Clicker training a shy goat to become a pack goat - ungoing process

[Sanhestar]

you're right. We cannot train everything (or everything away). And part of the "clicker approach" or rather the approach of positive reinforcement is to allow the animal room for self-expression - as long as safety isn't compromised. The chance to say "no, can't do what you're asking, please ask something else".

As goat owners we might be more used to giving our animals that wiggling room but in the horse world this is a novelty.

Just to be clear: positive reinforcement doesn't mean that one has to allow an animal to run amok or push a person around. Safety always comes first and manners/politeness is the first thing that should be taught: to take food politely, to keep a distance. But the approach is to achieve this through "yes, that's right" = the step back offered willingly, turning the head to a neutral position, the stopping when asked and not "no,that's wrong" and force the step back with intimidation.

That is where protective contact comes into play: to start an animal with positive reinforcement in a set up where it can reach the treat and/or target but where the trainer can also step back and be slightly out of reach = a barrier. Tying an animal isn't as effective because is restricts free movement more than a stall.

With the barrier between I can wait for the step back that will at some point come, even if it will take a few minutes at worst and then mark that step back with the click and the treat as "yes, that's right". The animal has come up with the solution about how to earn the next click and treat itself and we all know that solutions that we have reached ourselves are the most rewarding and lasting. The trainer didn't intimidate the animal into stepping back which, when we are honest, will end in an never-ending circle of intimidation because animals and humans can incorporate an enormous amount of intimidation and pain into our lives when the goat is worth it.