I have NO goat experience, other than patting a couple in my time, so this may be applicable and may not. Extrapolating from foals and dogs, A) you want to keep learning sessions short and fun, B) punishment based training rarely works in the long run. See if you can get hold of John Lyons book on foals and training, as I am sure you can adapt his methods to goats - his 3 basic principles are - you shouldn't get hurt, the animal shouldn't get hurt, and everyone stays calm, certainly ending up calm. As well, clicker training for dogs may work, esp. the target method, which has been adapted for horses. There are several books on dog-training, and I think one or more on the horse method. I would wait to tie up either of them until they have learned about collars, walking on leashes, giving to pressure, etc. - it is all too easy to hurt one without realizing, since most animals' first reaction to any pressure is to lean into it or to fight it. Can you set up a separate feeding area for each of them - if only a rail across a corner which the bully can't get into - or a gate or roll of wire mesh, since a rail may be squeezed under or jumped over? If they are fed separately, the bullying would be less of a problem, since it seems to happen, from what you write, mostly at meal times. Even though it may seem to be giving in, I would feed the more dominant one first - maybe put him in the separate area - since they will set up their own hierarchy, and you can't enforce your own to be different. That said, and while this might take some time, can you A) separate the 2 for a few seconds and still keep the attention of the one you have with you - i.e.; he isn't fixated on going back to his companion? If so, then take one out, and immediately put it back, repeat, until the carrying on slows down, and the one inside - and out - realizes the separation isn't killing it and that the separation also ends. Then take out for longer, repeat, etc., etc.. Then take out of sight, etc., etc., until they have learned that out of sight isn't GONE, and the other kid and you do come back. It may be that they are still a bit young to be separated, and it may be that they are fixated on one another, the last not being so good, and the first curable with time. Whether or not they also learn about leashes and walking with you at the same time is open to question - but I assume they are still small enough you can pick them up? I would work with one for a few minutes, until the lesson seems to be sinking in, then go away, if only for 2 minutes, and then come back to work with the other, or there won't be ONE clear lesson for them to learn - having my companion go away isn't the end of the world. They will at the same time, be learning the corollary - leaving my companion isn't the end of the world. It sounds as though for this activity, they want to be close to you, so a leash isn't required. It also sounds like a lesson they need to learn for any number of reasons, among them that it is much easier in the long run to work with one goat at a time, without having the other under foot, on your back, into everything, distracting the other one, etc..

Considering the age and size of the "patient", I would get one of the clicker training books, and use those principles to teach Hormel to let you handle his legs and feet and then to file the hooves. It may take a little more time, but will be easier on all concerned not to have a wrestling match. And, the job will be easier the next time. Teach in small increments, and if he's really good about one lesson, quit there, while you are ahead! Since he's gone 2 years without trimming, another few weeks won't kill him. If you know a farrier, ask for a file he considers worn out - it will be plenty sharp enough for your sometime job, just not for his full-time work. If farriers aren't among your acquaintances, then any feed store or tack store should have blacksmith files, but they are pricey as I recall. If you can, put a handle on it - that narrow tang has sharp edges. And wear gloves - new files are SHARP!

Correcting unwanted behavior is done much easier by preventing the behavior before it starts. That also allows more opportunity for positive reinforcement techniques. There are several ways to prevent behavior. Correction before the behavior starts is the goal. The requires close awareness of the dogs body language and actions. The largest block to preventing unwanted behavior---especially when other methods have failed---is how the handler/owner s emotions are during the training. The human has to mask any fear/anticipation/etc. behavior. Simply because the dog has become attuned to such cues and associated those cues as signals as how the dog should behave. You need to start correcting the lab mix when people arrive in the driveway. Your(whomever is handling the dog) needs to adopt the attitude the dog has to obey simply because you say so. That is usually much more difficult to do than to say. I use that technique and have sometimes blown a session simply because I was not paying attention and allowing other things to block my mind. And, it takes time. What to try. When you know someone is pulling into the yard---as the dog hears the visitor, start the corrections that signal his excitement before the visitor gets to the door. A training session with another person acting as the 'visitor' would be great. Because you can make the corrections and allow some time for the behavior to settle---allowing positive reinforcement to happen. That is a double training effort---blocking unwanted and praising acceptable behavior.

