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| Name: |
Sputnik
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Age: |
Four years old
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| Gender: |
Male
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Kind: |
Alpine x Nubian Goat
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| Home: |
Rye, Colorado, USA
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Sputnik is a four-year-old Alpine/Nubian cross goat who lives in Rye, Colorado. Sputnik was born here at our farm and came out head-first! I had to push him back in to find his legs and then help him into the world.
Sputnik was very independent from the moment he was born. He didn't want help, he didn't want to be held, and he didn't want to be petted. As he matured, it became clear that although Sputnik was brilliantly smart and could learn tricks in one day that would take other goats a week to learn, he could not easily tolerate being touched. He behaved like he was autistic, so touching or restraining Sputnik often sent him into a panic even though he had never been mistreated or neglected. However, he loved food treats and I used those to motivate him to learn many different commands and teach him to tolerate being touched, haltered, brushed, and handled.
When Sputnik grew up I trained him to pull a cart and carry a pack on hiking trips. Sputnik loves having a job to do. It makes him feel important. He has grown into a big, powerful goat 38 inches tall at the withers and 220 lbs! Sputnik is fun to drive in parades, and I sometimes take him to charity events where he pulls children around in his cart. Sputnik still does not enjoy being scratched or petted like other goats, but he has learned to stay calm and tolerate it when people crowd around him and touch him at public events. He knows he will be rewarded with peanuts and animal crackers if he's gentle and patient with the children.
Last year Sputnik won the chariot race at the International Goat Days Festival in Millington, Tennessee. He was pitted against his pasture mate, Finn. Sputnik got off the starting line in front, but Finn took the lead away from him. Finn was pulling ahead but Sputnik's driver, Nan, had a trick up her sleeve! She tickled Sputnik's tail and he shot ahead of Finn just before the finish line! It was an epic race. A video of it can be seen here.
Sputnik loves to give kisses. In two of the photos he's kissing me on a hike up 14,320-foot Uncompahgre Peak near Lake City, CO. He is the best!
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Talk about Nightwing in Pet Talk!
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