Leading lamb in show

[sheslittletex]

We are 4 days away from the show and my daughters lamb (he is 135 lbs, and long and strong) has just become stubborn this past week. He has been really good for a month about letting her lead him without his halter on, but he just decided that he did not want to and plants his feet. He is used to being touched and handled, and will stand still. She has tried the squeezing above tail trick, works for about 7 steps. What now? Help. Got to have him ready by Friday.

[EmsoffLambs]

I would have you or another adult walk behind the lamb and give him a big pinch on the dock when he decides to stop. Make it uncomfortable for him. Hopefully in the next four days you'll be able to break his bad habit.  And just as an encouragement, I have found that most of the time, lambs that have been worked with enough (which sounds like the case here) end up behaving better at the show than they do at home. I think it's because everything is so new at the show, the lambs really look to "their" kids for comfort and leadership. With the leading in particular, they'll often walk better in the ring because they are following another lamb (just don't let her go in first). So even if you can't get him totally straightened out in the next four days, maybe he'll be just fine at the show. Hope anyway! Good luck!

[sheslittletex]

Thank you, Emsoff! We will be going down in a few to try this. I have heard, what you said about better behavior at the show. Crossing our fingers. My daughter is a first timer, so a bit nervous. Just saw that  you are from No. Ca. We are in rural Hawaii now, but moved from Chico, Ca.

[sheslittletex]

Ok. Just tried again with him by myself, as my daughter is not home yet. He is getting worse each day, Yikes! He was lunging forward and trying to race out of my grasp. I walked around in the pen by myself to see if he would follow and he did, but got completely wild when I tried to lead him. He either does not budge or lunges forward. I tried staying farther back by his shoulders than my daughter had been doing. Like I said in my first post, he did great for the last 4 weeks or more, and just started this late last week, and show is this weekend. Any more ideas? We will go down later and try with two people. Im just worried that a person in the rear is not going to help when he lunges forward. He is also much more nervous than he has been. We have had a very calm easy time with him, and yesterday and today he is jumping and trying to butt.

[AggieDad2]

We encounter the same issue with bigger lambs closer to shows.  We got some leather halters with a chain that goes under the jaw.  Put it on and walked away from pen and then took it off as the lamb was walked back to barn for some feed.  Got quick results and confidence builder for the kids.
BD

[sheslittletex]

Thanks BD. Tried that tonight, for his evening meal. Pretty good results. He was a little antsy, but went the direction he was lead.