The things you don't like about other peoples dogs, you may not believe it now, but having your own, a lot of times those annoying things end up being the things you love about them the most. One of my dogs is a beagle/lab and beagles were near the top of my list of dog breeds i did not want, and she is everything I thought she'd be, but I love her personality. She does bark but it is fairy easy to teach the "quiet" command to a dog once you've taught them speak. Dogs won't track in much, mine aren't on flea and tick preventative because i am uncomfortable with it and i know i don' have any fleas in my yard, and i just tick check them daily during normal affection, but as easy way to avoid that is just to use a flea/tick preventative from the start and you won't have a problem. Most will have fleas when you get them so the pill from the vet that kills fleas before it's in the house plus a bath with blue dawn dishsoap will get rid of any fleas and you won't have a problem. Mine sleep in bed and they are allowed on the couches and they don't track a whole lot of dirt in. I can't imagine not having a fenced in yard with my dogs though, my life would be miserable and so would theirs. They like to run around out back and hang out. My beagle/lab came from a house with cats when she was a puppy and still 3 years later she loves cats. So gentle and submissive around them, and she is a very hyper playful dog you would not expect to be good with cats. I was a cat person and I love having dogs. A big thing to consider is how much work they are. They are like kids you can't just leave them like you can cats. Especially one that hasn't been trained because they will wreck stuff. Crate training is great for this though, and they learn pretty quickly. You can train a dog out of almost anything, but there are some things that you are better off just adjusting your life to. Trash picking is one of those things, a trash picker is usually going to trash pick given the opportunity and chance alone, so we shut our bathroom doors instead of leaving temptation out there. A digger is gonna dig especially when it comes to hounds, and while you can train some out of it sometimes you just have to give them a designated digging spot. Jumping up is very easily corrected I've worked with a lot of fosters and it's the easiest thing to stop. Crotch sniffing more difficult but I would say most don't have that problem. intact males mostly. They CAN be very well trained and it doesn't take a ton of work to do so. They will learn a lot of things without you even teaching it to them, mine picked up room names and i can tell them which room to go to and they will go. If told to get off they won't come back up until invited. You can teach them to go to their crate very easily, and use that command when people knock on the door, and soon they will learn knocks on the door mean crate until invited out. The key is to get basic commands down and use them to teach the dog more complicated commands. One big thing I can't stress enough, if you get a puppy do not adopt a puppy from someone who has the litter and is adopting them out at 6 weeks. 8-9 weeks is the responsible thing to do. I've fostered litters and they learn bite inhibition starting at week 7, any dog leaving before that will have the mouthing problem and it's very annoying to have a dog mouthing constantly and so much more work to train that when two more weeks with it's siblings and it would learn most of it on their own. If you want to avoid a dog gutting things it's simple, never give them any toys with stuffing. There are plenty of stuffing free toys to keep a dog happy. Give them plush toys to tear into and they do not understand why it's ok to do that and not gut pillows etc. One plush toy removed and corrected the second the dog starts to gut it so they learn gutting is bad. Clicker training is someting i can't recommend enough. It is one of the best training tools out there. People don't understand why their dog isn't learning things because they have people with different tones, a clicker is cheap and the dog will remember that click means good and the click can come immediately after the dog has correctly done what you wanted. So many people praise their dog too late and the dog has no idea what it's getting praised for, and so many people have monotone voices that a dog can't distinguish positive from negative. That is also the cause of so many dogs not listening to commands, a stern voice is needed, i could take any dog ive trained who knows the "off" command, or get off. or down. and will do it immediately. Now tell them to do it but say it in a cheerful voice and no they are not going to do it. They are taught commands in stern voices, they obey stern voices, not voices that mix in with normal conversation that they hear all the time. It's not mean it's communicating with your dog. The biggest thing is to understand that your dog doesn't know what you want. If your dog isn't trained yet, you can't throw out commands and expect them to understand. You can't expect them not to do bad things, they aren't doing it to make you mad, they are following their instincts and you need to teach them what you want from them. you need to show them the behavior you like and what you don't like. Dogs like to please, training sessions are a great bonding experience and provide a lot of mental stimulation which a dog needs just as much as physical to tire them out. They are happy when you are happy, the moment you first teach a dog a trick and they do it and understand it you will understand by the look on their face that they are happy, and how awesome it is to have been able to communicate your wants to them and have them understand. Great bonding, training sessions, not necessarily from a trainer, just you and the dog are highly beneficial even for adult dogs as an ongoing thing it strengthens your relationship with the dog. It's really not work either,, it's just taking a few minutes to work with them. Socialization is also key,and it doesn't stop with dog to dog interation and dog to human interaction. It involves experience and situations as well. You don't want a dog afraid of storms or who won't go out in the rain, so when it's raining, excited play time in the rain so the dog sees it as a good thing. Car rides. you leaving the house, come back with something for the dog and they will learn that you leaving can be rewarding. Even with the worst barkers that i couldn't train 'quiet' effectively, i could train lay down and stay, and that is usually effective in stopping them from barking.