point as to how to be around the animals, especially the fowl. (Of course, I've been refining some of her training, expecting her to keep the birds away from feed that was not meant for them while at the same time expecting her to know she is not suppose to chase the birds.)

If I had your situation to deal with, I would let the two be in the same pen together for periods of time but not all the time yet.


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## jolly rabbit (Apr 30, 2012)

thanks for everyones input, It seems like I should continue the supervised visits (probably longer periods of time) and keep re-accessing the situation every month until we feel comfortable that duke will not injure the goat.


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